Will Arnett Biography

William Emerson "Will" Arnett (pronounced ; born May 4, 1970) is a Canadian actor, known for his comedic roles as George Oscar "G.O.B." Bluth II in the Fox show Arrested Development, Devon Banks in the NBC show 30 Rock and Chris Brinkley in the NBC television series Up All Night. He played supporting roles in the IFC series The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret and films such as Semi-Pro, Blades of Glory, RV, Hot Rod, Let's Go to Prison and The Brothers Solomon. Arnett is also a voice actor, and has done voice work for commercials, films, television programs, and video games.

Early life

Arnett was born in Toronto, the son of Edith Alexandra (née Palk) and Emerson James Arnett, who was a corporate lawyer and brewer, among other occupations. Arnett briefly attended Francophone School, Lakefield College School in Lakefield, Ontario (but was asked not to return after a semester for being a troublemaker). the Subway Academy II which allowed him to take theatre classes at the Tarragon Theatre, and eventually graduated from Leaside High School. He attended Concordia University, Montreal for one semester, but dropped out. As a teenager, he was encouraged by his mother to pursue an acting career. He auditioned for commercials in Toronto and decided he enjoyed acting. In 1990, he moved to New York City to study acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute. He began appearing in plays in New York and his first acting role was in the Felicity Huffman independent film Erie, which was filmed on the Erie Canal.

Career

1994"2002

In February 1996, Arnett began acting in television pilots. His first one was with Kevin Pollak and his wife, Lucy Webb, for CBS, that was not picked up. The pilot, The Underworld, revolved around "The head of an organized crime family [who] hounds an ex-con who only wants to go straight." After the show was not picked up, he appeared in the movie Southie, which was written by Arnett's friend Dave McLaughlin. In 1999, Arnett was cast in another pilot for The Mike O'Malley Show on NBC. Arnett was a regular on the series, playing the protagonist's friend Jimmy. The show was picked up, but it was canceled after only two episodes. Arnett has referred to 2000, the year after that show was cancelled, as "the darkest year of [his] life" and he admits that he "didn't get a lot of work" and "drank those years away". Arnett considers the summer of 2000 to have been a turning point in his life as a friend helped pull him out of his battle with alcoholism and he began to get his career back on track. In 2001, Arnett was cast in another television pilot, Loomis, for CBS. The pilot starred Cheri Oteri as a local news reporter, and Arnett played her slacker brother. The pilot was not picked up. In 2002, Arnett was cast in a fourth television pilot. This pilot was for the CBS sitcom Still Standing. The show was picked up and ran for several seasons, but his character was cut from the series after the pilot. Arnett became so frustrated, after his fourth failed pilot, that he "swore off pilots" altogether, until his agent persuaded him to audition for the pilot for Arrested Development.

2003"present

In 2003, Arnett found mainstream success in television when he was cast in the role of George Oscar "Gob" Bluth II in the Fox comedy series Arrested Development. Arnett's character was one of the show's most popular, and he was nominated for an Emmy in 2006 for his portrayal. His character was also listed at No. 33 on TV's Top 50 Catch Phrases with the line, "I've made a huge mistake." The show was cancelled after three seasons due to low ratings, despite its critical acclaim and cult following. He later made guest appearance as Max the Magician on Sesame Street referenced his Arrested Development character's penchant for using Europe's "The Final Countdown" during his magic shows. Arnett said that his favorite episodes of the show were "Pier Pressure" and "Afternoon Delight". His exposure on Arrested Development led to a number of larger roles in feature films. Although he had previously worked largely as a dramatic actor, his roles since Arrested Development have been mostly comedic, often playing smug antagonists. He "never considered himself a comic" and considers himself an "actor first." Before Arrested Development, he did play the dramatic role of FBI agent Mike Waldrup on several episodes of The Sopranos. Arnett's first major starring role was in Let's Go to Prison, a comedy film directed by Bob Odenkirk. The film was made on a small budget of $4 million. It earned more than $4 million at the box office and more than $13 million in rentals. One of Arnett's recent films was Blades of Glory, an ice-skating comedy in which Arnett and his then wife, Amy Poehler, played supporting roles to Will Ferrell. In the film, they played a brother/sister skating duo with an unhealthily intimate relationship. The film was number one at the US box office during its first two weeks, and grossed approximately $118 million domestically during its theatrical run. and $36 million on home video. He has made guest appearances on King of the Hill and 30 Rock. On 30 Rock, he played Devon Banks, a scheming network executive who plays a rival to Alec Baldwin's character Jack Donaghy. His role as Devon Banks earned him an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series. Arnett also played supporting roles in the films Spring Breakdown, Hot Rod, The Comebacks, and On Broadway. In On Broadway, he once again worked with his close friend of director Dave McLaughlin and gave him one of his first movie roles in Southie. In The Brothers Solomon, he again teamed with director Bob Odenkirk and starred with Saturday Night Live member, Will Forte. He appeared in a major supporting role in the basketball comedy Semi-Pro, his second film with Ferrell. He plays Lou Redwood, the commentator of the team, who is "a former player, a bit of a womanizer, and a boozer".

Arnett was signed on for a supporting role in Ye Olde Times, along with Jack Black, but the project has fallen through. He has signed on to new projects in which he will play starring roles, including Jeff the Demon for New Line Cinema, in which he will play a demon who is summoned by a pair of high school losers. He signed on to the lead role in The Ambassador for DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures, in which he will play "a former U.S. vice president's privileged son, who is assigned an ambassadorship in Europe, where he quickly becomes the quintessential ugly American." Arnett has signed on for the lead in Space Invader for Fox Atomic, which will center on a love triangle set on a space station. Arnett is also attached to lead roles in Dad Can't Lose, Get 'Em Wet, and Most Likely to Succeed. He had been attached to play the lead role of David Miller in the film We're the Millers, but had to pass due to "scheduling reasons"; the part went to Steve Buscemi. On November 17, 2009, it was announced that Arnett would try to win over real-life wife Amy Poehler in a guest spot on Parks and Recreation. Arnett played Chris, an MRI technologist and possible love interest for Poehler's Leslie Knope. Justin Theroux appeared in the same episode as yet another suitor. Arnett signed on for one episode, and the episode entitled "The Set Up" aired January 14, 2010. In 2010, Arnett and former Arrested Development co-star Jason Bateman created DumbDumb Productions, a production company focusing on digital content. Their first video was "Prom Date," the first in a series of "Dirty shorts" for Orbit (gum). He also starred in Running Wilde, a comedy where he plays a spoiled, rich man opposite Keri Russell, the daughter of his father's former housekeeper, as well as The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret, created by and starring Arrested Development castmate David Cross. Running Wilde was cancelled in January 2011, due to poor ratings. On March 23, 2011, it was announced that Arnett would be appearing in the final episode of season 7 of The Office. Arnett co-stars in the American television comedy series Up All Night, created by Emily Spivey, which premiered on NBC in the fall of 2011. The show centers on a couple who struggle to balance their home lives (especially with their newborn child) and their work lives. He is currently the spokesman of a series of Hulu advertisements. His role in the television spots deliberately recalls his Devon Banks character as a power hungry manipulator. On March 8, Mansome, Arnett's first executive-producer credit with partner Jason Bateman, was announced as a Spotlight selection for the Tribeca Film Festival. The documentary, directed by Morgan Spurlock, is a comedic look at male identity as it is defined through men's grooming habits featuring celebrity and expert commentary. On April 2, 2013, he is cast in a role in the upcoming film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Voice work

Arnett's distinctive gravelly voice has earned him voice-over work for CBS television promos, film trailers and numerous advertisements, including Lamisil medication. Perhaps most recognizable is Arnett's voice saying, "It's not more than you need, just more than you're used to" in ads for GMC trucks. He has also lent his voice to a number of television shows, such as Ghostwriter in the 2005 Nickelodeon's hit series Danny Phantom, Duncan Schiesst for the Comedy Central animated program Freak Show, which was created by and also stars the voice of his Arrested Development co-star, David Cross. Arnett took the role of announcer for the faux trailer "Don't" in the 2007 movie Grindhouse. He also voiced the character "Vlad" from the CGI film Horton Hears a Who!, The Missing Link in DreamWorks' film Monsters vs. Aliens, Horst the German sous-chef, in the Disney Pixar film Ratatouille, and Mr. Perkins in Despicable Me. He planned to be the voice of the K.I.T.T. in Universal's Knight Rider, a sequel to the popular 1980s television series. The production featured a Ford Mustang as K.I.T.T. Since Arnett had a previous long standing relationship with competitor automaker General Motors as the voice for GMC Trucks commercials, GM asked Arnett to pull out of the project. Arnett opted to withdraw from the project and he was replaced by Val Kilmer. Arnett makes a commercial cameo for the video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. In 2009, he voiced the titular character in Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard, a video game developed by Vicious Cycle Games and starred as an out of work former video game protagonist hoping to make a comeback, versus a greedy game executive played by Neil Patrick Harris. In the Fox animated comedy series, Sit Down, Shut Up, he voiced Ennis Hofftard, a bodybuilder who teaches English and always attempts to chase women. The show premiered on April 19, 2009 but was eventually cancelled after several months due to poor ratings. It aired its last episode on free-to-air television on November 21, 2009. He also provides the voice of Batman in the upcoming film, The Lego Movie.

Personal life

Arnett has two older sisters and a younger brother. His father was a corporate lawyer and served as the president and CEO of Molson Breweries from 1997 to 2000. His father, a graduate of Harvard University, previously worked as a director for the company. In 1994, Arnett married actress Penelope Ann Miller, but they divorced in 1995. He dated actress Missy Yager, with whom he lived for four years. They starred on The Mike O'Malley Show together and broke up around the time the show began. Arnett began dating comic actress Amy Poehler in 2000. He moved to New York City in 2001 when she became a featured player on NBC's Saturday Night Live. They married on August 29, 2003. Together, they appeared in four episodes of Arrested Development in 2004 and 2005, an episode of Poehler's show, Parks and Recreation, in 2010, and the films Blades of Glory, Horton Hears a Who!, On Broadway, Spring Breakdown and Monsters vs. Aliens. Arnett and Poehler had two sons, Archibald William Emerson Arnett (born on October 25, 2008 in New York City) and Abel James Arnett (born on August 6, 2010), before separating in September 2012. Arnett lists Steve Martin and Chevy Chase as his two biggest comic influences. Arnett grew up watching sports in Canada, and is an avid follower of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Toronto Blue Jays.

Filmography

Films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	Close Up	Dave
	Ed's Next Move	Weather Video Guy
1998	The Broken Giant	Ezra Caton
1999	Southie	Whitey
	The Waiting Game	Lenny
2000	The Acting Class	Will Bennett
2001	Series 7: The Contenders	Narrator
2005	Monster-in-Law	Kit
2006	Ice Age: The Meltdown	The Lone Gunslinger	voice
	RV	Todd Mallory
	The Great New Wonderful	Danny
	Let's Go to Prison	Nelson Biederman IV
2007	Blades of Glory	Stranz Van Waldenberg
	Grindhouse	Announcer	voice, Segment: "Don't"
	On Broadway	Tom
	Ratatouille	Horst	voice
	Hot Rod	Jonathan Ault
	Wristcutters: A Love Story	Messiah
	The Brothers Solomon	John Solomon
	The Comebacks	Mailman
2008	Semi-Pro	Lou Redwood
	Horton Hears a Who!	Vlad Vladikoff	voice
	The Rocker	Lex
2009	Monsters vs. Aliens	The Missing Link	voice
	G-Force	Kip Killian
	Brief Interviews with Hideous Men	Subject No. 11
2010	When in Rome	Antonio
	Jonah Hex	Lieutenant Grass
	Despicable Me	Mr. Perkins	voice
2012	The Secret World of Arrietty	Pod	voice
	Men in Black 3	Agent AA	cameo, uncredited
	Mansome	Himself	documentary, producer
2014	The Nut Job	Surly	voice, post-production
	The Lego Movie	Batman	voice, post-production
	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles	Vernon Fenwick	filming

Television

Year(s)	Title	Role	Notes
1999	Sex and the City	Jack	Episode: "La Douleur Exquise!"
	The Mike O'Malley Show	Jimmy	Series regular
2000	Third Watch	Kenny	Episode: "Spring Forward, Fall Back"
2001	Loomis		Failed pilot
	Boston Public	Hand Salesman	Episode: "Chapter Twenty-nine"
2002	Still Standing		Original Pilot
	Yes, Dear	Bobby	Episode: "Johnny Ampleseed"
	The Sopranos	Agent Mike Waldrup	Episodes: "For All Debts Public and Private", "No Show"
	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Tony Damon	Episode: "Angels"
2003"2006, 2013	Arrested Development	George Oscar "G.O.B." Bluth II	Series regular
2004	Will & Grace	Artemis Johnson	Episode: "Back Up Dancer"
2005	Odd Job Jack	Tiberius McKorkindale	Episodes: "The Biggest Bang", "Close Encounters of the Uncomfortable Kind", Voice
	Danny Phantom	Ghost Writer	Episode: "The Fright Before Christmas", Voice
2006	Freak Show	Duncan Schiesst/Various	Series regular, Voice
2007	King of the Hill	Portis	Episode: "Hank Gets Dusted", Voice
2007"2013	30 Rock	Devon Banks	Episodes: "Fireworks", "Jack Gets in the Game", "Succession", "Do-Over", "Into the Crevasse", "Dealbreakers Talk Show #0001", "Plan B", "Idiots Are People Three!", "Game Over"
2008	Sesame Street	Max the Magician	Episode: "Max the Magician"
2009	Sit Down, Shut Up	Ennis Hofftard	Series regular, Voice
	Delocated	TV Announcer	Episode: "Good Buds"
	Monsters vs. Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space	The Missing Link	Voice
2010	Parks and Recreation	Chris	Episode: "The Set Up"
2010"2012	The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret	Brent Wilts	Series regular
2010"2011	Running Wilde	Steve Wilde	Series regular, Co-creator, executive producer
2011	The Office	Fred Henry	Episode: "Search Committee"
2011"2012	Up All Night	Chris	Series regular
2012	The Cleveland Show	General Richter	Episode: "A General Thanksgiving Episode", Voice
2013	The Millers	Nathan Miller	Series regular

Direct-to-video

• Spring Breakdown - Ted

Video games

• Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard - Matt Hazard
• Monsters vs. Aliens - The Missing Link

Awards

Year	For	Award	Category	Won	Other notes
2004	Arrested Development	TV Land Awards	Future Classic Award		Shared with Jason Bateman, Michael Cera, David Cross, Portia de Rossi, Tony Hale, Alia Shawkat, Jeffrey Tambor, Jessica Walter, Mitchell Hurwitz, and David Nevins
2005		Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series		Shared with Jason Bateman, Michael Cera, David Cross, Portia de Rossi, Tony Hale, Alia Shawkat, Jeffrey Tambor and Jessica Walter
2006		Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series		Shared with Jason Bateman, Michael Cera, David Cross, Portia de Rossi, Tony Hale, Alia Shawkat, Jeffrey Tambor and Jessica Walter
		Emmy Awards	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
2008	30 Rock	Emmy Awards	Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series
2010		Emmy Awards	Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series
2011		Emmy Awards	Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series
2012		Emmy Awards	Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series
	Up All Night	Satellite Awards	Satellite Award for Best Actor " Television Series Musical or Comedy

Honors

New York magazine named Will Arnett and wife Amy Poehler "New Yorkers of the Year" for 2005 during their New York Magazine Culture Awards. In April 2007, during a panel hosted by The Paley Center for Media, talk show host Conan O'Brien and his writing staff named Will Arnett as one of their three all-time favorite guests, sharing the honor with Norm Macdonald and Harland Williams. Also in April 2007, Entertainment Weekly named Will Arnett a "Future King of Comedy." In May 2007, Arnett ranked No. 9 on Best Week Ever's "Top 15 Sexiest Nerd Boys" poll. In July 2007, Premiere magazine named Arnett one of "The 20 Hottest New Faces in Comedy."