Early years

Piven is a native of New York City, born in Manhattan, the son of Byrne Piven (1929-2002) and Joyce Hiller Piven (née Goldstein), both of whom were actors and drama teachers. He grew up in Evanston, Illinois. Piven was raised in a Reconstructionist Jewish household. He graduated from Evanston Township High School, and attended Harand Theater Camp in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin as a teenager. He played Bernardo in West Side Story there. In Illinois, he trained at Piven Theatre Workshop, founded by his parents. He also attended Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, where he departed after his sophomore year to attend New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. He left Tisch during his senior year to pursue his acting career and is an alumnus of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. He spent a semester at the National Theater Institute in Waterford, Connecticut. He has appeared in a number of films with John Cusack, who is also from Evanston and is a fellow alumnus of the Piven Theatre Workshop (as are Cusack's sisters Joan and Ann). Piven and Cusack once shared an apartment and have been friends since high school.

Career

Piven's first important role came in 1992 when he became a regular cast member on HBO's The Larry Sanders Show, in which he played the head writer Jerry. In 1993, he portrayed George Costanza on the show-within-a-show scene in the Seinfeld episode, "The Pilot". Piven was a supporting cast member on the last three seasons of the sitcom Ellen where he played the part of Ellen's cousin, Spence. He was also the star and producer of the short-lived ABC dramedy series Cupid and voiced Elongated Man in three episodes of Justice League Unlimited

Beginning in 2004, Piven achieved significant success playing fast-talking, acerbic Hollywood agent Ari Gold in the HBO series Entourage. He received Emmy nominations for Best Supporting Actor four straight years from 2005 to 2008, and won the award in 2006, 2007, and 2008. 2009 was the first year in which he did not receive an Emmy Award nomination for his work on the show. He also received Golden Globe nominations from 2005 to 2010 for the role, winning in 2008.

Piven has appeared in numerous successful films, including Lucas, Grosse Pointe Blank, Singles, Very Bad Things, The Family Man, Black Hawk Down, The Kingdom, Heat, PCU, Old School, Rock N Rolla, Serendipity, Smokin' Aces, and Runaway Jury. He has also made cameo appearances in Rush Hour 2 and the US release of Cars.

In 2007, Piven appeared in the video for "Drivin' Me Wild", the third single taken from rapper Common's seventh album Finding Forever. The two were co-stars in Smokin' Aces, and appeared together when Piven hosted SNL in January 2007.

Piven appeared in the first Broadway revival of David Mamet's Speed-the-Plow, co-starring Mad Men star Elisabeth Moss and three-time Tony nominee Raul Esparza. The production began preview performances on October 3, 2008, and opened on October 23, 2008; the play was due to run through February 22, 2009. After Piven missed several performances, on December 17, 2008, Piven's rep. announced that due to an undisclosed illness, Piven would be ending his run in the play effective immediately. The illness was revealed to be hydrargaria, a disease caused by exposure to mercury or its compounds, though the source is unknown. Rumours have indicated that the high level of mercury could potentially have been caused by Piven's habit of consuming fish twice a day for the past 20 years. An alternative explanation is that the herbal remedies Piven was taking were responsible for his high levels of mercury. Mamet joked that Piven was leaving the play "to pursue a career as a thermometer." On September 1, 2009, Piven, in a guest appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman, explained that he had given up red meat and poultry, and had been getting all of his protein from fish for the past 20 years. William H. Macy and Norbert Leo Butz replaced Piven in the Broadway show.

On August 3, 2009, Piven was the guest host of the WWE Raw wrestling program. During an in-ring appearance, he incorrectly referred to the wrestling promotion's SummerSlam event as "Summerfest".

In August 2011, Piven stated he was interested in portraying the drummer from the Who, Keith Moon. From 2013 to 2016, he played the title role in the British television drama series Mr Selfridge, the semi-fictional story based on the life of Harry Selfridge, the founder of the London department store Selfridge's. The show aired on the ITV network in the United Kingdom and PBS in the United States.

Personal life

Piven was born to Jewish parents (of Russian origin) and considers himself a Jewish Buddhist. He starred in the Travel Channel special Jeremy Piven's Journey of a Lifetime detailing his journey across India. Piven resides in Malibu, California. His sister is director Shira Piven, whom he has described as one of his first acting teachers; his brother-in-law is director Adam McKay.

Piven is a fan of the Chicago Bears, and in 1998 appeared in commercials for the Chicago Blackhawks.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	Lucas	Spike
	One Crazy Summer	Ty
1989	Say Anything...	Mark
1990	Grifters, TheThe Grifters	Sailor - Freshman
	White Palace	Kahn
1992	Player, TheThe Player	Steve Reeves
	Bob Roberts	Candle Seller
	Singles	Doug Hughley
	There Goes The Neighborhood	Albert Lodge
1993	Twenty Bucks	Nervous Quick-Mart Clerk
	12:01	Howard Richter	Television movie
	Judgment Night	Ray Cochran
1994	Floundering	Guy
	Car 54, Where Are You?	Herbert Hortz
	Twogether	Arnie
	PCU	James "Droz" Andrews
1995	Miami Rhapsody	Mitchell
	Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde	Peter Walston
	Heat	Dr. Bob
1996	Larger Than Life	Walter
	E=mc2	Prof. Paul Higgins
	Layin' Low	Jerry Muckler
	Livers Ain't Cheap	John
1997	Just Write	Harold McMurphy
	Don King: Only in America	Hank Schwartz	Television movie
	Grosse Pointe Blank	Paul Spericki
	Kiss the Girls	Henry Castillo, LAPD
1998	Music from Another Room	Billy Swan
	Phoenix	Fred Shuster
	Very Bad Things	Michael Berkow
2000	Crew, TheThe Crew	Det. Steve Menteer
	Family Man, TheThe Family Man	Arnie
2001	Serendipity	Dean Kansky	Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
	Rush Hour 2	Versace Salesman
	Black Hawk Down	Clifton "Elvis" Wolcott
2002	Highway	Scawldy
2003	Old School	Dean Gordon "Cheese" Pritchard
	Runaway Jury	Lawrence Green
	Scary Movie 3	Ross Giggins
2004	Chasing Liberty	Alan Weiss
2005	Two for the Money	Jerry
	Scooby-Doo! in Where's My Mummy?	Rock Rivers	Voice
2006	Keeping Up with the Steins	Adam Fiedler
	Smokin' Aces	Buddy "Aces" Israel
	Cars	Harv	Voice, American version
2007	Kingdom, TheThe Kingdom	Damon Schmidt
2008	RocknRolla	Roman
2009	Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, TheThe Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard	Don Ready
2011	I Melt With You	Ron
	Spy Kids: All the Time in the World	Timekeeper/Danger De Amo
2012	Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!, TheThe Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!	Black Bellamy	Voice
	So Undercover	Armon
2014	Edge of Tomorrow	Colonel Walter Marx	Uncredited role
	Sin City: A Dame to Kill For	Bob
2015	Entourage	Ari Gold

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1990	Carol & Company	Various	Unknown episodes
1992-1998	Larry Sanders Show, TheThe Larry Sanders Show	Jerry Capen	26 episodes
1993	Seinfeld	Michael Barth	3 episodes
1995	Chicago Hope	Godfrey Nabbott	2 episodes
	Pride & Joy	Nathan Green	6 episodes
1995-1998	Ellen	Spence Kovak	60 episodes
1997	Drew Carey Show, TheThe Drew Carey Show	Spence Kovak	Episode: "Drew Gets Married"
	Grace Under Fire	Spence Kovak	Episode: "Vegas"
	Coach	Spence Kovak	Episode: "Viva Las Ratings"
	Duckman	Victor DeMann	Episode: "Ebony, Baby"
1998-1999	Cupid	Trevor Hale/Cupid	15 episodes
2000	Will & Grace	Nicholas	Episode: "Love Plus One"
	Buzz Lightyear of Star Command	Brain Pod #57	Episode: "Star Crossed"
2002	Twilight Zone, TheThe Twilight Zone	Tyler Ward	"The Lineman" parts 1 & 2
2003	Spider-Man	Roland Gaines	2 episodes
2004-2005	Justice League Unlimited	Elongated Man	3 episodes
2004-2011	Entourage	Ari Gold	96 episodes Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Series, Miniseries or Television Film Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Series, Miniseries or Television Film Nominated—Golden Nymph Award for Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor - Series, Miniseries or Television Film Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series
2007	Saturday Night Live	Host	Episode: "Jeremy Piven/AFI"
2009	WWE Raw	Host/Himself	Episode: "3 August 2009"
2013-2016	Mr Selfridge	Harry Selfridge	40 episodes

Awards and nominations

Year	Nominated work	Association	Category	Result
2002	Serendipity	Saturn Awards	Best Supporting Actor	Nominated
2005	Entourage	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series	Nominated
		Golden Globe Awards	Best Supporting Actor - Series, Miniseries or Television Film	Nominated
2006		Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series	Won
		Golden Globe Awards	Best Supporting Actor - Series, Miniseries or Television Film	Nominated
		Satellite Awards	Best Supporting Actor - Series, Miniseries or Television Film	Nominated
2007		Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series	Won
		Golden Globe Awards	Best Supporting Actor - Series, Miniseries or Television Film	Nominated
		Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series	Nominated
		Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series	Nominated
2008		Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series	Won
		Golden Globe Awards	Best Supporting Actor - Series, Miniseries or Television Film	Won
		Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series	Nominated
		Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series	Nominated
2009		Golden Globe Awards	Best Supporting Actor - Series, Miniseries or Television Film	Nominated
		Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series	Nominated
		Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series	Nominated
2010		Golden Globe Awards	Best Supporting Actor - Series, Miniseries or Television Film	Nominated

[ Source: Wikipedia ]