Jason Segel biography

Synopsis

Early Years

The son of a lawyer, Jason Segel grew up in an affluent neighborhood in Los Angeles. He was raised Jewish, but he attended a Christian elementary school. There Segel was sometimes picked on by his classmates for his religion. He also started to stand out in other ways. By the age of 12, Segel had reached his full height, standing six feet four inches tall. He later described himself as "this weird, gangly kid who was like ET trying to figure out how his limbs worked."

As a teenager, Segel started making movies on his own and developed a passion for puppets. The puppets "were a really convenient solution to not knowing any actors," he later explained. Attending the prestigious Harvard-Westlake School, Segel used his substantial height to his advantage, becoming a member of the basketball team. He discovered acting in his senior year and was spotted by a film casting executive during a performance.

Career Breakthrough

Instead of going to college, Segel decided to pursue a career as an actor. He was only 18 years old when he auditioned for writer-director Judd Apatow. Apatow cast Segel in a new television series called Freaks and Geeks, a 1980s high school dramatic comedy. The show, which also featured James Franco, Seth Rogan and Linda Cardellini, lasted only a season, but it later developed a strong cult following.

Segel paired up again with Apatow for his new college sitcom Undeclared in 2001, but the show didn't attract enough of an audience to stay on the air. For a time, Segel floundered professionally before landing a leading role in the sitcom How I Met Your Mother. The series, which follows a group of five friends, slowly and steadily grew in popularity since its debut in 2005. Segel plays Marshall Eriksen, an earnest lawyer from the Midwest, on the show. Josh Radnor stars as his architect friend Ted, and Alyson Hannigan plays his wife Lily. Cobie Smulders and Neil Patrick Harris complete the cast.

With the success of How I Met Your Mother, Segel finally got the green light for his own film project. He wrote and starred in the 2008 comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall, about a songwriter who runs into his famous ex-girlfriend (Kristen Bell) and her new boyfriend (Russell Brand) in Hawaii. Showing no reservations, Segel filmed the pivotal breakup scene completely naked. The movie helped advance his film career.

Recent Television and Films

In demand, Segel has balanced his How I Met Your Mother television role with numerous other projects. He co-starred with Paul Rudd in the 2009 comedy I Love You, Man and with Jack Black in 2010's Gulliver's Travels. That same year, Segel voiced a supervillain in the animated hit Despicable Me.