Who is Jonathan Favreau? The entertainment and acting world knows Jon Favreau as an
American actor,
screenwriter and
film director. He is best known for appearing in films including
Rudy, I Love You, Man;
Swingers and
Couples Retreat, as well as directing such films as
Elf,
Iron Man,
Iron Man 2, and
Cowboys & Aliens. He is also known for playing the role of Pete Becker,
Monica Geller's boyfriend during season three of the television sitcom
Friends.
Early life
Favreau was born in
Flushing, New York, the son of Madeleine, an elementary school teacher who died of
leukemia in 1979, and Charles Favreau, a
special education teacher.
[1] Favreau's mother was
Jewish and his father is a
Catholic of Italian and distant
French-Canadian ancestry.
[2][3][4] He graduated from the
Bronx High School of Science in 1984 and attended
Queens College from 1984 to 1987, before dropping out.
[5] He briefly worked for
Bear Stearns on
Wall Street before returning to Queens College for a semester in early 1988. He dropped out of college for good (a few credits shy of completing his degree),
[6] and in the summer of 1988, moved to Chicago to pursue a career in comedy. He performed at several Chicago improvisational theaters, including the
ImprovOlympic and the
Improv Institute.
Career
While in Chicago, Favreau landed his first film role alongside
Sean Astin as the pudgy tutor D-Bob in the classic sleeper hit
Rudy (1993). Favreau met
Vince Vaughn—who played a small role in this film—during shooting. The next year, he appeared in the
college film
PCU alongside
Jeremy Piven, and also stepped into the world of television in the 1994 episode of
Seinfeld titled "
The Fire" as Eric the Clown. He then moved to
Los Angeles, where he made his breakthrough in 1996 as an actor-screenwriter with the film
Swingers, which was Vaughn's breakthrough role as the glib and extremely confident Trent Walker, a perfect foil to Favreau's heartbroken Mike Peters. In 1997 he appeared on the popular TV sitcom
Friends portraying Pete Becker, whom Monica dates for several episodes, and who competes in the
Ultimate Fighting Championship.
He rejoined Piven in 1998 as part of
Very Bad Things (1998). In 1999 he starred in the TV movie
Rocky Marciano, based on the life of the only undefeated world heavyweight champion in the world. He later appeared in
Love & Sex (2000), co-starring
Famke Janssen. Favreau got some screen time as
lawyer Foggy Nelson in the 2003 movie
Daredevil (2003) (considerably more in the
Director's Cut version). In 2003 he also starred in
The Big Empty, directed by
Steve Anderson. His character was
John Person, an out of work actor given a strange mission to deliver a blue suitcase to a man named
Cowboy in the desert. Earlier, Favreau appeared in 2000's
The Replacements as maniacal linebacker Daniel Bateman. He was a guest-director for an episode of the college
dramedy Undeclared in 2001.
In 2000, he played himself in a
Sopranos episode as a Hollywood director who feigns interest in developing mob associate
Christopher Moltisanti's execrable screenplay in order to collect material for his own screenplay.
In 2001, he made his (film) directorial debut with another self-penned screenplay,
Made.
Made once again teamed him up with his
Swingers co-star
Vince Vaughn. In the fall of 2003, he scored his first financial success as a director of the hit comedy
Elf starring
Will Ferrell and
James Caan. Also in 2003, Favreau had a small part in
Something's Gotta Give (a film starring
Diane Keaton and
Jack Nicholson); Favreau played Leo, Harry Sanborn's (Nicholson) personal assistant, who visited Harry in the hospital. In 2005, Favreau directed the
film adaptation of
Zathura. Never to turn his back on acting, Favreau still makes regular appearances in film and television. He recently reunited with friend
Vince Vaughn in the much-hyped hit romantic comedy
The Break-Up and appeared in
My Name Is Earl as a reprehensible fast food manager. Favreau also made a guest appearance in Vaughn's
Wild West Comedy Show.
Also in 2005, Jon appeared as a guest judge and executive representative of Sony corporation in week five of NBC primetime reality TV business show,
The Apprentice. He was called upon to judge the efforts of the show's two teams of contestants, who were assigned the task of designing and building a float to publicise his 2005 Sony Pictures movie,
Zathura.
Favreau also has a
TV series called
Dinner for Five which airs on the
cable TV channel
IFC. On April 28, 2006, it was announced that Favreau was signed to direct the long awaited
Iron Man movie.
[7] Released on May 2, 2008, the film was a huge critical
[8] and commercial
[9] success, solidifying Favreau's reputation as a director. Favreau was the third director attached to
John Carter of Mars, the film adaptation of
Edgar Rice Burroughs' swashbuckling
space hero.
Robert Rodriguez and
Kerry Conran were previously attached within the last two years.
Mark Protosevich and
Ehren Kruger have both written drafts.
The Marshal in Revelation has been in development since
Swingers was released. It's a
western about a
Hasidic gunslinger. At one time both Favreau and Vince Vaughn were to co-direct.
Neanderthals is a
CG animated film that Favreau will write and produce.
Johnny Zero will cover the birth of the
hot rod movement following World War II. Favreau will write and direct.
Iron Man was the first
Marvel-produced movie under their alliance with
Paramount, and Favreau served as the director and an executive producer. He recently told MTV that he would like to be at the helm of an
Avengers film. During early scenes in
Iron Man Favreau appears as Tony Stark's loyal friend, and driver,
Happy Hogan. He also wrote a mini-series for
Marvel Knights titled
Iron Man: Viva Las Vegas, that started in September 2008,
[10] and directed the sequel
Iron Man 2.
Favreau co-starred in 2009's
Couples Retreat, a comedy chronicling four couples who partake in therapy sessions at a tropical island resort, which he also wrote. The film saw him reunited with co-star
Vince Vaughn, and
Kristin Davis played his wife.
[11] On June 22, 2009, it was announced that Favreau will provide the voice of a bear in
Kevin James' The Zookeeper.
He also plays the voice-role of Mandalorian
Pre Vizsla in the series
Star Wars: The Clone Wars in various episodes.
Personal life
Favreau married Joya Tillem on November 24, 2000. The couple have three children, a son, Max, born July 25, 2001, and two daughters, Madeleine, born April 2003, and Brighton Rose, born August 2006. Joya Tillem is the niece of
KGO (AM) lawyer/talk show host
Len Tillem.
[12]
Favreau also plays on the
World Poker Tour in the Hollywood Home games for the Cancer Care charity.
Favreau also plays on the
World Poker Tour in the Hollywood Home games for the Cancer Care charity.
He is also very close friends with
Vince Vaughan.
Favreau credits
Dungeons & Dragons with giving him "...a really strong background in imagination, storytelling, understanding how to create tone and a sense of balance."
[13]
Favreau frequently Tweets during his day, which included updates from rehearsals
[14] of
Iron Man 2.
Filmography
Actor
To see more of Who Is
click here
Who is Cas Haley? The entertainment and music world knows Cas Haley as an American singer/guitarist who was the runner-up on Season 2 of America's Got Talent. He also plays in the band Woodbelly, and plays both acoustic and electric guitar.
In June 2009, it was announced that Haley & former Jah Roots lead singer, Josh Heinrichs, would release "Favorites", a collection of modern and classic reggae favorites redone by Haley and Heinrichs. Announced to be released in late summer 2009 by Big Karma Records, the album was postponed to due to producer Jim Slaton's unexpected death from a heart attack in August 2009. The album has since been released. The album was mastered by Rob Fraboni who also produced and mastered artists such as Bob Marley, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, The Rolling Stones, Etta James, etc...[2]
