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Michael Cera
Cera in 2012
Born	Michael Austin Cera (1988-06-07) June 7, 1988 (age 36) Brampton, Ontario, Canada
Occupation(s)	Actor, musician
Years active	1998–present

Michael Austin Cera (/ˈsɛrə/; born June 7, 1988) is a Canadian actor well known for his roles in Arrested Development, Youth in Revolt, Superbad, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and Juno. In 2010, he won the Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture for Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.

Early life

Cera was born in Brampton, Ontario. He is the son of Linda (née Cockman) and Luigi Cera, a technician. His father is from Sicily, Italy, and his mother has English, Irish, Scottish, and Dutch ancestry. His parents both worked for Xerox. Cera has an older sister, Jordan, and a younger sister, Molly. He became interested in acting after viewing Ghostbusters repeatedly when sick with the chicken pox at the age of three. He memorized all the dialogue and idolized Bill Murray. He enrolled in The Second City Toronto and took improvisation classes.

He attended Conestoga Public School, Robert H. Lagerquist Senior Public School and Heart Lake Secondary School until grade nine, but then completed school online through grade twelve.

Acting

His first role was an unpaid appearance in a Tim Hortons summer camp commercial. That eventually led to a Pillsbury commercial in which he poked the Pillsbury Doughboy, his first role with lines.

Rise

"Arrested Development never felt safe. Even the first season, we did thirteen episodes, and we thought we'd never do a back nine. So I never thought in a million years we'd get to make three seasons. I was happy we got that far. I thought it was really good, and I'm really proud of it. I don't think we made a bad episode."

Cera's career began when he was cast as Larrabe Hicks in the Canadian television series I Was a Sixth Grade Alien in 1999. In 2002, Cera played the young Chuck Barris in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and he also provided the voice for Brother Bear in The Berenstain Bears animated series. Also in 2002, he was cast in The Grubbs, a new Fox TV series. It received a poor critical response, including an E! Online review that called it "the worst sitcom ever produced". He also voiced Josh Spitz in the cartoon Braceface. He played George Michael Bluth in the award-winning television series Arrested Development for three seasons before it was canceled for six years. In 2005, he starred as Harold in the award winning short film Darling Darling, for which he was awarded Best Actor at the San Gio Festival in Verona, Italy. In 2006, he created and starred in a parody of Impossible is Nothing, a video résumé created by Aleksey Vayner. He also guest-starred in an episode of teen noir drama Veronica Mars – in the episode "The Rapes of Graff", which also featured Arrested Development co-star Alia Shawkat – and also in the Adult Swim series Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!.

Cera, along with best friend Clark Duke, wrote and starred in a series of short videos released on their website. The idea came from Duke, who was enrolled at Loyola Marymount University and did it for his film school studies. In 2007, they signed a deal with CBS Television to write, produce, direct, and act in a short-form comedy series entitled Clark and Michael. The show featured guest stars such as David Cross, Andy Richter and Patton Oswalt, and was distributed via CBS's new internet channel, CBS Innertube. Duke and Cera are both members of the band The Long Goodbye.

Cera also appeared in a staged comedy video that shows him being fired from the lead role of the film Knocked Up after belittling and arguing with the director, in a scene that mocks the David O. Russell blow up on the set of I Heart Huckabees.

Cera starred in a proposed TV commercial that was filmed in 2009 to launch Apple's first iPad, but it, and other such planned TV ads for the product, never aired.

Continuation into movies

Cera starred alongside Jonah Hill in the film Superbad, which was written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. The film opened in North America on August 17, 2007. In November 2007, he hosted Saturday Night Live on strike, a live staged version of SNL not shown on television due to the 2007 Writers Guild of America Strike. Also in 2007, Cera co-starred in Juno as Paulie Bleeker, a teenager who impregnates his long-time school friend Juno (Ellen Page). For Superbad and Juno, Cera won Breakthrough Artist in the Austin Film Critics Association Awards 2007.

In 2007, Cera appeared in the comedy short "Drunk History", playing Alexander Hamilton in a comedic retelling of Hamilton's duel with Aaron Burr. Cera starred in the independent film Paper Heart. It was written by and co-starred Charlyne Yi, and premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival where it won a screenwriting award. Cera and Yi composed the movie's soundtrack. He also starred alongside Jack Black in the 2009 comedy Year One. In 2009, Cera's first published short story, "Pinecone", appeared in McSweeney's Quarterly. In January 2010, Cera starred in a film adaptation of the novel Youth in Revolt, in the role of the lead character, Nick Twisp, and his destructive "supplementary persona", François Dillinger.

Cera played the title character in the film adaptation of the graphic novel Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, released in August 2010.

In 2013, Cera is starring in Magic Magic, a film directed by Sebastian Silva and filmed in Chile, for which he spent "five hours a day learning Spanish".

Upcoming projects

According to press reports, Cera will appear in the Arrested Development film. Cera is also a writer for the fourth season of Arrested Development. Cera was being considered for the voice of the new Muppet Walter, for The Muppets, but the role was given to muppeteer Peter Linz.

Cera is collaborating with Reggie Watts, Tim & Eric, and Sarah Silverman and created the web-based comedy Youtube channel known as Jash. Cera is part of the cast of Burning Love, a web spoof of ABC's The Bachelor and The Bachelorette.

Music

In 2010 Cera contributed mandolin and backing vocals to the Weezer song "Hang On" from their album Hurley. Cera has also established himself as the touring bass player in Mister Heavenly, an indie rock band originating in the American northwest. Cera also played bass and sang back up during songs in both Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist.

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards

See also

• List of former child actors from Canada

References

1. Schneller, Johanna (2007-12-29). "Triple threat". The Globe and Mail. pp. R1–3.
2. Rhodes, Joe (2007-08-15). "'Superbad' – but in a good way". Springfield State Journal Register. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-08-18. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
3. http://www.thestar.ie/star/michael-cera-colin-is-farr-too-boring/
4. Biography Today. Detroit, Michigan: Omnigraphics. 2009. p. 19. ISBN 978-0-7808-1051-8.
5. ^ "Biography Today", pp.20
6. ^ Leszcz, Benjamin (2006-01-04). "The essence of adolescence". National Post. Retrieved 2007-08-20.
7. ^ Strauss, Bob (2007-12-08). "Hollywood heavy still a Brampton beanpole". The Globe and Mail. p. R1.
8. Leszcz, Benjamin (2007). "Que Sera Cera". Toronto Life. Retrieved 2007-12-19. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
9. ^ Jones, Chris (July 2009), "Michael Cera". Esquire. 152 (1):86–88
10. "Biography Today", pp.21–23
11. ^ Male, Andrew (2007-09-15). "Sardonic youth". London: Guardian Unlimited. Retrieved 2007-09-15. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
12. “” (2006-12-20). "Youtube ''Impossible is the Opposite of Possible''". Youtube.com. Retrieved 2010-12-07.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
13. "Biography Today", pp.24
14. "Clark and Michael website". Clarkandmichael.com. Retrieved 2010-12-07.
15. "Wired ''Sitcom to Bitcom''". Wired.com. 2009-01-04. Retrieved 2010-12-07.
16. Isaacson, Walter (2011). Steve Jobs. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster. p. 499. ISBN 9781451648539.
17. Strauss, Bob (2007-12-08). "Hollywood heavy still a Brampton beanpole". The Globe and Mail. p. R1.
18. "UCBcomedy.com". UCBcomedy.com. Retrieved 2010-12-07.
19. Dimension Films (2007-08-15). "Michael Cera Is Nick Twisp". MovieWeb. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2007-08-19. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
20. "Here's what happens". Bryan Lee O' Malley. Retrieved April 4, 2008.
21. Hernandez, Lee (2011-02-11). ""Juno" Star Michael Cera Takes Up Spanish as a Second Language". Latina magazine. Retrieved 2011-02-11.
22. Dos Santos, Kristin (2009-02-24). "Sources: Michael Cera Joins Arrested Development Movie". E! Online – Watch with Kristin. Retrieved 2009-02-27.
23. Crider, Michael (October 2, 2011). "'Arrested Development' Returning For Season 4 – To Lead Into Movie". Screenrant. Retrieved May 1, 2012.
24. Porter, Rick (April 18, 2012). "'Arrested Development' Season 4: Netflix releasing all 10 episodes at once next year". Zap2it. Retrieved May 1, 2012.
25. http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/24/michael-cera-on-the-return-of-arrested-development/
26. Michael Cera, Alan Arkin Offered The Muppets", NewsInFilm.com. November 1, 2010.
27. Matheson, Whitney (2013-03-11). "JASH: Your fave comedians launch a YouTube channel". USA Today. Retrieved 11 March 2013.
28. Danton, Eric R. (2013-03-11). "Sarah Silverman, Michael Cera Launch JASH Comedy Channel on YouTube". Rolling Stone Magazine. Retrieved 11 March 2013.
29. Dorof, Jakob. "Weezer – Hurley". Slantmagazine. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
30. December 2, 2010 12:40 a.m. by Erik Ziedses des Plantes (2010-11-30). "Michael Cera Is Apparently Mister Heavenly's Bassist". Prefixmag.com. Retrieved 2010-12-07.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

External links

• Michael Cera at IMDb
• Michael Cera's Crew Profile on The 1 Second Film

Template:Persondata

• 1988 births
• Male actors from Ontario
• Canadian male child actors
• Canadian expatriate actors in the United States
• Canadian male film actors
• Canadian people of Sicilian descent
• Canadian male television actors
• Living people
• People from Brampton
• 20th-century Canadian male actors
• 21st-century Canadian male actors
• Canadian television writers