Jesse Eisenberg

Early life

Eisenberg was born in Queens, New York, and grew up in East Brunswick, New Jersey. His mother, Amy (née Fishman), who now teaches cross cultural sensitivity in hospitals, previously worked as a clown at children's parties and choreographer for a Catholic high school for 20 years. His father, Barry Eisenberg, drove a taxicab, then owned and worked at a hospital, and later became a college professor, teaching sociology. He has two sisters, Hallie Kate Eisenberg, a former child actress who was once famous as the "Pepsi girl" in a series of commercials. His other sister, Kerri Eisenberg, now Kerry Lea, who also worked as an actress, ran a vegetarianism and animal rights-based children's theatre troupe, and is now an independent artist in New York.

Jesse is Jewish and was brought up in a secular Jewish family that originated in Poland and Ukraine. He attended the East Brunswick Public Schools at Frost School, Hammarskjold Middle School, Churchill Junior High School, and spent his sophomore year at East Brunswick High School. Eisenberg then transferred to the High School of Performing Arts in New York. When he was a senior, he received his breakthrough role in the independent comedy-drama film Roger Dodger. His work in the film prevented Eisenberg from enrolling at New York University. Instead, Eisenberg would go on to study anthropology and contemporary architecture at The New School in Greenwich Village, where he majored in liberal arts, with a concentration in democracy and cultural pluralism.

Eisenberg struggled to fit in at school due to an anxiety disorder, and began acting in plays at an early age. When he was 7, he starred as Oliver Twist in a children's theater production of the musical Oliver!, and by the age of 12 he was an understudy in the 1996 Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams' Summer and Smoke. At 13, he understudied the role of Young Scrooge in a musical version of A Christmas Carol starring Tony Randall. Eisenberg made his first professional role in Arje Shaw's off-Broadway play, The Gathering, at the age of 16. He stated, "When playing a role, I would feel more comfortable, as you're given a prescribed way of behaving."

Eisenberg started writing screenplays at sixteen, some of which were optioned by major studios, but claimed that he was dissatisfied with the lack of control he had over his creations once they were sold. Pre-fame, Eisenberg got into trouble with Woody Allen's lawyers. As a teenager he penned a play about how Allen came to change his name and managed to get the script to Allen's "people". Instead of a seal of approval, Eisenberg received two "cease and desist" letters. Ironically, Eisenberg went on to star in two films directed by Allen, To Rome with Love, and Café Society.

1999–2008: Early work

Eisenberg made his television debut in the series Get Real, from 1999 to 2000. In 2001, he appeared in a UK Dr Pepper commercial as "Butt Naked Boy." After appearing in the made-for-television film Lightning: Fire from the Sky at 18, he starred in the independent film Roger Dodger (for which he won an award at the San Diego Film Festival for Most Promising New Actor), and in The Emperor's Club, both of which were released in 2002 to generally positive reviews. Eisenberg was sick for the majority of the nightclub scene and can be seen sweating in different shots.

In 2005, Eisenberg appeared in Cursed, a horror film directed by Wes Craven, and The Squid and the Whale, a well-reviewed independent drama starring Laura Linney and Jeff Daniels. In 2007, he starred opposite Richard Gere and Terrence Howard in The Hunting Party, a comic thriller in which he plays an American journalist reporting from Bosnia. In 2009, Eisenberg played the lead role Adventureland, a comedy directed by Greg Mottola and filmed in Kennywood Park, near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Filming wrapped in October 2007, and the film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2009. In November 2007, Eisenberg was cast in the indie comic-drama Holy Rollers alongside his sister, Hallie Eisenberg, who played his fictional sister in the film. He played a young Hasidic Jew who becomes involved in the ecstasy smuggling trade, using his religion as a disguise to deal without suspicion. Filming took place in New York in 2008. During the late 2000s, he also had roles in the independent films Solitary Man, playing college student Daniel, and Camp Hell, a horror film directed by George Van Buskirk.

2009–2011: Breakthrough and critical success

Jesse Eisenberg's breakthrough starring role was in Zombieland. The horror-comedy, which saw him with Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin on a roadtrip through a post-zombie apocalypse America, was a sleeper hit. In 2010, he portrayed Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg in the film The Social Network, for which he earned the Best Actor Award from the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, and nominations for Best Actor at the BAFTA Awards, Golden Globes, and Academy Awards. According to the film's director, David Fincher, both he and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin knew Eisenberg was the one for the role as soon as they watched his audition tape, despite Eisenberg's own anxieties about his audition. On November 22, 2010, Eisenberg was honored, along with Whoopi Goldberg, Joycelyn Engle, and Harvey Krueger, at the Children at Heart Celebrity Dinner Gala and Fantasy Auction, to benefit the children of the Chernobyl disaster. Steven Spielberg is Chair of the event each year. On January 29, 2011, Eisenberg hosted Saturday Night Live on NBC, with musical guest Nicki Minaj. During his opening monologue, Zuckerberg himself appeared. Eisenberg said that meeting the man he portrayed on-screen was "an overwhelming experience," and was happy that "we were both able to have fun at the situation." Zuckerberg, who has been a vocal disser on the artistic licenses taken by The Social Network, would later say that he thought Eisenberg "was a little afraid to meet me after his portrayal, but I tried to be nice."

In 2011, he starred in the box-office animated hit Rio, as the main character Blu, a metropolitan, domesticated male Spix's macaw who learns how to fly. He starred alongside Anne Hathaway, his former co-star (and onscreen sibling) from Get Real, as well as George Lopez, Tracy Morgan, will.i.am and Jamie Foxx. He featured in one song, "Real in Rio", in the film's soundtrack, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song. He also starred alongside Aziz Ansari, Danny McBride, and Nick Swardson in 30 Minutes or Less, a film noir heist-comedy about a pizza delivery man, played by Eisenberg, who is forced to rob a bank, which was released in August 2011. In October 2011, Eisenberg made his playwriting debut in Rattlestick Playwrights Theater's Off-Broadway production of Asuncion, staged at Cherry Lane Theatre. Eisenberg also acted in the play, which was directed by Kip Fagan. The play highlights two overeducated, liberal-minded friends, played by Eisenberg and Justin Bartha, whose assumptions are challenged by their new Filipina roommate, played by Camille Mana.

2012–present

In 2012, he starred alongside Melissa Leo in Why Stop Now, a drama about a drug addict mother (Leo) and her piano prodigy son (Eisenberg), and in the magical realist romantic comedy To Rome with Love, directed by Woody Allen. That same year, he filed a $3 million lawsuit against the producers of the 2010 direct-to-DVD film Camp Hell, claiming exploitation. According to the lawsuit, Eisenberg agreed to appear in the film as a favor to his friends. He was on set for one day of filming in 2007, earned about $3,000, and logged only a few minutes of total screentime. Because of his minimal involvement in the production, he was surprised to see that his face was prominently featured on the cover of the DVD, implying that he starred in the film. His lawsuit asserts various California law causes of action, including claims for unfair business practices and publicity rights.

In 2013, Eisenberg reunited with Woody Harrelson for the magician heist film thriller Now You See Me, playing a world-famous close-up magician and street performer recruited into a secret group of elite magicians to pull off bank heists with magic tricks, redistributing the money from a wealthy businessman (Michael Caine) to victims of his corrupt capitalist schemes. That year he announced his plan to continue writing, for both stage and screen, as well as continuing to act. He debuted his second play, The Revisionist, and starred in Richard Ayoade's drama, The Double (2013), which was shot in 2012. In the following years, Eisenberg reprised his role as Blu in Rio 2 (2014), and starred alongside Kristen Stewart in the action comedy American Ultra (2015), playing a rogue sleeper agent being chased by the C.I.A.

In 2015, Eisenberg portrayed Rolling Stone journalist David Lipsky in the biographical drama film The End of the Tour, appearing opposite Jason Segel, who portrayed the late author David Foster Wallace. Eisenberg's third play, The Spoils, premiered off-Broadway in The New Group Perishing Square Signature Center Alice Griffin Box Theatre. The play featuring Eisenberg as Ben, also starring Kunal Nayyar, Michael Zegen, Erin Darke, and Annapurna Sriram, was the winner of The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation Theatre Visions Fund Award. On September 8, 2015, Eisenberg released his first book, Bream Gives Me Hiccups, a collection of short humor pieces.

Eisenberg serves on the Board of Advisors for Playing On Air, a public radio show/podcast that works with contemporary playwrights to produce plays for "today's digital audience." He has written one short play for Playing On Air, called A Little Part of All of Us (2015), which he starred in with Justin Bartha. He has voiced for two other plays, The Final Interrogation of Ceaucescu's Dog (2015), written by Warren Leight, and The Blizzard (2016), written by David Ives and directed by John Rando.

Eisenberg played the supervillain Lex Luthor in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which was released in March 2016, to mixed reviews. Eisenberg's performance in particular was criticized by comic book fans and film reviewers, later earning him the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actor. He would defend himself by saying he attempted to "make these people real and relatable and interesting and engaging, not just, you know, a surface bad person."

Eisenberg then reunited with Woody Allen and Kristen Stewart in Café Society, The film had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on May 11, 2016. Eisenberg next reprised his role as street magician J. Daniel "Danny" Atlas in Now You See Me 2, which was released on June 10, 2016, previewed June 9, to mixed reviews. The film was shot primarily in London and Macau. It has grossed over $267 million worldwide, and Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer announced that they had "already begun early planning for Now You See Me 3.

On June 2, 2016, Eisenberg's play The Spoils began a run at London's Trafalgar Studios in the West End, with Scott Elliott returning to direct. Eisenberg again played the lead, along with Nayyar and Sriram, while Zegen and Darke's characters were replaced by Alfie Allen and Katie Brayben respectively.

Eisenberg participated in the inaugural "The 24 Hour Musicals: Los Angeles" on July 17, 2017 at the United Artists Theater, Ace Hotel. He composed the music and co-wrote, alongside his writing partner, Elizabeth Meriweather, Shoshana and Her Lovers, a musical about four lesbian sisters. The event proceeds went to the Dramatists Legal Defense Fund, a "nonprofit arm of the Dramatists Guild of America which advocates for the freedom of expression and advocates on behalf of all who are confronting censorship on stages across America."

Upcoming projects

Eisenberg is creating, writing, and directing a comedy adaptation of Bream Gives Me Hiccups with Jax Media, starring Parker Posey, Victor Rasuk, and Elliott Smith. A pilot was filmed in June. A sequel to the 2009 Zombieland is reportedly in development at Sony, with a logo for Zombieland 2 having debuted at 2016 CinemaCon. Writers of the first Zombieland, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, are penning the script, with David Callaham on board as writer with Ruben Fleischer as director. In May 2016, Eisenberg teased that he would be reprising his role as Lex Luthor in the upcoming Justice League film. This was restated in an interview with ShortList magazine the following month. An official press kit, released by Warner Bros. on December 22, 2016 confirmed the return.

Eisenberg will play the famous mime Marcel Marceau in Resistance, directed and written by Jonathan Jakubowicz. It will focus on Marceau's part in the French resistance during World War II. He will also join Pierce Brosnan and Vanessa Redgrave in a film based on the book The Wreck of Medusa about the painting The Raft of the Medusa as artist Théodore Géricault. Alongside Alexander Skarsgard, Eisenberg will star as a high-frequency trader in Kim Nguyen's tech drama The Hummingbird Project.

He is set to write, direct, and star in Bad Robot's comedy The Market about a "recently widowed Harold Katzman who moves to Pittsburgh to live with his adult son, Stan (Eisenberg). Both men simultaneously lose their jobs due to the changing American economy and are thrust into an unforgiving job market." He will executive produce with J.J. Abrams and Ben Stephenson.

Personal life

He dated Anna Strout from 2002 to 2012 after they met on the set of The Emperor's Club, where she worked as a crew member and assistant. Eisenberg dated Mia Wasikowska, his co-star in The Double,^[85][86] from 2013 to 2015.^[87][88] He has since gotten back together with Strout, and they married in 2017. The couple's son was born in 2017. He has worked with her at an Indiana domestic violence shelter, where Strout's mother, Toby Strout, serves as executive director.

Eisenberg lived with his sister Hallie and her boyfriend, Owen Danoff, singer-songwriter and contestant on season 10 of NBC's The Voice, in New York, until Hallie and Danoff moved to Nashville in June 2016. Eisenberg has been playing the drums since he was 8 years old. In 2007, Eisenberg started an online wordplay website with his cousin, a social design evangelist at Facebook, called OneUpMe. They re-launched the site in 2010, instead exclusively formatted for Facebook users.

Health

Eisenberg has obsessive–compulsive disorder and is open about it. He said of his condition: "I touch the tips of my fingers in a weird way; I don't step on cracks; if I'm going onto a new surface – be it carpet to concrete, or concrete to wood, or wood to concrete, any new surface – I have to make sure all parts of my feet touch the ground equally before I touch that new thing. So I'll often hesitate before walking into a new room." He has also spoken about going to therapy to manage his anxieties – OCD, separation anxiety, social anxiety – and depression, the latter of which he struggled with a lot when he was younger, as well as how acting helped him better cope. He has said that acting serves as his coping mechanism.

Eisenberg teamed up with Child Mind Institute in their #MyYoungerSelf project, where "each day in May a prominent individual will speak to his or her younger self about growing up with a mental health or learning disorder." In a video published on May 2, he spoke about his OCD and anxiety growing up.

Charity work and other interests

Eisenberg is fond of cats and has been involved in fostering animals. He is a vegetarian, and was vegan for a short period of time. He has been associated with Farm Sanctuary and has presented at several of their galas. In September, 2015, Eisenberg announced that, starting November, he would match donations made to Middle Way House, a domestic violence shelter in Bloomington, Indiana, up to $100,000 until April 3, 2016. All contributions made went towards the organization's mortgage payment fund that was matched by a committee, led by Eisenberg. "It's an incredible collective," Eisenberg told a reporter. "It's the kind of place where the residents go through their wonderful program and end up working there. It's saved so many lives."

Eisenberg is also a cast member with Theater of War, a performing arts non-profit that presents readings of Sophocles's Ajax and Philoctetes to military and civilian communities across the United States and Europe. "As an actor, sometimes you feel limited by the role you're in; stories without much meaning. [Theatre of War] allows you do something that has more substance and benefits people ... It's a greater purpose than just entertainment," Eisenberg said of the organization.

Eisenberg also works in performing for Voices of a People's History of the United States, which is an organization that works to "encourage civic engagement and to further history education by bringing the rich history of the United States to life through public readings of primary source materials." He read Howard Zinn's "The Problem is Civil Obedience" (1970) for Voices of a People's History as part of "NYU Portraits" 2011 event. Eisenberg is involved with Keep America Beautiful, which "[engages] individuals to take greater responsibility for improving their community environments," as well as Shoe Revolt, a "hybrid start-up company that auctions celeb shoes to raise funds to deploy a social franchising model which aims to educate, engage, and empower youth to take the lead in the fight against domestic sex trafficking through peer-to-peer involvement, training, activism and social enterprise development."

On September 12, Eisenberg, as well as Cate Blanchett, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Peter Capaldi, Douglas Booth, Neil Gaiman, Keira Knightley, Juliet Stevenson, Kit Harington, and Stanley Tucci, featured in a video from the United Nations' refugee agency UNHCR to help raise awareness about the global refugee crisis. The video, titled "What They Took With Them", has the actors reading a poem, written by Jenifer Toksvig and inspired by primary accounts of refugees, and is part of UNHCR's #WithRefugees campaign, which also includes a petition to governments to expand asylum to provide further shelter, integrating job opportunities, and education.