New York University (NYU), one of the most renowned and influential universities in the world, and one of the world's premier residential research and teaching institutions, has been the subject of numerous aspects of popular culture. NYU is often portrayed in a variety of television shows, motion pictures, literature, and other media. This is a partially sorted list of NYU's representation in various films and television programs. Fictional NYU students and faculty include Kramer's intern Darren in Seinfeld, who helps him run "Kramerica Industries"; a student reporter in a different episode of Seinfeld who interviews Jerry; Theo Huxtable (Malcolm-Jamal Warner) from The Cosby Show, who graduates from NYU in the series finale; Ross Geller (David Schwimmer) from Friends, who becomes an NYU professor in Season 6; Character Tom Collins from Rent, who taught there; Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen) in the movie Wall Street (1987); Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas) from the American Pie films; Paul Tannek (Jason Biggs) in Loser (2000); Alex Foreman (Scarlett Johansson) in In Good Company (2005); Jack Campbell (Nicolas Cage) in The Family Man (2000); Clark Kellogg (Matthew Broderick) in The Freshman (1990); Justin Cobb (Lou Taylor Pucci) in the film version of Thumbsucker (2005), who secretly applies and is accepted to NYU; the songwriter Albert Peterson in the musical Bye Bye Birdie who promises his sweetheart Rosie to start studying at NYU and become an English teacher; and the characters Blair Waldorf, Dan Humphrey, Vanessa Abrams and Georgina Sparks in Gossip Girl. In the 1998 film Stepmom (film), the character Isabel (Julia Roberts), in a scene says that she attended NYU. In the 1999 film The Bone Collector, an NYU student gets abducted. In the Hindi film Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na, the lead character decides to go to the USA to study film-making at New York University.
In addition, the campus of NYU has been the backdrop for various pieces of fiction: Grace Adler's office in Will & Grace is portrayed in the show as being in the Puck Building, home to NYU's Wagner School; Henry James' novel Washington Square is set around the NYU area; and Rose of Washington Square (1939), 13 Washington Square (1928), Annie Hall (1977), When Harry Met Sally (1989), Tithonus (The X-Files) (1999), I Am Legend (2007), August Rush (2007), Remember Me (2010), Step Up 3-D (2010) and The Sorcerer's Apprentice (2010) are centered on the NYU campus. In Ralph Bakshi's animated feature Fritz The Cat (1972), the dormitory that Fritz burns down is clearly supposed to be NYU's Weinstein Hall, located at 5-11 University Place near the northeast corner of Washington Square Park. The Warner Brothers show Felicity was set at the "University of New York", clearly modeled after NYU. NYU is also featured in the TV show Californication.
List of fictional characters
The following are characters in film, television, literature, and other media that have a connection to the university: