Jay Baruchel


Jonathan Adam Saunders Baruchel is a Canadian actor, director, stand-up comedian and screenwriter. He is known for his voice role as Hiccup in the How to Train Your Dragon franchise, and for his roles in comedy movies such as Knocked Up, Tropic Thunder, The Trotsky, Fanboys, She's Out of My League, Goon, This Is the End and the action-fantasy film The Sorcerer's Apprentice. He has had lead roles as Josh Greenberg in the FXX comedy television series Man Seeking Woman and Steven Karp in Judd Apatow's comedy series Undeclared.

Early life

Baruchel was born in Ottawa, Ontario, the son of Robyne, a freelance writer, and Serge Baruchel, an antiques dealer. He grew up in the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce neighbourhood of Montreal, Quebec and has a younger sister. His paternal grandfather was a Sephardic Jew, while his three other grandparents were from a Christian background.

Career

Baruchel got his first acting job when he was just 12. One of his first major acting roles was on local television series My Hometown in 1996. From 1997 to 1998, he co-hosted Popular Mechanics for Kids with Elisha Cuthbert. After appearing briefly in Cameron Crowe's Oscar winning film Almost Famous, Baruchel won the role of Steven Karp on Judd Apatow's acclaimed yet short-lived television series Undeclared, where he starred alongside Seth Rogen, Carla Gallo, Charlie Hunnam and Monica Keena. He then appeared with James Van Der Beek in Roger Avary's The Rules of Attraction.
In 2004, Baruchel played boxing hopeful Danger Barch in Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby. Baruchel then starred in Nemesis Game and Fetching Cody, before appearing opposite Don Johnson on the WB's Just Legal in 2005, and guest-starring on the CBS drama Numb3rs in 2006.
Baruchel appeared in the films Knocked Up, I'm Reed Fish, Just Buried, and the Ben Stiller-directed Tropic Thunder, alongside Jack Black, Nick Nolte, Steve Coogan and Robert Downey, Jr. He co-starred with Seth Rogen in the 2007 trailer for Jay and Seth versus the Apocalypse, created by Rogen and Evan Goldberg as a strategy to garner interest and funding for a similar, larger-scale project. In 2008, he appeared in Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. He also made a brief appearance in '.
In 2010, Baruchel starred in the films The Trotsky, DreamWorks' She's Out of My League, and the live-action Disney adaptation of The Sorcerer's Apprentice. He also voiced the starring role in the acclaimed animated feature, How to Train Your Dragon, a role he has subsequently continued throughout the franchise, including its. Also in 2010, he played two supporting characters in the Canadian comedy series The Drunk and On Drugs Happy Fun Time Hour. He developed the screenplay for Goon, with Evan Goldberg, playing Johnny Klutz, a character of his own creation. Goon co-stars Seann William Scott and fellow Canadian actor Eugene Levy.
Baruchel also appeared in the 2010 Adidas Originals ad campaign, "Cantina", in conjunction with the FIFA World Cup and in video clips for Canadian prog-rockers Rush's 2012–13 Clockwork Angels tour.
signing autographs during a USO tour on June 4, 2014, at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst
In July 2012, he appeared in the music video for the song "Toxsik Waltz" by rapper Necro. In the summer of 2013, he starred in the hit apocalyptic comedy This Is the End and in 2014, he appeared in the RoboCop remake and reprised his role as Hiccup in How to Train Your Dragon 2.
In July 2014, it was announced that Baruchel would be starring in the FXX comedy Man Seeking Woman which premiered in January 2015. He also appeared in the 2015 music video for the song "Every Little Means Trust" by Idlewild.
Baruchel was also involved in writing the Chapterhouse comic book series Captain Canuck.
Baruchel wrote, directed and starred in the 2017 sports comedy film ', the sequel to the 2011 film Goon.
In 2018, he made his debut as an author, with Born Into It: A Fan's Life, released on Harper Collins. The book explored his love of the Montreal Canadiens with anecdotes, childhood memories and heartfelt tales about his life as a fan of the team.
After , 2019 saw Baruchel star in the Danish film The Kindness of Strangers and the Canadian horror film Random Acts of Violence, which was his second film as a director.

Personal life

Baruchel was engaged to actress Alison Pill from 2011 to 2013. He alluded to their break-up in a Twitter post on February 16, 2013. In May 2018, Baruchel announced his engagement to his girlfriend Rebecca-Jo Dunham. They were married on September 21, 2019 in Portugal.
Baruchel has said that he is "probably agnostic".
Baruchel has several tattoos: a Celtic cross to honour his Irish heritage, and a red Maple Leaf on his left pectoral, which can be seen in Fanboys, Knocked Up, Tropic Thunder and This Is the End.

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and nominations

YearAwardCategoryNominated workResult
2007US Comedy Arts FestivalBest Actor AwardI'm Reed Fish
2010Canadian Comedy AwardsBest Performance by a Male – FilmThe Trotsky
2011Annie AwardsBest Voice Acting in an Animated Feature ProductionHow to Train Your Dragon
2011Genie AwardsBest Performance by an Actor in a Leading RoleThe Trotsky
2011Jutra AwardsBest Actor The Trotsky
2011Vancouver Film Critics CircleBest Actor in a Canadian FilmThe Trotsky
2013Canadian Screen AwardsAdapted Screenplay Goon
2013Vancouver Film Critics CircleBest Supporting Actor in a Canadian FilmGoon
2014Canadian Screen AwardsPerformance by an Actor in a Supporting RoleThe Art of the Steal
2014MTV Movie AwardsBest Musical MomentThis Is the End
2019ACTRA AwardAward of Excellence
2019Daytime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Performer in an Animated ProgramDragons: Race to the Edge: Season 6