Jeremy Piven

Biography

Jeremy Piven (born July 26, 1965, Manhattan, New York City) is an American actor and comedian, the son of actors and drama teachers Byrne Piven (1929–2002) and Joyce Hiller Piven (1930–2025). He was raised in Evanston, Illinois, where he performed in his first play at age eight, and graduated from Drake University before studying at New York University. He achieved his greatest success as the fast-talking Hollywood agent Ari Gold in HBO's Entourage (2004–2011), earning three consecutive Primetime Emmy Awards (2006–2008) and a Golden Globe (2008). He also starred as the title character in the British period drama Mr Selfridge (2013–2016) and as Spence Kovak on Ellen (1996–1998). In 2017 his CBS series Wisdom of the Crowd was cancelled amid allegations of sexual misconduct, which he denied and which he later described as "collateral damage" of the #MeToo movement; he has since returned to work and now lives in Austin, Texas, where he also tours as a stand-up comedian. His notable film credits include Singles (1992) (Bridget Fonda, Woody Harrelson), Heat (1995) (Al Pacino, Robert De Niro), Grosse Pointe Blank (1997) (John Cusack, Dan Aykroyd), Very Bad Things (1998) (Cameron Diaz, Christian Slater), The Family Man (2000) (Nicolas Cage, Téa Leoni), Serendipity (2001) (John Cusack, Kate Beckinsale), Black Hawk Down (2001) (Tom Cruise, Edward Burns), Old School (2003) (Will Ferrell, Luke Wilson), Runaway Jury (2003) (Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman), Smokin' Aces (2007) (Ryan Gosling, Ben Foster), The Kingdom (2007) (Jamie Foxx, Chris Cooper), RocknRolla (2008) (Tom Hardy, Gerard Butler), The Performance (2025) (Robert Carlyle, Maimie McCoy), Primitive War (2025) (Ryan Kwanten, Tricia Helfer), and Past Life (2026) (Aneurin Barnard, Pixie Lott). On television he has appeared in The Larry Sanders Show (1992–1993), Entourage (2004–2011), Mr Selfridge (2013–2016), Wisdom of the Crowd (2017–2018), and The Entourage (2024).