Eisenberg has contributed pieces to the websites of The New Yorker and McSweeney's. He has written and starred in three plays for the New York stage: Asuncion, The Revisionist, and The Spoils. He released his first book, Bream Gives Me Hiccups: and Other Stories in 2015.[2]
Early life and background
"... It taught me ... about the discipline about performance ... Every morning she had a duck party, she would wake up very early and tune her guitar and warm up her voice, and it taught me that you could take performance seriously. I think a lot of actors have trouble taking things seriously, ... but it's really like anything else in the world ... So it gave me the confidence to take it seriously and not make me feel silly for indulging in a role."
— Eisenberg, on the influence his mother's previous job as a children's clown had on his acting[3]
Jesse Adam Eisenberg[4] was born in Astoria, Queens (NYC) and grew up in East Brunswick, New Jersey.[5] His mother, Amy (née Fishman), who now teaches cross cultural sensitivity in hospitals, previously worked as a clown named Bonabini at children's parties and as a director/choreographer for a high school for 20 years.[3][6][7] His father, Barry Eisenberg, drove a taxicab, then worked at a hospital, and later became a college professor, teaching sociology.[8][9][10] He has two sisters: Hallie Eisenberg, a former child actress who was once famous as the "Pepsi girl" in a series of commercials; and Kerri Eisenberg, now Kerry Lea,[11] who also worked as an actress,[12] ran a vegetarianism- and animal rights-based children's theatre troupe,[13] and is now an independent artist in New York.[14]
Eisenberg struggled to fit in at school due to an anxiety disorder, and began acting in plays at an early age.[28] When he was seven he starred as Oliver Twist in a children's theater production of the musical Oliver!, and by 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.[29] He had his first professional role in Arje Shaw's off-Broadway play The Gathering at age 16.[30] He said, "When playing a role, I would feel more comfortable, as you're given a prescribed way of behaving."[31]
Eisenberg started writing screenplays at 16, some of which were optioned by major studios, but he claimed that he was dissatisfied with the lack of control he had over his creations once they were sold.[29] He once got into trouble with Woody Allen's lawyers when, 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, he received two cease and desist letters. Eisenberg later starred in two films directed by Allen, To Rome with Love[32] and Café Society.[33][34][35]
Career
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."[36] After appearing in the made-for-television film Lightning: Fire from the Sky at 18, he starred in the independent filmRoger 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.[37]
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.[25] 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 and was also 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.[38] In 2009, Eisenberg played the lead role alongside Kristen Stewart which would be the first of many collaborations between them in Adventureland, a comedy directed by Greg Mottola and filmed in Kennywood Park, near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Filming wrapped in October 2007,[39] and the film had its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in 2009. 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.[40][41]
2009–2011: Breakthrough and critical success
Eisenberg at the premiere of Zombieland in September 2009
On January 29, 2011, Eisenberg hosted Saturday Night Live on NBC, with musical guest Nicki Minaj. During his opening monologue, Zuckerberg himself appeared.[45] 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."[46] Zuckerberg, who has complained frequently about 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."[47]
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),[54] and in the magical realist romantic comedy To Rome with Love, directed by Woody Allen.[55] That same year, he filed a $3 millionlawsuit 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,[56] and logged only a few minutes of total screen time.[57] 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 lawcauses of action, including claims for unfair business practices and publicity rights.[58]
In 2013, Eisenberg reunited with Woody Harrelson for the magician heist 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.[59] He debuted his second play, The Revisionist,[60] and starred in Richard Ayoade's drama, The Double (2013), which was shot in 2012.[61] In the following years, Eisenberg reprised his role as Blu in Rio 2 (2014),[62] and reunited with Stewart in the action comedy American Ultra (2015), playing a rogue sleeper agent being chased by the C.I.A.[63]
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.[64] 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.[65] On September 8, 2015, Eisenberg released his first book, Bream Gives Me Hiccups, a collection of short humor pieces.[2][60]
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."[66] 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.[67] 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.[68][69]Eisenberg played the supervillain Lex Luthor in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,[70][71] which was released in March 2016, to generally negative reviews.[70][72] His performance in particular was criticized by comic book fans and film reviewers,[73] later earning him the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actor.[74] He defended himself by saying he attempted to "make these people real and relatable and interesting and engaging."[75] Years later Eisenberg shared that he felt joining the project was detrimental to his career because he was poorly received in the high-profile film.[76]
Eisenberg then reunited with Woody Allen and Kristen Stewart (for the third time) in Café Society.[33][77][78][79][80] The film held its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on May 11, 2016.[81] 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.[82][83] The film was shot primarily in London and Macau.[84][85] It grossed over $267 million worldwide,[86][87] and Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer announced that they had "already begun early planning for Now You See Me 3.[88] 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.[89] Eisenberg again played the lead role, along with Nayyar and Sriram, while Zegen and Darke's characters were replaced by Alfie Allen and Katie Brayben respectively.[90] In May 2016, Eisenberg teased that he would reprise his role of Lex Luthor in the Justice League film (2017).[91][92] An official press kit, released by Warner Bros. on December 22, 2016, confirmed the return.[93] He appeared as Luthor in the post-credits scene alongside Joe Manganiello, who played Slade Wilson/Deathstroke. Eisenberg joined Riley Stearns's dark comedy The Art of Self-Defense alongside Imogen Poots and Alessandro Nivola.[94][95] Principal photography began in Louisville, Kentucky, on September 11, 2017[96] and the film had its world premiere in 2019.
Eisenberg starred alongside Alexander Skarsgård as a high-frequency trader in Kim Nguyen's tech drama The Hummingbird Project that was released in 2018.[97] In the same year, he produce Jeremy Workman's documentary The World Before Your Feet, which follows a 37-year-old man named Matt Green who has walked over 9,000 miles on the streets of New York City. In an interview with Variety, Eisenberg talked about the film, stating, "it’s this fantastic tour of New York City. But more than that, its central character has this unusual relationship to his environment. He's simultaneously a tourist and a philosopher."[98] The documentary premiered to critical acclaim at the 2018 South by Southwest Film Festival where it was acquired by distributor Greenwich Entertainment.[99] It was released theatrically in November 2018[100] and has an approval rating of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.[101] The same month he appeared in the Serbian TV series Žigosani u reketu as the owner of an NBA club.[102]
In 2019, Eisenberg starred in the sequel Zombieland: Double Tap, directed by Ruben Fleischer.[103] Writers of the first Zombieland, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, penned the script with David Callaham.[104][105][106] Eisenberg's new play Happy Talk had its world premiere in 2019, with production by The New Group, marking his second collaboration with the company. The production is about "a suburban woman's efforts to take care of her family while starring in a community-theater production of South Pacific."[107] Originally titled Yea, Sister, the show was directed by Scott Elliott.[108]
Eisenberg dated Anna Strout from 2002 to 2012 after they met on the set of The Emperor's Club,[119] where she worked as an assistant to Lisa Bruce.[120] He then dated Mia Wasikowska, his co-star in The Double, from 2013 to 2015.[121] He later resumed his relationship with Strout[122] and they married in 2017.[123][124][125] Their son, Banner, was born in April 2017.[126] Eisenberg lived in New York City with his younger sister Hallie and her boyfriend, singer-songwriter Owen Danoff,[127][128] until June 2016, when Hallie and Danoff moved to Nashville, Tennessee.[129]
Eisenberg has played the drums since he was eight years old.[37] His favorite band is Ween.[130]
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.[131][132] Despite portraying Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in one of his most prominent film roles, Eisenberg does not use social media and said in 2016, "I'm terrified of that stuff. I live inside a bubble on purpose."[7] When asked if he used Facebook to prepare for his role as Zuckerberg, he said that he "signed on for, like, 20 seconds one time."[7]
Eisenberg collaborated 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.[142] Eisenberg is fond of cats and has been involved in fostering animals.[143] He has been associated with Farm Sanctuary and has presented at several of their galas.[144] In 2015 he stated, "I'm like 95% vegetarian."[145]
In September 2015, Eisenberg announced that from 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.[146] "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."[147] In an interview with Variety in March 2018, Eisenberg stated that he has raised almost $1 million for the shelter.[98]
Eisenberg is 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.[148] "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.[149]
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."[150] 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.[151] Eisenberg is involved with Keep America Beautiful, which "[engages] individuals to take greater responsibility for improving their community environments,"[152] 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."[153]
On September 12, 2016, Eisenberg, Cate Blanchett, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Peter Capaldi, Douglas Booth, Neil Gaiman, Keira Knightley, Juliet Stevenson, Kit Harington, and Stanley Tucci were 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.[154][155]
Eisenberg participated in the inaugural "The 24 Hour Musicals: Los Angeles" on July 17, 2017, at the United Artists Theater, Ace Hotel.[125][156] 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."[157] He previously acted in 24 Hour Plays: On Broadway 2011 and 2015, both times for New York's Urban Arts Partnership.[158] He was a special guest at the 2011 Urban Arts Partnership Prom and was an Honorary Chair on the organisation's 25th Anniversary Gala Benefit Committee.[159][160] On March 29, Urban Arts Partnership announced Eisenberg as a special guest for its 2018 gala AmplifiED, dedicated to New Yorkers fighting inequality in public education.[161]
Eisenberg was among a small group of actors and musicians who performed at The People's Summit 2017 in June, "a three-day conference of 4,000 left-wing activists and progressive political groups," as part of an adaptation of Howard Zinn's Voices of a People's History of the United States. The production, titled "The People Speak," was performed after Senator Bernie Sanders's keynote address. Eisenberg was cast by brother-in-law Anthony Arnove, who, along with Zinn, edited Voices of a People's History of the United States.[162]
Eisenberg spoke at a rally in support of Democratic Illinois gubernatorial candidate Daniel Biss on March 10, 2018, as well as at a meet and greet hosted by Reclaim Chicago and University of Chicago Student Action the day before, alongside State Representative Will Guzzardi.[163] He filmed two videos for the campaign, one for Biss's Facebook account and one for the Biss For Illinois YouTube platform.[164][165]
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^"Jewish Exponent". Casting for Truths: 'Squid and Whale' star Jesse Eisenberg astounds as troubled Jewish teen. Archived from the original on November 18, 2014. Retrieved July 3, 2006.
^"Kerry Vera Lea". Heart Shaped Heart. Archived from the original on February 28, 2017. Retrieved February 27, 2017.
^McHugh, Meadhbh (September 12, 2015). "The Jesse Eisenberg principle". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on April 25, 2018. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
^Applebaum, Stephen (July 7, 2011). "Interview: Jesse Eisenberg". The Jewish Chronicle. Archived from the original on April 25, 2018. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
^Kozlowski, Carl (August 7, 2010). "Q & A: Jesse Eisenberg". RELEVANT Magazine. Archived from the original on June 17, 2018. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
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