Ed Helms
Ed Helms | |
---|---|
Birth name | Edward Parker Helms |
Born | Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. | January 24, 1974
Medium | Stand-up, film, television |
Nationality | American |
Years active | 2002–present |
Edward Parker "Ed" Helms[1] (born January 24, 1974) is an American actor and comedian, best known for his work as a correspondent on The Daily Show, Andy Bernard in the U.S. version of The Office and Stuart Price in The Hangover trilogy.
Early life
Helms was born in Atlanta, Georgia. His mother, Pamela (née Parker), was a school administrator, and his father, John Helms, was a lawyer. Helms is the youngest of three children.[2][3] He graduated from The Westminster Schools one year after Office cast-mate Brian Baumgartner in 1992. Helms had open-heart surgery to correct a severe heart murmur at age 14.[4][5] Helms entered Oberlin College as a geology major, but ended up graduating in 1996 with his B.A. in film theory and technology. He spent a semester as an exchange student at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.[6][7]
Helms is the recipient of an honorary degree of Doctor of Fine Arts from Knox College, where he delivered the 2013 Commencement Address.[8] In May 2014, Helms gave the convocation speech at Cornell University, alma mater of Andy Bernard, the character he portrayed for seven seasons on The Office.[9][10] In May 2015, Helms gave the valedictory speech at the University of Virginia.[11]
Career
Early work
After graduating from Oberlin, Helms began his comedy and acting career as a writer and performer with New York City sketch comedy bands, and studied improvisation with the Upright Citizens Brigade troupe.[12] Helms concurrently worked as a trainee film editor at Crew Cuts, a post-production facility in New York City. While doing so, he recorded some rough voiceover scratch tracks that eventually led to paying voiceover work, which in turn led to finding a talent agent.[13]
Television
Helms was performing comedy in New York City when, as he recalled in a 2005 interview, "The Daily Show had a sort of open audition with a casting company that I had dealt with. I read for the part, and got it".[14] In his April 2002 to mid-2006 tenure on the satirical news program, Helms contributed "field reports" in addition to hosting various segments of the show, such as Digital Watch, Ad Nauseam, and Mark Your Calendar. He has also contributed to the This Week in God segment. Helms left the show in 2006, but has occasionally returned for brief appearances. On July 21, 2008 he returned for Obama Quest – a segment covering then-Senator Barack Obama's trip to Iraq. He occasionally narrates the Prescott Group educational films on sister series The Colbert Report. In late July 2006, NBC announced that Helms was added to the cast of the mockumentary The Office, alongside fellow The Daily Show correspondent Steve Carell, in a recurring role as Andy Bernard, a nostalgic Cornell graduate who is obsessed with a cappella music. Helms was a series regular starting with the 3rd season.[15] "He had so much in common with this character we wanted to create," recalled Paul Lieberstein, a writer for the show who also plays Toby Flenderson, the human resources representative at the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin. "I can't remember when they started merging."[16] Helms returned to The Daily Show on December 5, 2006, stating he had been gone because he was "undercover at a paper company in Scranton", an allusion to his stint on The Office. In February 2007, NBC announced that Helms had been promoted to series regular, and in February 2010 Helms was added to the show's opening credits. Helms quickly became a solidifying part of the cast, and eventually came to be one of the show's producers. In June 2009, on a radio interview with National Public Radio, Helms said that like his character, Andy Bernard, he is obsessed with a capella music.
Helms has also appeared on such television shows as The Mindy Project, Wilfred, NTSF:SD:SUV ,Tanner on Tanner, Childrens Hospital, Arrested Development and Cheap Seats, and in various Comedy Central specials. He has done commercial voiceover work in campaigns for Burger King, Doritos, Hotels.com, Sharp Aquos and Advair asthma medication, and he voices Angel, a character on Cartoon Network's Weighty Decisions series. Helms plays guitar, banjo (which was shown in the commercial bumpers and on a What Up With That? sketch when he hosted Saturday Night Live in 2011), piano, and all three, as well as a sitar, in some of his entertainment performances.
In August 2014, it was announced that Helms will to star in Alejandro González Iñárritu's new Starz television drama series The One Percent, with Hilary Swank and Ed Harris.[17] Helms will also serve as an executive producer on the upcoming TV series adaptation of the web series Jake and Amir.[18]
Film
Helms starred in the 2011 film Cedar Rapids and co-starred in the blockbuster The Hangover film trilogy as Stuart Price. He had minor roles, including Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, Blackballed: The Bobby Dukes Story, Meet Dave, Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, I'll Believe You, Evan Almighty, Semi-Pro and, with Office co-star Jenna Fischer, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. In 2009, Helms appeared in The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, directed by Neal Brennan and starring Jeremy Piven. He developed a Universal Pictures film A Whole New Hugh with Judd Apatow, in which he would star and co-wrote with Jake Fleisher and Ian Berger.[12] Variety reported in February 2009 that Helms would star and he and Fleisher would co-write a Warner Bros. feature about a time-traveling Civil War re-enactor, with the film to be produced through The Office star Steve Carell's production company Carousel. Helms voiced the Once-ler in The Lorax in 2012 and it was announced in July 2012 that he signed on to play Rusty Griswold in the 2015 film, Vacation as a sequel/spin-off of the National Lampoon's Vacation series.[19] The movie began shooting in September 2014 in Helms' native Atlanta, with Christina Applegate taking the part of Rusty's wife Debbie Griswold.[20]
Helms has been cast to play the titular role in the forthcoming Dreamworks animation Captain Underpants[21] and is also slated to star in the Paramount Pictures Naked Gun reboot in development as of December 2013.[22]
Other work
Helms is also in a bluegrass band called The Lonesome Trio with his friends Ian Riggs and Jacob Tilove. They formed the band when they were at Oberlin College, and still get together to play a few shows every year. They recorded an as-yet-untitled album in summer 2013, shortly after appearing on the Bluegrass Situation stage at the Bonnaroo festival, which Helms curated.[23][24] Helms is a self-confessed "bluegrass nerd" and founded the annual LA Bluegrass Situation festival.[25] Helms plays banjo, guitar and piano.[26]
Helms features in the video for Mumford and Sons' song "Hopeless Wanderer".[27] Helms launched his own production company, Pacific Electric Picture Company, in 2013. The company has a two-year development deal with Universal Television.[28]
In 2013, Helms co-wrote, produced and starred in the Yahoo! Screen web series Tiny Commando, about a former Navy SEAL who is accidentally shrunken in a military experiment to four inches in height, and is then employed in places that his size allows him to infiltrate.[29]
In 2015, Helms played the character Mickey on the web series Jake and Amir after Tweeting his support for the series.
Personal life
In 2010, Helms revealed that he had played matchmaker with Portia de Rossi and Ellen DeGeneres on the set of Arrested Development in 2004.[30]
In 2012, Helms joined the boycott against fast food restaurant Chick-fil-A in the wake of Chick-fil-A COO Dan Cathy's publicly stated opposition to same-sex marriage. Helms called this position "lame" and said the fast food franchise had lost a loyal customer.[30]
Filmography
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2004 | Blackballed: The Bobby Dukes Story | Bunker McLaughlin | |
2006 | Everyone's Hero | Hobo Louie | Voice |
2006 | Night at the Museum | Dentist | Scene deleted |
2007 | Evan Almighty | Ark Reporter/Ed Carson | |
2007 | I'll Believe You | Leon | |
2007 | Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story | Stage Manager | |
2008 | Semi-Pro | Turtleneck Reporter | |
2008 | Confessions of a Shopaholic | Garret E. Barton | Uncredited |
2008 | Meet Dave | Number 2 | |
2008 | Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay | Interpreter | |
2008 | Lower Learning | Maurice Bunting | |
2009 | The Smell of Success | Chet Pigford | |
2009 | The Hangover | Stuart Price | |
2009 | Monsters vs. Aliens | News Reporter | Voice |
2009 | Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian | Larry Daley's Assistant | Uncredited |
2009 | The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard | Paxton Harding | |
2011 | Cedar Rapids | Tim Lippe | Executive producer |
2011 | The Hangover Part II | Stuart Price | |
2011 | Jeff, Who Lives at Home | Pat | |
2011 | High Road | Barry | Uncredited |
2012 | The Lorax | The Once-ler | Voice |
2013 | We're the Millers | Brad Gurdlinger | |
2013 | The Hangover Part III | Stuart Price | |
2014 | Someone Marry Barry | Ben | |
2014 | They Came Together | Eggbert | |
2014 | Stretch | Karl-with-a-K | |
2015 | Vacation | Russell "Rusty" Griswold | Filming |
2016 | Central Intelligence | Filming | |
2017 | Captain Underpants | Mr. Krupp/Captain Underpants | Pre-Production |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2002–2009 | The Daily Show | Correspondent | 207 episodes |
2004 | Cheap Seats | Bradley Wallace | 2 episodes |
2004, 2013 | Arrested Development | James Carr | 3 episodes |
2006 | The Colbert Report | Narrator – The On Notice Board: A Wonder of the Modern Age | Episode: Linda Hirshman |
2006 | Samurai Love God | Samurai Love God | Voice, Television miniseries |
2008 | Upright Citizens Brigade | Guest Monologist | Uncredited |
2008 | American Dad! | Mr. Buckley | Voice, Episode: Stanny Slickers II: The Legend of Ollie's Gold |
2008 | Wainy Days | Doctor | Episode: Angel |
2009 | Family Guy | Al Gore | Voice, Episode: FOX-y Lady |
2010 | Funny or Die Presents | Cast (Holdup) | 4 episodes |
2008–2010 | Childrens Hospital | Doctor, TV Announcer | 5 episodes |
2006–2013 | The Office | Andy Bernard | Series regular; 163 episodes |
2011 | Wilfred | Daryl | Episode: Acceptance |
2011 | NTSF:SD:SUV:: | Eddie | 2 episodes |
2012 | The Mindy Project | Dennis | 2 episodes |
2012 | Ugly Americans | Dennis | Episode: Mark Loves Dick |
2012 | Comedy Bang! Bang! | Himself | Episode: Ed Helms Wears A Grey Shirt & Brown Boots |
2013 | Kroll Show | Sex in the City Dude | Episode: San Diego Diet |
2013 | Saturday Night Live | Ted Pelms | Episode: Zach Galifianakis/Of Monsters and Men, uncredited |
2014 | Brooklyn Nine-Nine | Jack Danger | Episode: USPIS |
2015 | The One Percent | Alfred Murphy | Filming |
2015 | Jake and Amir | Mickey | Episode: The Auditions |
Awards and nominations
Year | Nominated work | Award | Results |
---|---|---|---|
2008 | The Office | SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series | Won |
2009 | Nominated | ||
The Hangover | Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie: Rockstar Moment | Nominated | |
2010 | The Office | SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series | Nominated |
2011 | The Hangover Part II | Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Hissy Fight | Won |
Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor Comedy | Nominated | ||
Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Chemistry (shared with Bradley Cooper and Zach Galifianakis) | Nominated | ||
2012 | The Office | SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series | Nominated |
2013 | Nominated |
References
- ^ Hangover Part III Set Visit : Ed Helms – Moviehole. Moviehole.net. Retrieved on 2014-02-10.
- ^ Stephen Whitty: Ed Helms' booming career has grown out of his ability to find laughs in truth and decency. New Jersey On-Line, February 13, 2011, retrieved June 5, 2011
- ^ "Look Who's Related: Ed Helms and Michelle Obama". Geni.com. Retrieved 2013-05-28.
- ^ 5 Facts About Me: Ed Helms – Ed Helms. People.com. Retrieved on 2014-02-10.
- ^ Goldman, Andrew. (2011-05-27) Hangover 2 Star Ed Helms Interview. ELLE. Retrieved on 2014-02-10.
- ^ Phipps, Keith (June 3, 2009). "Ed Helms". The A.V. Club. Retrieved June 11, 2009.
- ^ "Ed Helms: Biography". TVGuide.com. Retrieved January 16, 2011.
- ^ "Knox College Announces 2013 Honorary Degrees". Knox.edu. Retrieved June 15, 2013.
- ^ Kingkade, Tyler (May 27, 2014) "Ed Helms Tells Cornell Graduates To 'Keep Creating Good Old Days'". The Huffington Post.
- ^ "2014 Senior Convocation featuring Ed Helms, TV's 'Andy Bernard'". Cornell University. May 24, 2014.
- ^ http://mashable.com/2015/05/17/ed-helms-uva-commencement/?utm_cid=mash-com-Tw-main-link]. Cornell University. May 24, 2014.
- ^ a b "The Office Cast Biographies – Ed Helms". NBC.com. Retrieved October 11, 2010.
- ^ Sternbergh, Adam (September 14, 2008). "The Jerk: Daily Show alum and The Office star Ed Helms on the highs (and lows) of being obnoxious". New York. Retrieved October 28, 2009.
- ^ "Ed Helms on Politics, The Media and The Daily Show". TheComical.com. 2005.[dead link ]
- ^ Snierson, Dan (June 28, 2006). "Ed Helms joins the cast of The Office". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved October 28, 2009.
- ^ Itzkoff, Dave (March 11, 2012). "Ambitious, but in a Polite Sort of Way". The New York Times. Retrieved March 17, 2012.
- ^ Littleton, Cynthia (August 12, 2014). "Starz Orders Drama ‘One Percent’ to Star Ed Helms, Hilary Swank". Variety.
- ^ Andreeva, Nellie (December 18, 2013). "'Jake & Amir' Web Series Heading To TBS With Ed Helms Producing". Deadline Hollywood.
- ^ "Ed Helms to Play Rusty Griswold in New Vacation". ComingSoon.
- ^ Brett, Jennifer (September 19, 2014). "Photos from the Atlanta set of 'Vacation' starring Ed Helms and Christina Applegate". AJC.com.
- ^ Abramovitch, Seth (January 21, 2014). "Ed Helms, Kevin Hart Slip Into DreamWorks Animation's 'Captain Underpants'". The Hollywood Reporter.
- ^ McNary, Dave (December 13, 2013). "Ed Helms Firing Up ‘The Naked Gun’ Reboot for Paramount". Variety.
- ^ Ed Helms' Bluegrass Situation Superjam with special guests. lineup.bonnaroo.com
- ^ The Lonesome Trio. Facebook (2013-04-21). Retrieved on 2014-02-10.
- ^ Bluegrass Situation festival: Banjo, comedy unite Steve Martin, Ed Helms – Los Angeles Times. Articles.latimes.com (2011-04-26). Retrieved on 2014-02-10.
- ^ Bienstock, Richard (2013-04-22). "Better Off Ed: Ed Helms of 'The Hangover' and 'The Office' Talks Guitars, Banjos and Bluegrass". Guitar Aficionado.
- ^ "Mumford and Sons release hilarious Hopeless Wanderer video". Music Blogged. 2013-08-04. Retrieved 2013-08-04.
- ^ Goldberg, Lesley (2013-09-16) "Ed Helms Launches Production Company, Inks Overall Deal With Universal TV". The Hollywood Reporter.
- ^ Rothman, Lily (September 17, 2013). "Ed Helms’ Three Favorite Web Series". Time.
- ^ a b Kinser, Jeremy (2012-07-18). "Ed Helms Star of The Hangover and The Office Joins Chick fil A Boycott". The Advocate.
External links
- Ed Helms at IMDb
- Ken P., May 5, 2006 Helms Deep: Ken P. goes in-depth with Daily Show correspondent Ed Helms. at [IGN.com]. Retrieved 2009-10-28
- Plum TV Telluride video of Ed Helms, Rob Corddry and Aziz Ansari at Comedy Fest 2008
- Ed Helms in "Zombie American" short
- 1974 births
- 21st-century American male actors
- Male actors from Atlanta, Georgia
- American banjoists
- American comedy musicians
- American male film actors
- American male comedians
- American stand-up comedians
- American male television actors
- American television writers
- American male voice actors
- Living people
- Oberlin College alumni