Jeremy Piven

Jeremy Samuel Piven, born July 26, 1965, is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his role as the fast-talking Hollywood agent Ari Gold in the HBO comedy series Entourage from 2004 to 2011, a performance that earned him a Golden Globe Award and three consecutive Emmy Awards. His other prominent television roles include playing the title character in the British period drama Mr Selfridge and portraying Spence Kovak on the sitcom Ellen.

Piven was born in Manhattan to a Reconstructionist Jewish family. His parents, Byrne Piven and Joyce Hiller Piven, were both actors and drama teachers who founded the Piven Theatre Workshop in Illinois. Raised in Evanston, Illinois, Piven attended Evanston Township High School and trained at his parents' workshop. As a teenager, he attended Harand Theater Camp in Wisconsin. He later studied at Drake University before transferring to New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, leaving during his senior year to pursue acting. He also trained at the National Theater Institute at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center.

Piven began his screen career with early roles, including the film Lucas in 1986. His first regular television role came in 1992 as head writer Jerry on HBO's The Larry Sanders Show, which he departed during its second season. In 1993, he portrayed George Costanza in a show-within-a-show sequence on Seinfeld. He went on to join the supporting cast for the final three seasons of Ellen, starred in and produced the dramedy series Cupid, and provided voice acting for Justice League Unlimited.

Beginning in 2004, Piven achieved widespread recognition for his work on Entourage. For his role as Ari Gold, he received four consecutive Emmy nominations for Best Supporting Actor from 2005 to 2008, winning in 2006, 2007, and 2008, along with a Golden Globe Award in 2008. Piven has also appeared in numerous feature films, including Judgment Night, Grosse Pointe Blank, Heat, PCU, Very Bad Things, Black Hawk Down, Old School, Serendipity, Smokin' Aces, RocknRolla, and Runaway Jury, as well as cameo appearances in Rush Hour 2 and Cars.

In 2008, Piven starred in a Broadway revival of David Mamet's Speed-the-Plow, though he exited the production early after being diagnosed with hydrargyria. He hosted an episode of WWE Raw in 2009 to promote his film The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, and featured in a music video alongside rapper Common in 2007. From 2013 to 2016, Piven returned to television to star as Harry Selfridge in the drama series Mr Selfridge, which aired on ITV and PBS.

Piven resides in Malibu, California, and is a fan of the Chicago Bears. Between late 2017 and early 2018, several women made public allegations of sexual misconduct and assault against Piven. Piven denied all the allegations as false and voluntarily passed a polygraph test regarding the claims. Following weak ratings and the allegations, CBS decided not to order a full season of his series Wisdom of the Crowd in November 2017.