Michael Cera

Michael Austin Cera, actor (b at Brampton, Ont 7 June 1988). Michael Cera is a comic actor who became popular with film and television audiences before he had finished high school. He made his acting debut as a child in an unpaid role in a Tim Hortons commercial. By his first year of high school he was already missing classes to shoot a television series in Los Angeles; he left to complete his diploma via correspondence the following year.

Cera's first roles were in the Canadian TV movie What Katy Did and the American teen series I Was a Sixth Grade Alien in 1999. He spent the next few years appearing mostly in TV shows and made-for-TV movies - sometimes as the voice of a cartoon character, as in the Canadian series Braceface. He played the young Chuck Barris in the movie Confessions of a Dangerous Mind in 2002.

Michael Cera played the part of protagonist Michael Bluth's son, George Michael, in Arrested Development, a series about a family of unbalanced parents and adult siblings made wealthy by a patriarch who is being indicted for fraud. Instead of delivering punchline comedy, this series had an improvised, voyeuristic and often uncomfortable feeling. Thirteen-year-old George Michael was awkward, confused, timid, and emotionally exposed, qualities Cera would become known and cast for in the movie roles that followed.

Evan in Superbad was Cera's first big-screen starring role. The hilariously foul-mouthed story about strains put on the bond between best friends Evan and Seth by humiliation, the prospect of parting to attend university and their desperate quest to lose their virginities, benefited from Cera's talent for improvisation. This was the beginning of his association with the popular and prolific Judd Apatow, a producer Cera worked with on the 2009 film Year One.

Juno, in which Cera played baffled teenaged father-to-be Paulie Bleeker, was a favourite at film festivals, praised by critics, and the winner of many awards, including a Grammy for its soundtrack on which Cera and co-star Elliot Page are heard covering a song by The Moldy Peaches. Cera is heard on other movie soundtracks and in tracks by the band The Long Goodbye, which he formed with Clark Duke. Fans will be familiar with the Duke and Cera duo from their online miniseries Clark and Michael, which is a documentary-style comedy that follows Clark and Michael as they try to sell a TV show to a major network.

Cera co-starred in Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, had a recurring role as Sal Viscuso in the series Childrens' Hospital, appeared in Paper Heart and stars in the teen comedies Youth in Revolt and Scott Pilgrim vs the World.

Michael Cera has been nominated for a host of film and television awards. Among his wins are a 2007 Austin Film Critics Association Award for breakthrough artist and a Canadian Comedy Award in 2008 for Superbad.