B. J. Novak
American actor (born 1979)
- Actor
- comedian
- writer
Benjamin Joseph Manaly Novak[1] (born July 31, 1979) is an American actor, comedian, and writer. He has received five Primetime Emmy Award nominations and won two Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Novak is known for starring as Ryan Howard in the NBC sitcom The Office (2005–2013), for which he was also a writer and executive producer. He appeared in the films Inglourious Basterds (2009), Saving Mr. Banks (2013) and The Founder (2016). He made his directorial debut in 2022 with the dark comedy thriller Vengeance, which he also wrote and starred in.
Novak also appeared in The Mindy Project (2013–2016) and The Newsroom (2014), and was the creator and executive producer of Hulu anthology series The Premise (2021). He portrays Alistair Smythe in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014).
In addition to his film career, Novak authored the acclaimed books One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories (2014) and The Book with No Pictures (2014).
Early life
Novak was born on July 31, 1979,[2] at Newton-Wellesley Hospital in Newton, Massachusetts.[3] His parents are Linda (née Manaly) and author William Novak.[4][5][6] He is Jewish. His father co-edited The Big Book of Jewish Humor, and has ghostwritten memoirs for Nancy Reagan, Lee Iacocca, Magic Johnson and others.[7][8] Novak has two brothers: Lev Novak and composer Jesse Novak.
He attended Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Boston and Brown Middle School.[9] He went to Camp Ramah in New England in Massachusetts in the summers of his 6th, 7th and 9th grades.[10]
He attended Newton South High School with future The Office costar John Krasinski;[11] they graduated in 1997.[11] Novak edited one of the school newspapers, The Lion's Roar, and cowrote a satirical play with Krasinski.[12]
Novak graduated from Harvard University in 2001, where he was a member of the Harvard Lampoon. He majored in English and Spanish literature, and wrote his honors thesis on the films of Shakespeare's Hamlet.[13] Aside from the Lampoon, he occasionally staged and performed in a variety show called The B.J. Show with fellow Harvard student B. J. Averell.[11]
Career
After Harvard, Novak moved to Los Angeles, California and began working in clubs as a comedian. His first live stand-up performance was at the Hollywood Youth Hostel on October 10, 2001.[14] He was named one of Variety's "Ten Comedians To Watch" in 2003.[15]
He was a writer for the short-lived The WB sitcom Raising Dad.[11] He performed on Comedy Central's Premium Blend and on Late Night with Conan O'Brien.[13][15]
Novak's television acting career began on MTV's Punk'd.[11] He was the lead accomplice to Ashton Kutcher on the show's second season in 2003, playing pranks on Hilary Duff, Rachael Leigh Cook, Usher and Mýa.[16]
An image of Novak entered the public domain as a stock photo and has been used on various international products, reportedly including a particular type of Calvin Klein cologne in Sweden.[17]
The Office
After hearing Novak's opening joke at a comedy club, executive producer Greg Daniels decided he "wanted to do something with him."[11] Novak was subsequently cast as Ryan Howard, who is introduced on the show as a temporary employee at Dunder Mifflin in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Novak's character goes through ups and downs throughout his work career and has an on-and-off relationship with Kelly Kapoor (Mindy Kaling).
Novak was also a producer and writer on the show; he and Kaling, Greg Daniels, Michael Schur and Paul Lieberstein were its original writers. Novak is credited with writing 15 episodes, including the Writers Guild of America nominated episodes "Diversity Day" and "Local Ad".
On July 21, 2010, news reports indicated Novak had signed a contract to remain with the show for its seventh and eighth seasons. Under the new terms, he would be made an executive producer midway through Season 7, and would direct two episodes. He left The Office after the ninth-season premiere, "New Guys", but returned to guest-star in the series' final episode. In a 2021 podcast interview on Dax Shepard's show, he confirmed that he had been offered the Season 9 showrunner position, but declined it because he decided that his "fire for the job had burned out", and it was time for him to move on to other projects.
Novak and his fellow "The Office" writers and producers were nominated five consecutive times for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series, from 2007 to 2011.
In a June 2009 interview with The Philadelphia Inquirer, Novak spoke about sharing the success of The Office with his Newton South High School classmate John Krasinski:[18]
"Sometimes when this feels too good to be true, I think that if this were all a dream, that would be what should have tipped me off. I'd wake up saying, "I was in this incredible TV show and it was a big hit and the star was John [Krasinski] from high school. Isn't that weird?"
Post-The Office career
Novak has had supporting roles in Quentin Tarantino's acclaimed 2009 war film Inglourious Basterds, John Lee Hancock's 2013 period drama Saving Mr. Banks about the development of the 1964 film Mary Poppins, and Hancock's 2016 biographical drama The Founder about the founder of McDonald's.
He has also appeared in the films Unaccompanied Minors (2006), Knocked Up (2007), Reign Over Me (2007), The Internship (2013) and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014).
He voiced Baker Smurf in The Smurfs (2011) and The Smurfs 2 (2013).
He has starred in a few episodes each of The Mindy Project and The Newsroom, and made cameo appearances on Community and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. He was also a consulting producer for the first season of The Mindy Project.[13]
He wrote, directed and executive-produced a half-hour anthological series, The Premise, released on FX in 2021.[19] He starred in the 2022 mystery-thriller Vengeance, which he also wrote and directed. Filming began in March 2020 but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic until January 2021. In May 2020, it was announced that he would write and executive-produce Young People for HBO Max.[20]
Book deal
On April 11, 2013, publishing house Alfred A. Knopf announced it had signed a seven-figure, two-book deal with Novak, with the first book to be a collection of Woody Allen-like fiction stories.[21] On February 4, 2014, a book of 64 stories, One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories, was published and spent 6 weeks on the New York Times Best Sellers Hardcover Fiction List.[22]
Novak also signed a deal with Penguin's children's books label and wrote The Book With No Pictures, released on September 30, 2014.[23] As of January 2021, it had spent 174 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller Picture Books List, with 34 weeks at #1, and was at #10 in September 2020.[24] A self-proclaimed lifelong book-lover, Novak said he wrote the children's book partially because "to me, there is no more meaningful, important or exciting rule to introduce to children than the power of the written word."[25]
On November 19, 2019, My Book with No Pictures was published as a fill-in-the-blanks companion book to The Book with No Pictures to allow children to write their own stories.
The List App
On October 14, 2015, Novak released an Apple iOS app along with co-founder Dev Flaherty called The List App.[26] The app allowed users to make lists. Its FAQ page said “we just love lists. They’re the best.” It was nominated for a Webby Award (losing in its category to Beme and Pocket) in 2016.[27] In May 2016, it was rebranded 'li.st' and became available on the Android platform.[28] In September 2017, it was shut down due to lack of users.[29]
Personal life
Novak has a close friendship with Mindy Kaling, whom he met through writing for The Office, and called her "the most important person in my life" (on Fresh Air with Terry Gross). They dated on and off while writing and acting on the show, sometimes mirroring the on-again, off-again relationship between their characters Ryan Howard and Kelly Kapoor.[30] He is the godfather of Kaling's two children.[31][32]
Novak lives in Los Angeles.[33]
Bibliography
Books
- Novak, B. J. (February 4, 2014). One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. ISBN 9780385351836.
- Novak, B. J. (September 30, 2014). The Book with No Pictures. Dial Books. ISBN 9780803741713.
- Novak, B. J. (November 19, 2019). My Book with No Pictures. Dial Books. ISBN 9780593111017.
Essays, reporting and other contributions
Publications
- Novak, B. J. (1998). "My Unhappy Rendezvous with Magical Realism". The Harvard Lampoon.
- Novak, B. J. (November 4, 2013). "The man who invented the calendar". Shouts & Murmurs. The New Yorker. Vol. 89, no. 35. pp. 64–65.
- Novak, B. J. (November 28, 2013). "Kellogg's". Nautilus (7).
- Novak, B. J. (December 30, 2013). "A Good Problem to Have". One Story (187).
- Novak, B. J. (January 16, 2014). "Kellogg's". Nautilus (9).
- Novak, B. J. (March 2014). "Julie And The Warlord". Playboy.
- Novak, B. J. (November 2020). "My Unhappy Rendezvous with Magical Realism". The Harvard Lampoon.
- Novak, B. J. (November 2020). "Gag Gifts". The Harvard Lampoon.
Novak also has a chapter giving advice in Tim Ferriss' book Tools of Titans.
Instagram Live
- Current Mood with John Mayer (February 17, 2019). "Pants".
- Special Report on Current Mood with John Mayer (April 19, 2020). "Coronavirus".
Podcast appearances
- Weird Adults with Little Esther (December 17, 2012). "32. BJ Novak" (Podcast).
- Id10t with Chris Hardwick (February 3, 2014). "B.J. Novak" (Podcast).
{{cite podcast}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - Ron Bennington Interviews (February 6, 2014). "Unmasked with B.J. Novak" (Podcast).
- The Hollywood Handbook (May 13, 2014). "32. B.J. Novak, Our Close Friend" (Podcast).
- The Tim Ferriss Show (November 25, 2015). "#121: BJ Novak of The Office on Creative Process, Handling Rejection, and Good Comedy" (Podcast).
- Decoder with Nilay Patel (November 25, 2015). "Recode Decode: B.J. Novak and Dev Flaherty, The List App Co-Founders" (Podcast).
- Exactly (January 6, 2017). "BJ Novak: Why Does Dark Comedy Work?" (Podcast).
- The Great Debates (December 20, 2018). "309 — Our Traditional Holiday Gathering With BJ & John" (Podcast).
- The Great Debates (December 25, 2019). "Holiday Special 2019 with Special Guests" (Podcast).
- You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes (January 29, 2020). "B.J. Novak" (Podcast).
- LA Podcast (April 24, 2020). "FREE SAMPLE: The Ten, Episode 1 - BJ Novak" (Podcast).
- Office Ladies (June 24, 2020). "Initiation w/ B.J. Novak and Rainn Wilson" (Podcast).
- The Great Debates (December 31, 2020). "511 - 2020 Holiday Special" (Podcast).
Filmography
| † | Denotes works that have not yet been released |
Film
Acting credits
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Unaccompanied Minors | Flight Attendant | |
| 2007 | Knocked Up | Unnamed Doctor | |
| 2007 | Reign Over Me | Mr. Fallon | |
| 2009 | Inglourious Basterds | Pfc. Smithson Utivich | |
| 2011 | The Smurfs | Baker Smurf | Voice role |
| 2012 | The Dictator | Uncredited | |
| 2013 | The Internship | Male Interviewer | |
| 2013 | The Smurfs 2 | Baker Smurf | Voice role |
| 2013 | Saving Mr. Banks | Robert B. Sherman | |
| 2014 | The Amazing Spider-Man 2 | Alistair Smythe | |
| 2016 | The Founder | Harry J. Sonneborn | |
| 2022 | Vengeance | Ben Manalowitz | Also writer and director |
Television
Acting credits
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Punk'd | Field Agent | 5 episodes |
| 2004 | Premium Blend | Himself | Season 7, Stand-up |
| 2005–2013 | The Office | Ryan Howard | 166 episodes Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (2006, 2007) Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series (2007–2011) Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (2008–2012) Nominated—Prism Award for Best Performance in a Comedy Series (2009) |
| 2013–2016 | The Mindy Project | Jamie | 5 episodes:
|
| 2014 | Community | Mr. Egypt | Season 5, Episode 13 – "Basic Sandwich" (cameo) |
| 2014 | The Newsroom | Lucas Pruit | 4 episodes:
|
| 2015 | Arthur | MC | Season 19, Episode 10 – "The Last Day" (voice) |
| 2016–2018 | Crazy Ex-Girlfriend | Himself | 2 episodes:
|
| 2020 | Home Movie: The Princess Bride | Count Rugen | Season 1, Episode 6 – "Chapter Six: The Fire Swamp" |
| 2023 | Celebrity Jeopardy! | Himself | Contestant |
Writing credits
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2001–2002 | Raising Dad | Episodes written:
|
| 2005–2012 | The Office | Episodes written:
Writers Guild of America Award for Comedy Series (2006) |
| 2013 | The Mindy Project | Episodes written:
Nominated: Writers Guild of America Award for a New Series (2012) |
| 2021 | The Premise | Episodes written:
|
Directing credits
| Year | Title | Season | Episode | Title | Airdate | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | The Office: Blackmail | Episode 1 | "Oscar" | May 7, 2009 | Webisodes | |
| Episode 2 | "Andy" | |||||
| Episode 3 | "Kelly" | |||||
| Episode 4 | "Pay Day" | |||||
| The Office | Season 6 | Episode 12 | "Scott's Tots" | December 3, 2009 | ||
| 2011 | Season 7 | Episode 14 | "The Seminar" | January 27, 2011 | ||
| Season 8 | Episode 1 | "The List" | September 22, 2011 | |||
| 2012 | Episode 11 | "Trivia" | January 12, 2012 | |||
| Episode 24 | "Free Family Portrait Studio" | May 10, 2012 | ||||
| 2013 | The Mindy Project | Season 1 | Episode 15 | "Mindy's Minute" | February 19, 2013 | |
| Episode 21 | "Santa Fe" | April 9, 2013 | ||||
| 2021 | The Premise | Season 1 | Episode 2 | "Moment of Silence" | September 16, 2021 | |
| Episode 3 | "The Ballad of Jesse Wheeler" | September 23, 2021 |
Awards and nominations
References
Footnotes
- ^ "B.J. Novak". TV Guide. Archived from the original on December 15, 2018. Retrieved December 15, 2018.
- ^ Hoys & Brooks 2013, p. 194.
- ^ "A Look Back on 125 Years at Newton-Wellesley Hospital". Newton, MA Patch. October 24, 2011. Retrieved May 17, 2023.
- ^ Courtney Hollands (December 20, 2007). "Molly Goodson has stars in her eyes – and on her blog". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on November 3, 2012. Retrieved March 6, 2009.
- ^ Berman, Alyssa R.; Beborah B. Doroshow (May 14, 2001). "BJs Bring a Full House to Sanders". Harvard Crimson. Archived from the original on September 3, 2009. Retrieved August 19, 2009.
- ^ Novak 2006, p. vii.
- ^ Getlin, John (September 17, 1992). "Ghost to the Stars – William Novak Is the Invisible Writer Behind Memoirs by Lee Iacocca, Nancy Reagan and—Soon—Magic Johnson". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on March 24, 2011. Retrieved August 19, 2009.
- ^ Uriel Heilman (November 19, 2006). "Better than Pork, Isn't it? Jewish Joke Book turns 25". JTA. Archived from the original on September 4, 2009. Retrieved March 13, 2009.
- ^ "Class Notes-Solomon Schechter Day School". www.ssdsboston.org. Archived from the original on January 27, 2016. Retrieved January 21, 2016.
- ^ Josh Edelglass (July 17, 2018). "B.J. Novak visits camp!". Camp Ramah New England. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f Christopher Muther (December 6, 2005). "Class reunion". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on February 24, 2009. Retrieved March 6, 2009.
- ^ Viser, Matt (February 20, 2005). "Double scoops: At Newton South, two papers vie to make headlines". The Boston Globe. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
- ^ a b c B. J. Novak at IMDb
- ^ The Tim Ferriss Show (November 25, 2015). "#121: BJ Novak of The Office on Creative Process, Handling Rejection, and Good Comedy" (Podcast).
- ^ a b "B.J. Novak: Videos, Jokes, Tour Dates, Biography and more". Jokes.com. ComedyCentral. 2009. Archived from the original on October 20, 2008. Retrieved March 11, 2009.
- ^ Punk'd (TV Series 2003–2015) - Episode list - IMDb, retrieved September 8, 2023
- ^ Lukpat, Alyssa (October 27, 2021). "B.J. Novak's Face Is on Products Worldwide. He's Not Sure Why". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 16, 2022.
- ^ David Hiltbrand, "B.J. Novak gives at 'The Office' and out of it" Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, Philadelphia Inquirer, June 11, 2009.
- ^ "FX Picks Up B.J. Novak Half-Hour Anthology To Series; Guest Cast Includes Lucas Hedges & Jon Bernthal". Deadline. May 6, 2020. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
- ^ "B.J. Novak to Develop Multi-Cam Comedy 'Young People' at HBO Max (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. May 18, 2020. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
- ^ Julie Bosman, "B.J. Novak, Actor and Writer, Signs Two-Book Deal" Archived June 24, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, nytimes.com, April 12, 2013; accessed September 21, 2013.
- ^ "Best Sellers". The New York Times. March 30, 2014. Archived from the original on December 2, 2014. Retrieved November 30, 2014.
- ^ Towers, Andrea (January 22, 2014). "On the Books: B.J. Novak lands children's book deal". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on December 5, 2014. Retrieved November 30, 2014.
- ^ "NYT Best Seller Children's Picture Books List". New York Times. September 13, 2020. Archived from the original on October 11, 2020. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
- ^ "B.J. Novak's keynote address to the American Library Association". Youtube. September 18, 2014. Archived from the original on June 24, 2021. Retrieved April 3, 2021.[dead YouTube link]
- ^ "B.J. Novak introduces new app for people who 'just love lists'". EW.com. Archived from the original on January 13, 2018. Retrieved January 13, 2018.
- ^ "Webby Award Nominee". The Webby Awards. Archived from the original on February 28, 2021. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ Perez, Sarah. "B.J. Novak's "The List App" rebrands to li.st, arrives on Android". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on January 13, 2018. Retrieved January 13, 2018.
- ^ "List App Shuts Down App, Moves On To New Project". Commaful. Archived from the original on October 2, 2017.
- ^ Burton, Summer Anne (February 7, 2014). "33 Times Mindy Kaling And B.J. Novak's Best Friendship Killed You In The Heart". BuzzFeed. Archived from the original on October 11, 2016. Retrieved May 12, 2016.
- ^ "Mindy Kaling Reveals B.J. Novak Is Godfather to Her 16-Month-Old Daughter: He's 'Family Now'". May 4, 2019.
- ^ "Mindy Kaling's Big Announcement: She Has A New Baby Boy Named Spencer!". YouTube. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021.
- ^ "B. J. Novak | Penguin Random House".
- ^ Andrew Krukowski, "'Sopranos,' 'The Office' Win SAG Ensemble Awards," Archived September 4, 2009, at the Wayback Machine TVWeek, January 27, 2008.
Works cited
- Hoys, Matt; Brooks, Mel (2013). Comic Genius: Portraits of Funny People. Chronicle Books. ISBN 978-1452131955.
- Novak, William (2006). The Big Book of Jewish Humor. Collins. ISBN 978-0-06-113813-3.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to B.J. Novak.
- B. J. Novak at IMDb
- B. J. Novak on Twitter
- "The Office's BJ Novak: Uncut", an NPR interview from May 2008
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