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Jason Biggs
Biggs at PaleyFest 2014 panel for Orange Is the New Black
Born	(1978-05-12) May 12, 1978 (age 46) Pompton Plains, New Jersey, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Actor, comedian
Years active	1991–present
Spouse	Jenny Mollen ​(m. 2008)​
Children	2

Jason Matthew Biggs (born May 12, 1978) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for playing Jim Levenstein in the American Pie comedy film series, and Larry Bloom in the Netflix original series Orange Is the New Black. He also starred in Boys and Girls, Loser, Saving Silverman, Anything Else, Jersey Girl, Eight Below, Over Her Dead Body, and My Best Friend's Girl. Biggs initially gained recognition from his role in the soap opera As the World Turns, for which he was nominated for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series in 1995.

Early life and education

Biggs was born in Pompton Plains, New Jersey, to Angela Biggs (née Zocco), a nurse, and Gary Louis Biggs, a shipping company manager. His father is of English and Italian descent and his mother is of Sicilian descent. His last name is derived from his English ancestry. He was raised Roman Catholic.

Biggs grew up in Hasbrouck Heights and attended Hasbrouck Heights High School, where he achieved success in tennis. Biggs attended New York University before transferring to Montclair State University where he eventually dropped out.

Career

Biggs began acting at the age of five. In 1991, he made his television debut in the short lived FOX series Drexell's Class. In 1988, he received his Screen Actors Guild card for appearing in a TV commercial for Pathmark. He later recalled in a 2015 interview in TV Guide, "I remember I had to eat a doughnut in one of the shots. Over and over again. Awesome."

When Biggs was 12, he starred in a one-off HBO special, The Fotis Sevastakis Story, but due to licensing arguments, it was never aired. That same year, Biggs debuted on Broadway in Conversations with My Father with Judd Hirsch. He then starred in the daytime soap opera, As the World Turns, for which he was nominated for the Daytime Emmy Award for Best Younger Actor.

Biggs attended New York University briefly from 1996 to 1997, but soon afterwards, he left to pursue acting. And soon he would be seen again in another short lived television series, 1997's Camp Stories. He then starred in American Pie, which went on to become an international hit that has spawned three sequels (also starring Biggs) and four spinoffs (that did not star Biggs). After that, Biggs accepted starring roles in movies such as Loser in 2000, and others. He also starred (along with his Loser co-star Mena Suvari) in the music video for the song "Teenage Dirtbag" by American rock band Wheatus. In 2001, Biggs starred in the comedy Saving Silverman. He appeared in the 2002 Broadway production of The Graduate as Benjamin Braddock alongside Kathleen Turner and Alicia Silverstone. In 2003, Biggs appeared as Jerry Falk in the Woody Allen romantic comedy Anything Else. In the 2004–2005 season Biggs portrayed an Orthodox Jew in Daniel Goldfarb's comedy, Modern Orthodox, staged at Dodger Stages theater in New York City. In 2006, Biggs was seen in the MTV reality show Blowin' Up with Jamie Kennedy and Stu Stone which led to his participation in a hip-hop recording with Bay Area rapper E-40. Biggs returned to the stage in the fall of 2008 in Howard Korder's Boys' Life at New York City's Second Stage Theatre.

Biggs has appeared in several other films, including Eight Below and Over Her Dead Body. In 2010, Biggs made his literary debut by contributing "Scratch-and-Sniff," a poem about growing up in New Jersey, to the anthology What's Your Exit? A Literary Detour through New Jersey (Word Riot Press, 2010), alongside writers such as Joyce Carol Oates, Tom Perrotta, Robert Pinsky, Gerald Stern, and J. Robert Lennon. In 2012, he contributed to the anthology Oy! Only Six? Why Not More: Six-Word Memoirs on Jewish Life with the self-ironic article "This is a Roman nose, OK?" – Biggs is not Jewish. A year later, Larry Smith, the editor of the anthology, and creator of Six-Word Memoirs, would be the basis for Bigg's Orange Is the New Black character Larry Bloom. He departed the series in February 2015 after two seasons.

Biggs reprised his role as Jim Levenstein in American Reunion, which was released on April 6, 2012. In the summer of 2012, Biggs took a job voicing Leonardo on Nickelodeon in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He left the series during its second season and was temporarily replaced by Dominic Catrambone. Seth Green permanently took over the role from Biggs beginning in season 3. Biggs also plays the cowbell in the supergroup Yukon Kornelius.

It was announced in September 2014 that Biggs would star on Broadway in The Heidi Chronicles. The play opened on March 19.

In December 2014, The Hollywood Reporter announced Biggs was cast to star in the comedy Amateur Night. Biggs plays a well-meaning expectant father who unwittingly accepts a job chauffeuring prostitutes (Janet Montgomery, Ashley Tisdale) around Los Angeles. Jenny Mollen, who is Biggs' wife in real life, appears as his wife in the film.

Personal life

Biggs is sometimes cast as an explicitly or implicitly Jewish character, as he was in American Pie, Saving Silverman, Anything Else, and Orange is the New Black, although he is not Jewish and in fact, Biggs grew up Catholic.

In January 2008, he became engaged to his My Best Friend's Girl co-star, actress Jenny Mollen; they married on April 23, 2008. They have a son, Sid, who was born on February 15, 2014. Their second son, Lazlo, was born on October 2, 2017. Biggs and Mollen sold their house in Los Angeles, California, which was situated near the Sunset Strip, in 2015 and moved to Manhattan, New York City. The family currently reside in the West Village.

From 2012 to 2014, Biggs regularly caused controversy with his posts on Twitter, including rude and inappropriate sexual comments about Ann Romney and Janna Ryan in response to the 2012 Republican National Convention, joking about the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in 2014, joking about Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, which was shot down later that year, and mocking the death of The Bachelorette contestant Eric Hill. In a 2012 interview, Biggs stated that he has "a very fucked up sense of humor" and said he enjoyed the ability to "surprise people on a daily basis" on Twitter because his real personality is so different from those of the characters he usually plays. He apologized for and deleted his tweet about Malaysian Flight 17; in a later interview he said that it had led to death threats against him.

Filmography

References

1. "Jason Matthew Biggs - United States Public Records, 1970-2009". FamilySearch. Retrieved July 29, 2019.
2. "Monitor". Entertainment Weekly. No. 1207. Time Inc. May 18, 2012. p. 29.
3. ^ Kevin Pollak interview: KPCS Jason Biggs #145. kevinpollakschatshow. YouTube. (32 minute mark)
4. "Assunta "Susan" (Furno) BIGGS". NorthJersey.com. July 11, 2010
5. ^ Pfefferman, Naomi (August 9, 2001). "A Nice Not-Jewish Boy". The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles.
6. McKinley, Jesse. "THEATER; Bye, Bye 'American Pie'; Mrs. Robinson Is Calling", The New York Times, March 31, 2002. Accessed March 3, 2008. "Unlike that character, Mr. Biggs was proving to be a pretty normal teenager, playing high school tennis and holding a series of menial jobs (flower delivery boy, sandwich maker, guitarist in think big, food and beverage manager at the Sherman theatre, kitchen staff at a hospital). In 1996, he graduated from Hasbrouck Heights High School and started at New York University, where he enrolled in the College of Arts and Sciences."
7. "Jason Biggs is Hot". TeenHollywood.com, October 13, 2000
8. Della Cava, Marco R. (July 25, 2000). "Acting dreams no longer 'Pie' in the sky Huggable Jason Biggs is on a roll after losing his cinematic virginity". USA Today.
9. Handler, Cindy Schweich. "Jason Biggs is a proud son of North Jersey". North Jersey Media Group. Retrieved January 19, 2021.
10. "Jason Biggs : The Official Website from CelebSites". www.narrowdesign.com. Retrieved January 19, 2021.
11. Moynihan, Rob (January 19, 2015). "How I Got My SAG-AFTRA Card", TV Guide. p. 8
12. Biggs, Jason (August 1, 2012). "Jason Biggs on Judd Hirsch in 'Conversations With My Father'". Backstage.
13. "As the World Stops Turning: Soap Actors Turned Super Stars". ABC News. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
14. "Jason Biggs not returning for Orange Is the New Black season 3". Entertainment Weekly. February 22, 2015.
15. "Jason Biggs replaced by Seth Green as voice of Leonardo on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon series". Metro.co.uk. June 19, 2014. Retrieved June 20, 2014. Rumours have been circulating in recent weeks as to Biggs' future in the hit animated franchise, with Dominic Catrambone voicing the character in recent episodes.
16. "Nickelodeon Renews 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' for Season 4 (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. June 17, 2014.
17. "Picture Show: Yukon Kornelius w/ Al Schnier, Sebastian Bach, Dee Snider, Jason Biggs, Warren DeMartini & More @ FestEVOL 2013". Hidden Track. March 22, 2013.
18. Michael Gioia (September 11, 2014). "Elisabeth Moss, Bryce Pinkham, Jason Biggs Set for Broadway Revival of Wendy Wasserstein's The Heidi Chronicles".
19. Kit, Borys (December 5, 2014). "Jason Biggs, Ashley Tisdale Starring in Indie Comedy 'Drive, She Said' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved February 25, 2016.
20. "Clown prince". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on February 4, 2013. Retrieved June 10, 2014.
21. "Jason Biggs: Bio" Archived September 23, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. BuddyTV. Retrieved January 24, 2015.
22. "Jason Biggs and Jenny Mollen Welcome Son Sid". PEOPLE.com. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
23. https://www.instagram.com/p/BZ333oDgjtp/
24. "Jason Biggs and Jenny Mollen Welcome Son Lazlo". PEOPLE.com. October 5, 2017. Retrieved November 21, 2017.
25. "Jason Biggs Sells Former House Above Sunset Strip". July 7, 2015.
26. "Jason Biggs Bought This $7 Million Manhattan Home". November 2017.
27. Couch, Aaron (September 5, 2012). "Nickelodeon Apologizes for Jason Biggs' 'Vulgar' RNC Tweets". The Hollywood Reporter
28. Selby, Jenn (March 11, 2014). "Jason Biggs criticised for Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 joke made days after aircraft carrying 239 reported missing". The Independent
29. Sieczkowski, Cavan (July 17, 2014). "Jason Biggs Tweets Malaysia Airlines Joke After Crash". The Huffington Post.
30. Marcus, Stephanie (May 20, 2014). "Jason Biggs Mocks Dead 'Bachelorette' Contestant Eric Hill". The Huffington Post
31. Malec, Brett (May 20, 2014). "Jason Biggs Mocks Dead Bachelorette Contestant Eric Hill: See His Controversial Tweets". E! Online
32. Ryan, Mike (April 2, 2012). "Jason Biggs, 'American Reunion' Star, On Nude Scenes, Self-Pleasuring And His Insane Twitter Account". Huffington Post.
33. Hoffman, Barbara (February 22, 2015). "Jason Biggs talks Twitter woes and his 'Bachelor' obsession". New York Post.

External links

• Jason Biggs on Twitter
• Jason Biggs at IMDb
• Template:Amg name

• 1978 births
• Living people
• 20th-century American male actors
• 21st-century American male actors
• American people of English descent
• American people of Italian descent
• American male film actors
• American male soap opera actors
• American male stage actors
• American male television actors
• American male voice actors
• Male actors from New Jersey
• Montclair State University alumni
• People from Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey
• People from Pequannock Township, New Jersey