Happy 54th Birthday, Jon Favreau! Born today in 1966, this American actor, screenwriter, producer and director's solid everyman quality has endeared him to audiences and critics alike.
Born in Flushing, Queens, New York, Favreau, growing up, attended Hebrew school and had a Bar Mitzvah ceremony.
In 1984, he later graduated from The Bronx High School of Science; a school for gifted students.
That same year, he attended Queens College from 1984 to 1987 before dropping out. His friend from college, Mitchell Pollack, said that Favreau went by the nickname "Johnny Hack" because of his talent in the footbag game Hacky Sack.
in early 1988, Favreau briefly worked for the then-New York-based global investment bank, securities trading and brokerage firm Bear Stearns on Wall Street before returning to Queens College for a semester.
He later dropped out of college for good (a few credits shy of completing his degree), and in the summer of 1988, moved to Chicago, Illinois to pursue a career in comedy.
Favreau then performed at several Chicago improvisational theaters, including the ImprovOlympic (iO or iO Chicago) and the then-improvisational comedy company Improv Institute.
While in Chicago, Favreau landed his first film role alongside Sean Astin as football tutor D-Bob. This was in the sleeper hit feature, the 1993 American biographical sports/drama film 'Rudy'.
It was here where Favreau met Vince Vaughn – who played a small role in this film as Jamie O'Hara – during shooting.
The following year, Favreau appeared in the 1994 American stoner/comedy film 'PCU'. This was alongside American actor, comedian and producer Jeremy Piven.
The following month, Favreau appeared in the Seinfeld episode "The Fire" (S05E19) appearing as Eric the Clown. The episode had aired on May 5, 1994.
This was also the final episode to be written by American comedian, screenwriter, director, actor, and producer Larry Charles ('Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan').
Two years later, Favreau moved to Los Angeles, California where he made his breakthrough as an actor-screenwriter with the 1996 American cult/comedy-drama film 'Swingers'.
The film was also Vaughn's breakthrough role as the character Trent Walker, a foil to Favreau's heartbroken Mike Peters.
In 1997, Favreau appeared on Friends, portraying Pete Becker – the millionaire boyfriend of Monica Geller (Courteney Cox) who competes in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) – for several episodes.
Favreau had also made appearances in the American sketch-comedy series Tracey Takes On... (1996–1999) in both 1996 and 1997.
The program was created by British-American actress, comedian, singer, dancer, screenwriter, producer, director, author, and businesswoman Tracey Ullman.
Two years later, Favreau later rejoined Piven as part of the 1998 American black comedy film 'Very Bad Things'.
The following year, Favreau starred in the 1999 American made-for-television historical period drama/sport film Rocky Marciano. The film was based on the life of American professional boxer and world heavyweight champion, Rocco Francis Marchegiano.
One year later, Favreau appeared in the 2000 American comedy-drama film 'Love & Sex'. It co-starred Dutch actress, director, screenwriter and former fashion model Famke Janssen.
Later that same year, Favreau appeared in the 2000 American sports comedy film 'The Replacements' as maniacal linebacker Daniel Bateman.
Still later that same year, he played himself in the episode "D-Girl", on The Sopranos (S02E07). The episode had aired on February 27, 2000.
His role was as a Hollywood director who feigns interest in developing the screenplay of mob associate Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli) in order to collect material for his own.
Three years later, Favreau appeared in the 2003 American action/fantasy film 'Daredevil' as Franklin "Foggy" Nelson. This is the best friend of blind lawyer Matt Murdock (Ben Affleck) with whom he runs a firm in Hell's Kitchen.
After this, Favreau directed the 2003 American Christmas comedy film 'Elf'. He also made a cameo appearance as Dr. Leonardo.
Released nine months after 'Daredevil', 'Elf' is often listed among the greatest Christmas films of all time.
Three years later, Favreau appeared in the 2006 American romantic comedy-drama film 'The Break-Up' as Johnny Ostrofski. In the film, Favrau's character is a friend of Gary Grobowski (Vince Vaughn).
A longtime Star Wars fan, Favreau's appearance in Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008–2020) was due to running into American animation director, voice actor, television writer, television producer and animator Dave Filoni at ILM and Skywalker Sound.
This was while Favreau was working on post-production for 'Iron Man' (2008), in which he also appeared as Harold Joseph "Happy" Hogan.
Before the release of 'Solo: A Star Wars Story', Ron Howard revealed the Favreau would have a voice role in the film, as a "very cool and important" alien character.
Favreau later revealed an image of his character on Twitter. This was the human male Mandalorian warrior Pre Vizsla.
In the mid-2010s, Favreau starred in the 2014 American drama/comedy film 'Chef' as Carl Casper. Favreau had also written, co-produced, and directed.
Two years later, Favreau co-produced and directed the film of which he is best known. This was the 2016 American live-action/CGI family/adventure fantasy film 'The Jungle Book'.
The film introduces Neel Sethi as Mowgli, along with voice and motion capture performances from Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba, Lupita Nyong'o, Scarlett Johansson, Giancarlo Esposito, and Christopher Walken. Favreau is credited as voicing Pygmy Hog.
Upon release, 'The Jungle Book' became a critical and commercial success, grossing $966.6 million on a $175–177 million budget worldwide. This made it the fifth-highest-grossing film of 2016.
The film also received praise for its visual effects, vocal performances, direction, musical score, and its faithfulness to the spirit of the original animated film.
Most importantly, this included Indian-born English journalist, short-story writer, poet, and novelist Rudyard Kipling's 1894 children's literature fiction book of the same name.
The film was also based on Kipling's eponymous collective works of which had inspired by Walt Disney's 1967 American animated musical comedy family film of the same name.
Favreau's 'The Jungle Book' went on to win accolades for achievements in visual effects, including an Oscar for Best Visual Effects. This occurred at the 88th Academy Awards in late February 2017.
Two years later, Favreau co-produced and directed the 2019 American musical drama family/animation film 'The Lion King'.
On a budget of $250–260 million, the film grossed $1.657 billion worldwide.
With an estimated budget of around $260 million, it is one of the most expensive films ever made.
The film had surpassed 'Frozen' (2013) to become the highest-grossing animated film of all time. It is also the second-highest-grossing film of 2019, and the seventh-highest of all time.
However, 'The Lion King' received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for its visual effects, music, and vocal performances (particularly Billy Eichner [Timon] and Seth Rogen [Pumbaa]), but criticism for its lack of originality, and facial emotion on the characters.
Later that same year, Favreau began developing the American space Western web television series "The Mandalorian". This was for the then-upcoming American video on-demand streaming subscription service Disney+.
In November 12 of that same year, The Mandalorian premiered with the launch of Disney+. This was with the first season running for eight episodes until December 27, 2019.
The series has received positive reviews from critics, earning praise for its acting, directing, writing, musical score, and visual effects, although it received some criticism for its pacing.
Despite its mixed reviews, 'The Lion King' was nominated an Oscar for Best Visual Effects. However, it didn't win. This occurred at the 92nd Academy Awards in early February 2020.
The following year, The Mandalorian was nominated for Outstanding Drama Series, along with winning seven Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards, from fourteen nominations. This occurred at the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards in late September 2020.
Aside from developing The Mandalorian, Favreau has also provided the voices for the Mandalorian Pre Vizsla in The Mandalorian, as well as in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Favreau has also played the voice of the Ardennian pilot Rio Durant in 'Solo: A Star Wars Story' (2018).
In September 2020, it was announced that a follow-up film was in development with African-American filmmaker Barry Jenkins ('Moonlight') attached to direct.
A sequel to 'The Jungle Book' is currently in development, with Favreau and American screenwriter, producer and television showrunner Justin Marks (the screenwriter) set to return as director/producer and writer, respectively.
As a director, Favreau has been a presence in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), mainly with his collaboration with Robert Downey Jr.
He has been an executive producer for, and/or appeared as the character of Harold "Happy" Hogan in 'The Avengers' (2012), 'Avengers: Age of Ultron' (2015), 'Spider-Man: Homecoming' (2017), 'Avengers: Infinity War' (2018), 'Avengers: End Game' (2019), and 'Spider-Man: Far from Home' (2019).
Favreau also presents the American television cooking series The Chef Show (2019–present), based off of his film 'Chef' (2014).
Favreau currently produces films under his production company banner, Fairview Entertainment.
Favreau has been active from 1992–present.
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