B. J. Novak

Benjamin Joseph Manaly Novak (born July 31, 1979) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, author, and producer. He gained traction as a comedian during the early 2000s before becoming a field agent for the MTV reality prank show '' Punk'd'' (2003).

Novak had his breakout with a main role as Ryan Howard on seasons 1–8 of the NBC mockumentary sitcom ''The Office'' (2005–2013). His acting, writing and producing for the show earned him two Screen Actors Guild Awards and a Writers Guild of America Award, alongside five nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series.

In the late 2000s, Novak had supporting roles in the films '' Reign Over Me'' (2007) and ''Inglourious Basterds'' (2009). In the 2010s, he portrayed musician Robert B. Sherman in '' Saving Mr. Banks'' (2013) and Marvel Comics character Alistair Smythe in ''The Amazing Spider-Man 2'' (2014). He had a starring role as Harry J. Sonneborn in the biographical film ''The Founder'' (2016) and voiced Baker Smurf in ''The Smurfs'' (2011) and '' The Smurfs 2'' (2013). In television, he had a recurring role as Lucas Pruit on the HBO series '' The Newsroom'' (2014).

In the 2020s, Novak made his film directorial debut with '' Vengeance'' (2022), which he also produced and starred in. He created and wrote the FX on Hulu anthology series '' The Premise'' (2021). In addition to his film and television career, Novak authored the 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, at Newton-Wellesley Hospital in Newton, Massachusetts. His parents are Linda (née ) and author William Novak. 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. Novak has two brothers: Lev Novak and composer Jesse Novak.

He attended Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Boston and Brown Middle School. He went to Camp Ramah in New England in Massachusetts in the summers of his 6th, 7th and 9th grades.

He attended Newton South High School with future ''The Office'' costar John Krasinski; they graduated in 1997. Novak edited one of the school newspapers, ''The Lion's Roar'', and cowrote a satirical play with Krasinski.

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''. 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.

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. He was named one of '' Variety''s "Ten Comedians To Watch" in 2003.

He was a writer for the short-lived The WB sitcom '' Raising Dad''. He performed on Comedy Central's '' Premium Blend'' and on ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien''.

Novak's television acting career began on MTV's '' Punk'd''. 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.

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.

''The Office''

After hearing Novak's opening joke at a comedy club, executive producer Greg Daniels decided he "wanted to do something with him." 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:

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 rasinskifrom high school. Isn't that weird?"

Post-''The Office'' career

Novak has had supporting roles in Quentin Tarantino's 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''.

He wrote, directed and executive-produced a half-hour anthological series, '' The Premise'', released on FX in 2021. 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.

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. 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.

Novak also signed a deal with Penguin's children's books label and wrote ''The Book with No Pictures'', released on September 30, 2014. 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. 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."

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. 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. In May 2016, it was rebranded 'li.st' and became available on the Android platform. In September 2017, it was shut down due to lack of users.

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. He is the godfather of Kaling's first two children.

Novak lives in Los Angeles.

Bibliography

Books

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Essays, reporting and other contributions

Publications

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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

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Filmography

Film

Acting credits

Television

Acting credits

Writing credits

Directing credits

Awards and nominations

References

Footnotes

Works cited

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External links

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"The Office's BJ Novak: Uncut"
an NPR interview from May 2008

{{DEFAULTSORT:Novak, B. J.
1979 births
Living people
21st-century American comedians
21st-century American Jews
21st-century American male actors
21st-century American male writers
21st-century American screenwriters
Actors from Newton, Massachusetts
American comedy writers
American male comedians
American male film actors
American male screenwriters
American male television actors
American male television writers
American television directors
Comedians from Massachusetts
Hasty Pudding alumni
Jewish American comedy writers
Jewish American male actors
Jewish American comedians
Jewish male comedians
Jewish American screenwriters
Jewish American television writers
American television writers
Jews from Massachusetts
Male actors from Massachusetts
Newton South High School alumni
Screenwriters from Massachusetts
Television producers from Massachusetts
The Harvard Lampoon alumni
The New Yorker people
Writers Guild of America Award winners
Writers from Newton, Massachusetts