Justin Jacob Long (born June 2, 1978) is an American film and television actor. He is perhaps best known for roles in comedies including Dodgeball and Accepted, and for a series of popular "Get A Mac" commercials for Apple. He portrayed the role of Paul Genzlinger in a four-episode arc in season one on Fox's New Girl.
Biography[]
Long was born in Fairfield, Connecticut, the middle of three sons born to Raymond James Long, a university professor, and stage actress Wendy Lesniak. He was raised Roman Catholic and his grandmother was born in Sicily. He attended Vassar College, where he worked with sketch comedy troupe Laughingstock. He appeared in several plays during and after college, while he worked as an acting instructor and counselor for a children's theater group at Sacred Heart University.
He got to Hollywood at 22, and broke through as a supporting character on the TV series Ed, a critical darling co-starring Tom Cavanagh and Julie Bowen. High profile roles followed in horror flick Jeepers Creepers (and the sequel), Britney Spears's starring vehicle Crossroads, and 2004 comedy flick Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, which co-starred Hollywood heavyweights Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller, and cemented Long's status as a go-to funnyman in Hollywood.
A string of films followed - from Herbie: Fully Loaded with Lindsay Lohan, to Live Free or Die Hard with Bruce Willis, college comedy Accepted, and Zack and Miri Make a Porno as gay porn star Brandon St. Randy. He appeared once again with Vaughn in The Break-Up, co-starring Jennifer Aniston. He also co-starred with Ginnifer Goodwin in ensemble romantic comedy He's Just Not That Into You, based on the bestselling book, indie comedy Waiting... with Ryan Reynolds and Anna Faris, and another cult horror flick, Drag Me To Hell. In 2010, he costarred with then-girlfriend Drew Barrymore in the romantic comedy Going the Distance, and appeared as a one-armed Civil War veteran in Robert Redford's drama The Conspirator, costarring James McAvoy, Robin Wright, and Evan Rachel Wood.
He has previously guested on TV shows including That 70's Show, and as a voice actor on King of the Hill. He has lent his voice to two film adaptations of Alvin and the Chipmunks, released in 2007 and 2009, and to animated flick Alpha and Omega, as Humphrey. He also worked on 2012 animated series Unsupervised as the voice of 15-year-old Gary Garrison.
In demand as an actor, he often films cameo roles in numerous films, and appeared in one of many skits in the universally panned 2013 Movie 43, which unwittingly starred a who's who of Hollywood heavyweights. In his skit, he portrayed Robin to Jason Sudeikis' Batman, alongside Bobby Cannavale as Superman and Kristen Bell as Supergirl.
He'll next make a cameo in the highly anticipated Veronica Mars movie in 2014, and also star in Comet, a comedy drama film with Shameless star Emmy Rossum and former soap star Eric Winter.