Simon Helberg: biography and filmography

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Simon Helberg is an American actor, director, screenwriter, producer, comedian and musician. He is best known for his role as Howard Wolowitz in one of the most successful comedy series of our time, The Big Bang Theory. On the big screen, he worked in the films "A Serious Man" and "Prima Donna", for the second he was nominated for many prestigious awards.

Childhood and youth

Simon Helberg was born December 9, 1980 in Los Angeles, California. Father - actor Sandy Helberg, best known for television roles. Mother is a casting director. The actor has Polish and Russian roots. Simon was brought up in the tradition of Judaism. As a child, he practiced karate, according to him, he earned a black belt at the age of only nine.

In high school, I met another popular future actor Jason Ritter, known for his lead role in the TV series "Parents". After graduation, he entered the New York Tisch School of the Arts. Rented an apartment there with Ritter.

Career start

BIn the early 2000s, Helberg founded the comic duo Derek and Simon with Derek Waters, the two of them performed comedy sketches. Also, the young actor appeared in two small roles in the comedies "King of the Parties" and "Old School". In 2002, the young actor starred in a commercial for the large Target chain of stores.

In the next few years, Simon Helberg appeared in episodes of the famous comedy series Arrested Development and Joey, and also played a small role in George Clooney's historical drama Goodnight and Good Luck.

In 2007, he launched the comedy web series Derek & Simon with Waters, in addition to acting, he also took over the writing of scripts for many episodes. In addition, he played a supporting role in Aaron Sorkin's "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" and appeared in the parody comedy "Rise and Fall: The Dewey Cox Story" and the film "Evan Almighty".

Big Breakthrough

In 2007, Simon Helberg was chosen to play one of the lead roles in the CBS comedy series The Big Bang Theory. He appeared on the screen in the image of engineer Howard Wolowitz. The sitcom quickly became a big hit, and its ratings have only continued to rise over the years.

For his work on the show, Helberg won the TV Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy. Eleven seasons of Theory have aired so far.big bang, it was recently announced that the twelfth season will be the last for the project. This is largely due to the busy schedule of the actors who have become in demand in Hollywood thanks to the series, and their significantly increased fees. According to rumors, Simon, like other members of the main cast, receives about a million dollars per episode.

Despite the fact that, according to many fans of the series, the quality of the project began to decline rapidly after the fourth season, the sitcom made a real star of television from Simon Helberg. Photos of the actor appeared on the covers of glossy magazines, he became a guest of evening talk shows, starred in an advertising campaign for the world-famous Sprite brand and received many interesting creative proposals.

Other projects

Even during the filming of the sitcom, Simon Helberg began to appear in other projects. He played a supporting role in Joss Whedon's web series Doctor Terrible's Music Blog in 2008. A year later, in the drama of the Coen brothers, the actor played a young rabbi. The picture was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Picture category.

In 2014 Simon Helberg made his directorial debut. The film "We Can't See Paris Like Our Ears" received negative reviews from critics and currently has a rather low viewership rating on the most popular movie sites. At the same time, the picture was well received at film festivals and even received a prize for the best comedy film onNewport Beach Festival.

In 2016, the actor appeared in Stephen Frears' historical drama "Diva" along with Hollywood stars Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant. For his work in the project, he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award in the Best Supporting Actor category. Many analysts believed that Simon would also get into a similar nomination according to the voting results of members of the American Film Academy, but, unfortunately, the actor was not nominated for an Oscar.

Simon Helberg is a talented impersonator and voice actor. He gave his voice to the characters of the animated series Kung Fu Panda: Amazing Legends and The Tom and Jerry Show.

Private life

The actor married in 2007 Jocelyn Towne, niece of the famous Hollywood screenwriter Robert Towne, who worked on the films "Chinatown" and "Mission Impossible". Simon Helberg and his wife have two children, daughter Adeline and son Wilder. The couple jointly staged the film "We Can't See Paris Like Our Ears".

Simon Helberg is a talented musician, which can often be seen in many episodes of The Big Bang Theory, he plays the piano professionally.