Ben Schwartz

Benjamin Schwartz (born September 15, 1981)[1] is an American actor, voice actor, comedian, improviser, writer, director and producer, who portrayed Jean-Ralphio Saperstein on the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation, Clyde Oberholt on the Showtime series House of Lies, voices Dewey Duck in DuckTales and appears in the CollegeHumor web series Jake and Amir.

For other uses, see Benjamin Schwarz (disambiguation).

Ben Schwartz
Schwartz in 2009
Birth name	Benjamin Schwartz
Born	(1981-09-15) September 15, 1981 The Bronx, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actor voice actor comedian improviser writer director producer
Medium	Film, television, internet
Years active	2006–present
Genres	Improvisational comedy
Website	www.rejectedjokes.com

His feature film credits include Peep World,[2] Everybody's Fine, The Other Guys, The Walk, This Is Where I Leave You, Standing Up, Falling Down, and Sonic the Hedgehog as the titular character.

Early life

Schwartz was born in 1981 in The Bronx, New York City. His parents, both Bronx natives,[3] raised Schwartz in Riverdale, a neighborhood in the Northwestern part of the Bronx. His father was a social worker before going into real estate[4] and his mother was a music teacher.[5] In an interview with Kevin Pollak, he stated, "When I told people I was from the Bronx, it was like 'Oh, do you have bullet wounds?' And I'm like 'No, it's just me and, like, Jewish people.'"[4]

When he was eleven years old, his family moved to Edgemont, New York, in adjacent Westchester County.[4] Schwartz attended Edgemont Junior–Senior High School where he played basketball and sang in the chorus; he graduated in 1999.[6] He then attended Union College from which he graduated in 2003 with a double major in psychology and anthropology.[7]

Career

On television, Schwartz guest-starred as Jean-Ralphio Saperstein on NBC's Parks and Recreation[8] and was a lead in the Showtime show House of Lies.[9] In 2010, Schwartz played series regular Bill Hoyt on J. J. Abrams' one-hour spy drama Undercovers for NBC.

Schwartz has been writing, directing and acting in his own short films for some time. He had his own segment on HBO’s Funny or Die Presents called Terrible Decisions with Ben Schwartz and has appeared in multiple CollegeHumor[10] sketches including the popular web series Jake and Amir. Schwartz has been nominated for three Emmys and won the 2009 Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics for coauthoring Hugh Jackman's opening number for the 81st Academy Awards.[11]

In September 2013, he was hired by Paramount Pictures to re-make the 1991 comedy Soapdish,[12] retitled El Fuego Caliente and reworking the original's American soap opera into a Latin telenovela,[13] with producers Rob Reiner and Alan Greisman and he sold an original pitch to Universal Studios based on an idea by Brian Grazer with Imagine Entertainment attached to produce. He was a staff writer for the third season of Adult Swim’s Robot Chicken and served as a freelance writer for the Weekend Update segment of Saturday Night Live as well as the monologues for the Late Show with David Letterman.[8]

Schwartz is an alumnus of the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre (UCBT)[8] and continues to perform there regularly. He is a member of the improv group "Hot Sauce" with Adam Pally and Gil Ozeri, the group performs their long-form improv show "Something Fresh" at UCBT every month.

He and Bill Hader served as vocal consultants for Star Wars: The Force Awakens.[14] Schwartz also played a cameo role as a Stormtrooper in the film.[15]

Since 2014 Schwartz has appeared in episodes of the Comedy Bang! Bang! podcast as the only guest in "Solo Bolo" (2014), "Solo Bolo Dos Lo" (2015), "Solo Bolo Trolo" (2016), "Solo Bolo Cuatrolo" (2016) "Solo Bolo Cincolo" (2017) and "Solo Bolo Sonicolo" (2020). In nearly each episode he and host Scott Aukerman compete in the Olympic Song Challenge.

In 2017, Schwartz began voicing Dewey in the Disney XD revival of DuckTales.[16] Schwartz has been featured as himself in Netflix's Home: Adventures with Tip & Oh’s 2017 animated Christmas special - Home for the Holidays - alongside Kelly Clarkson.[17] He provided the voice of Leonardo in Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.[18] In August 2018, Schwartz was announced to voice the titular character in the 2020 film, Sonic the Hedgehog.[19]

On September 26, 2019, it was announced that Schwartz was cast as F. Tony Scarapiducci in the upcoming Netflix comedy series, Space Force.[20]

In April 2020, Schwartz and fellow improvisor, Thomas Middleditch, starred in Netflix's first long-form improv special, Middleditch and Schwartz, a three-part series of hour-long performances filmed at New York University's Skirball Center for the Performing Arts.[21]

Books

Schwartz has co-written four books, three with writer Amanda McCall: Grandma’s Dead: Breaking Bad News with Baby Animals; Maybe Your Leg Will Grow Back!: Looking on the Bright Side with Baby Animals and Why is Daddy in a Dress?: Asking Awkward Questions with Baby Animals and one with writer Laura Moses, Things You Should Already Know About Dating, You F-king Idiot.[22]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2007	New York City Serenade	Russ
2009	Mystery Team	Dougie's Buddy
	I Hate Valentine's Day	Tammy's Date
	Everybody's Fine	Writer
2010	The Other Guys	Beaman's Assistant
	Peep World	Nathan Meyerwitz
2013	Turbo	Skidmark	Voice
	Coffee Town	Gino
	Better Living Through Chemistry	Noah
	Runner Runner	Craig
2014	This Is Where I Leave You	Rabbi Charles "Boner" Grodner
	Happy Christmas	Party Guest
	The Interview	Eminem's Publicist
2015	The Walk	Albert
	Star Wars: The Force Awakens	BB-8 (voice)	Consultant[14]
2016	The Intervention	Jack
2017	How to Be a Latin Lover	Jimmy / Valet
	Outside In	Ted
2018	Happy Anniversary	Sam
	Blue Iguana	Paul Driggs
	An Actor Prepares	Jimmy
	Night School	Marvin
2019	The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part	Banarnar	Voice
	Standing Up, Falling Down	Scott
2020	Sonic the Hedgehog	Sonic	Voice and facial motion-capture
2021	Rumble	TBA (voice)	In production
2022	Untitled Sonic the Hedgehog sequel[23]	Sonic	Voice and facial motion-capture
TBA	Flora & Ulysses	George Buckman	Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2006	Late Night with Conan O'Brien	Various	1 episode
2007	Starveillance	Glenn (voice)	3 episodes
2007–08	Bronx World Travelers	Ben	5 episodes Also producer and director
2008–09	Mayne Street	Evan Mintz	10 episodes
2009	Intercourse With A Vampire	Waiter	1 episode
	Accidentally On Purpose	Max	Episode: "Working Girl"
	Happiness Isn't Everything	Jacky Hamburger	Television film
2009–11	Terrible Decisions with Ben Schwartz	Ben	Also producer
2010	The Sarah Silverman Program	Writer	Episode: "A Slip Slope"
2010–12	Undercovers	Bill Hoyt	13 episodes
2010–15, 2020	Parks and Recreation	Jean-Ralphio Saperstein	22 episodes
2011	Funny or Die Presents	Ben	Segment: "Terrible Decisions"; also producer
	Mad	Various voices	Episode: "Ribbitless/The Clawface"
2012	Tron: Uprising	Rilo (voice)	Episode: "The Renegade: Part 1"
2012–16	House of Lies	Clyde Oberholt	58 episodes
2012–15	Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja	Randy Cunningham (voice)	50 episodes
2013	The Doc Files	Stuffy (voice)	Spin off series to Doc McStuffins
	Arrested Development	John Beard Jr.	Episode: "Colony Collapse"
	CollegeHumor Originals	Himself	1 episode; also director
2013–20	Bob's Burgers	Josh / Rick (voice)	4 episodes
2013, 2014	Robot Chicken	Various voices	2 episodes: "Papercut to Aorta", "Batman Forever 21"
2013–16	Comedy Bang! Bang!	Rodney Wayber	4 episodes
2015–19	BoJack Horseman	Rutabaga Rabitowitz (voice)	8 episodes
2015	The Simpsons	Clerk (voice)	Episode: "Cue Detective"
	Drunk History	Meyer Lansky	Episode: "Las Vegas"
	The Late Late Show	Himself	Episode that aired January 30
2016	The Earliest Show	Josh Bath	6 episodes; also director Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Actor in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series
2016–17	Animals.	Various voices	2 episodes
2017	Hot Date	Rich Boyfriend	Episode: "Gold Diggers"
2017–present	DuckTales	Dewey	Main voice cast[16]
2018	Medal of Honor	Vito Bertoldo	1 episode
2018, 2019	Modern Family	Nick	3 episodes
2018–present[24]	Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles	Leo	Main voice cast
2019	Ryan Hansen Solves Crimes on Television	Himself	Episode: "Execution Dependant"
	Pinky Malinky	Coach Freebird (voice)	Episode: "Advanced"
	Bajillion Dollar Propertie$	Quistian Gayle	2 episodes
2020	Middleditch and Schwartz	Himself	Main cast, also creator
	American Dad!	Brigham (voice)	Episode: "Cheek to Cheek: A Stripper's Story"
	Space Force	F. Tony Scarapiducci	Main cast
	Crossing Swords	Keefer (voice)	2 episodes

Web series

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2009–15	Jake and Amir	Dating Coach (Amir Blumenfeld), Couples Therapist, Private Eye (Jope), Office Painter, H.R. Guy (Skolbilassus Jim), Mountain Hiker (Stanley), Interrogator (Carrot Slat), Milk Man (Charles Crooshtoost), Usher (Sulu Candles), Real Estate Agent (Cherry Dude), Himself	22 episodes
2018	Good Mythical Morning	Himself	Episode: "Crazy Free Stuff On Craigslist (GAME) ft. Ben Schwartz"[25]
2019	Guest Grumps		Episode: "Playing Magic Kingdom w/ Ben Schwartz!"[26]
2020			Episode: "Playing Games with Epic Gamer BEN SCHWARTZ - Guest Grumps - Aladdin"[27]
			Episode: "Playing Quiplash with Thomas Middleditch and Ben Schwartz!"[28]
	Good Mythical Morning		Episode: "Who Is the Fastest? (SPEED CHALLENGE)"[29]

Video games

Year	Title	Voice role
2013	Turbo: Super Stunt Squad	Skidmark

References

1. "UPI Almanac for Saturday, Sept. 15, 2018". United Press International. September 15, 2018. Archived from the original on October 15, 2019. Retrieved October 15, 2019. comedian/actor Ben Schwartz in 1981 (age 37)
2. Fernandez, Jay (25 February 2011). "TRAILER: Rainn Wilson and Sarah Silverman in 'Peep World'". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 29 December 2011. Retrieved 26 February 2011.
3. Ben Schwartz Raps Along to Sugarhill Gang's "Rappers Delight" in Sonic the Hedgehog's Voice (Video). February 7, 2020.
4. Pollak, Kevin. "Kevin Pollak Chat Show: Ben Schwartz #143". Kevin Pollak Chat Show. YouTube. 10:30. Retrieved July 13, 2012.
5. Marsh, Steve (January 12, 2012). "Ben Schwartz '03". Vulture. Retrieved June 18, 2012.
6. Litt, Hannah (March 2015). "White Oak to Hollywood: An Interview With Ben Schwartz '99" (PDF). Edgemont School Foundation Newsletter. 3.
7. "Notable Alumni in Entertainment" (PDF). Union College. Retrieved August 13, 2018.
8. "Ben Schwartz". Upright Citizens Brigade. Archived from the original on 26 February 2011. Retrieved 26 February 2011.
9. Bacle, Ariana (June 12, 2016). "Ben Schwartz says goodbye to House of Lies in sweet letter". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved August 23, 2016.
10. ""Ben Schwartz" Stuff on CollegeHumor". CollegeHumor. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
11. "Primetime Emmy® Award Database". Primetime Emmy Award Database. Emmy.org. Retrieved 13 August 2011.
12. Kit, Borys (23 February 2011). "Ben Schwartz to Pen 'Soapdish' Remake for Paramount". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 26 February 2011.
13. Finke, Nikki (12 December 2011). "The Black List 2011: Screenplay Roster". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 17 September 2013.
14. DiClaudio, Dennis (December 16, 2015). "Turns out Bill Hader and Ben Schwartz did the voice of BB-8 in The Force Awakens". The A.V. Club. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
15. @rejectedjokes (4 May 2018). "On this beautiful #MayThe4thBeWithYou I feel like I can finally reveal that I played a Storm Trooper in @starwars The Force Awakens. It was an incredible honor and years later, I'm still smiling from the experience but please do not tell BB8" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
16. Petski, Denise (December 16, 2016). "'DuckTales': David Tennant, Danny Pudi, Ben Schwartz Among Voice Cast For Disney XD Reboot". Deadline. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
17. Boone, John (November 17, 2017). "Kelly Clarkson Gets Animated in 'DreamWorks Home For the Holidays' Christmas Special (Exclusive)". Entertainment Tonight. Retrieved December 1, 2017.
18. Snierson, Dan (November 2, 2017). "Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cast features Ben Schwartz and Kat Graham". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved November 2, 2017.
19. Couch, Aaron (August 8, 2018). "Ben Schwartz to Lead Paramount's 'Sonic the Hedgehog' Movie". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 22, 2018.
20. Porter, Rick (September 26, 2019). "John Malkovich, Ben Schwartz Join Steve Carell in Netflix's 'Space Force'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
21. Chuba, Kirsten. "Thomas Middleditch and Ben Schwartz on Convincing Netflix to Buy its First Improv Special". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
22. Bacle, Ariana. "Ben Schwartz, Laura Moses announce new book". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
23. Kroll, Justin (May 28, 2020). "'Sonic the Hedgehog' Sequel in the Works (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety.com. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
24. @rejectedjokes (August 9, 2020). "And when they ask "How bad ass was the Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series?" The reply will be "Ridicously bad ass." It was an absolute honor to play Leo in this series amongst a legendary cast & crew. Gonna miss this show. Thank you to the fans. See ya at the movies" (Tweet). Retrieved August 12, 2020 – via Twitter.
25. "Crazy Free Stuff On Craigslist (GAME) ft. Ben Schwartz". Good Mythical Morning. 2018-09-03. Retrieved 2020-01-15.
26. "Playing Magic Kingdom w/ Ben Schwartz!". Game Grumps. 2019-06-07. Retrieved 2019-06-07.
27. "Playing Games with Epic Gamer BEN SCHWARTZ - Guest Grumps - Aladdin". Game Grumps. 2020-01-25. Retrieved 2020-01-25.
28. Playing Quiplash with Thomas Middleditch and Ben Schwartz!, retrieved 2020-06-15
29. "Who Is the Fastest? (SPEED CHALLENGE)". Good Mythical Morning. 2020-02-20. Retrieved 2020-02-20.

External links

• Ben Schwartz on IMDb
• Martin, Michael (August 21, 2014). "Ben Schwartz". Interview. Archived from the original on May 22, 2018. Retrieved October 15, 2019.