Actor Profile: Michael Cera

Every character he's ever done.

Personal Life

Born on June 7, 1988 in Brampton, Ontario, Michael Cera was probably awkward from day one. Seriously, let’s be honest: His first two roles were in a Tim Hortons summer camp commercial and in a Pillsbury commercial where he poked the Doughboy himself. 22 years isn’t all that long, so most of his life so far has consisted of school and acting. Detailed personal facts are hard to come by when you’re looking for a 22 year old guy who’s best known as being “That one awkward kid in a movie I saw once…” Oh, and he plays guitar.

(Abridged) Filmography

2002 – Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (Chuck Barris)

2003-2006 – Arrested Development (George Michael Bluth) [TV]

2007 – Superbad (Evan)

2007 – Juno (Paulie Bleeker)

2008 – Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist (Nick O’Leary)

2009 – Year One (Oh)

2010 – Youth in Revolt (Nick Twisp / François Dillinger)

2010 – Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Scott Pilgrim)

Critical Reception

Although he hasn’t won any big name awards, Cera has a pretty devoted fan base. His almost exclusively comedic, awkward roles have earned him a rather specific reputation. Going from a nerdy teen with a disturbing crush on his cousin in Arrested Development to an even more socially inept high school student who gets a girl pregnant in Juno, Cera always plays essentially the same role. A lot of people give him crap for that, claiming that he can only pull off one character, but there are many (myself included) who love him for it.

The Future

Cera stars as the title character in the August 13 release of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (to which we got advance screening tickets!), but has no other announced upcoming films. There have been talks for years about making an Arrested Development movie, but it always seems to get delayed for some reason; more often than not it’s because of “scheduling conflicts” with one of the actors. Even so, the writers (and some of the actors) seem optimistic about the prospect. My two cents? It’ll never happen. Arrested Development is one of my favorite shows of all time, and I would love a movie to wrap it all up, but there’ s no way they can get it to work. Heck, MGM can’t even get The Hobbit off the ground.

Oh, right. Michael Cera. My guess is that he’ll continue to play the same character for another year or two, but will eventually branch out into more serious roles. The question is whether his fans will be able to take the transition in stride, or if they’ll want more Paulie Bleeker.