Michael Cera

Cera is married to Nadine, and they have two sons. He has kept his family life private, although he revealed in 2022 that his first child was a six-month-old boy, and announced the birth of his second son in 2024.

Cera was born in Brampton, Ontario, to Linda and Luigi Cera, who both worked for Xerox. He is the middle child of three children and has two sisters, Jordan and Molly. He became interested in acting at age three after repeatedly watching Ghostbusters while sick with chickenpox, memorizing its dialogue and admiring Bill Murray.

At age eight, Cera made an unpaid appearance in a Tim Hortons advertisement. He later appeared in a Pillsbury commercial, which gave him his first spoken lines. He studied improvisation at The Second City in Toronto and began appearing in television projects in 1999, including the Canadian children’s series I Was a Sixth Grade Alien. His early screen work also included What Katy Did, Switching Goals, Frequency, and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.

Cera gained major attention at age 15 when he was cast as George Michael Bluth in Arrested Development. The sitcom centered on the dysfunctional Bluth family, with Cera playing the sweet and easily flustered son of Michael Bluth, portrayed by Jason Bateman. The series ran for three seasons before its cancellation in 2006, developed a cult following, and later returned through Netflix, with Cera reprising the role in 2013 and 2018-2019. He also worked in the writers’ room and served as a consulting producer during the fourth season.

His film breakthrough came in 2007 with Superbad, in which he played Evan opposite Jonah Hill and Christopher Mintz-Plasse. Later that year, he portrayed Paulie Bleeker, an earnest teenager, in Juno alongside Elliot Page. Cera received the Austin Film Critics Association’s Breakthrough Artist award for his work in both films, which established his recurring screen persona of awkward, sensitive, and socially inexperienced characters.

Cera followed those films with Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist, Youth in Revolt, and the title role in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Directed by Edgar Wright, the 2010 film cast Cera as a slacker guitarist who must battle the seven evil exes of Ramona Flowers. He later returned to the role through the animated series Scott Pilgrim Takes Off.

Cera continued to balance independent films, studio comedies, and television appearances. His credits included Paper Heart, Year One, This Is the End, Magic Magic, Crystal Fairy & the Magical Cactus, Molly’s Game, Person to Person, Gloria Bell, and Dream Scenario. In Molly’s Game, he played Player X, a fictional composite of celebrity poker players.

He has also voiced characters in projects such as Sausage Party, The Lego Batman Movie, Cryptozoo, Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank, and Sausage Party: Foodtopia. In 2017, he played Wally “Brando” Brennan in David Lynch and Mark Frost’s revival of Twin Peaks. Cera later played John, the love interest of Amy Schumer’s character, in the comedy-drama series Life & Beth.

In 2023, Cera portrayed Allan in Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, starring alongside Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling. He also appeared in The Adults and Dream Scenario. In Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme, he played Norwegian entomologist Björn Lund, a performance that received particular critical attention.

Cera made his stage debut in 2012 in Kenneth Lonergan’s This Is Our Youth at the Sydney Opera House. The production later transferred to Broadway, where he returned in Lonergan’s Lobby Hero in 2018. His performance as Jeff earned him a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Play. That year he also appeared in Lonergan’s The Waverly Gallery alongside Elaine May, Lucas Hedges, and Joan Allen.

Cera is a musician who sings and plays guitar, mandolin, and bass. He contributed mandolin and backing vocals to Weezer’s album Hurley, played bass while performing in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist, and toured as the bassist for the indie rock band Mister Heavenly. He released his debut solo album, True That, in 2014 and co-founded the band The Long Goodbye with Clark Duke.

His other creative work includes writing and directing. In 2007, he and Clark Duke created the short-form comedy series Clark and Michael, which they wrote, produced, directed, and starred in. Cera also directed the short films Brazzaville Teen-Ager, Failure, and Bitch, and published the short story “Pinecone” in McSweeney’s in 2009.