Greg Grunberg

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Greg Grunberg
Greg Grunberg by Gage Skidmore.jpg
Born Gregory Phillip Grunberg
(1966-07-11) July 11, 1966 (age 57)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation Actor
Years active 1990–present
Spouse(s) Elizabeth Dawn Wershow (1992-present)
Children 3
Website www.greggrunberg.com[dead link]

Gregory Phillip "Greg" Grunberg (born July 11, 1966) is an American television and film actor. He is best known for starring as Matt Parkman on the NBC television series Heroes (2006-2010). Other notable roles include the characters Sean Blumberg on Felicity (1998–2002), the pilot Seth Norris on Lost, Eric Weiss on Alias (2001–2006), X-Wing Pilot "Snap" Wexley in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), and as exterminator Alex Mathis in Big Ass Spider! He has often appeared in works produced and directed by childhood friend J. J. Abrams. He is a recurring cast member in the first 2 seasons of the Showtime American television drama series Masters of Sex.

Early life

Grunberg was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Sandy (née Klein) and Gerry Grunberg,[1][2] and had a Jewish upbringing.[3]

Career

Grunberg has had guest roles in television starting 1990. From 1998–2002 he appeared as Sean Blumberg on Felicity. He appeared from 2001–2006 as Eric Weiss on Alias. He left that series as a regular to star on the NBC sitcom, Grand Union. Since 2003, Abrams had planned a series called The Catch about a bounty hunter, starring Grunberg in the lead role.[4] Suggested for both the 2004–2005 and 2005–2006 seasons, the series was never produced; however, a pilot episode was shot. Abrams also cast Grunberg in a brief role as the pilot for the 2004 series Lost. Grunberg returned for the first-season finale, but his scenes were cut for time, and were instead included on the season 1 DVD set. He also appeared in a small role in Mission: Impossible III, which Abrams directed.

Grunberg had a major role in the NBC TV show Heroes. He plays police officer Matt Parkman, who has the power of telepathy. Grunberg has also guest starred on House. He was offered a part in Star Trek, which Abrams directed, but was unable to take it because of a conflict with another project he was working on (although he provided the voice for Kirk's stepfather in the opening sequence).[5] Grunberg voices FBI agent Ethan Thomas in the video game Condemned: Criminal Origins.

Outside of acting, Grunberg is known as one of the creators of the Yowza!! Android and iPhone application, a GPS-aware coupon-referring program.[6]

He also voices Ant-Man in the animated series The Super Hero Squad Show. Grunberg was featured on the May/June 2009 cover of Making Music magazine.[7] On May 17, 2010, Grunberg announced that he would be joining the cast of Love Bites.[8]

He took up a minor role in the 2011 neo-noir detective videogame L.A. Noire, in which he provided both voice and facial motion capture as murder suspect Hugo Moller. On November 7, 2011, he appeared as a guest star on an episode of the TV series Hawaii Five-0 with former Heroes co-star Masi Oka. Grunberg appeared as a special guest star in the March 14, 2012 episode of the TV series Psych along with Wayne Brady and Mike "The Miz" Mizanin.

In 2013 Grunberg appeared in one episode during the first season of the TV series Masters of Sex as the character Gene Moretti, a rich business man. The part was expanded in 2014 to 4 episodes during the second season.[9]

Personal life

In 1992, Grunberg married Elizabeth Dawn Wershow. They have three children: Jake, Ben, and Sam.[10][11] Jake has epilepsy, which has inspired Grunberg to take an active role in raising awareness of the neurological disorder and raising funds for research.[12] He often organizes charity efforts to raise funds for the Pediatric Epilepsy Project in Los Angeles.[13] In the past, this has included events such as an auction of guitars handpainted by celebrities such as Donald Trump, Pink and Grunberg's Alias co-stars Jennifer Garner and Michael Vartan[13] as well as concerts by the Band From TV that includes Grunberg and Hugh Laurie and an online auction of cartoons drawn of Heroes co-stars such as Santiago Cabrera, Tawny Cypress, Noah Gray-Cabey, Ali Larter, Masi Oka, Adrian Pasdar, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Leonard Roberts, Milo Ventimiglia, and Hayden Panettiere.[citation needed] In March 2007, Greg served as the chair of the first National Walk for Epilepsy, presented by the Epilepsy Foundation.[14]

In 2009, Grunberg launched Talk About It, a website dedicated to epilepsy education and awareness, featuring many of Greg's co-stars and celebrity friends,[12] including Garner, Larter, Pasdar, Ramamurthy, Ventimiglia, Panettiere, as well as Zachary Quinto, Chris Pine, Dr. Drew Pinsky, Ron Rifkin, and John Mayer. The site features Grunberg interviewing top epilepsy experts on the need to talk more about epilepsy, and includes a section for people all over the world to talk about it.

Grunberg was a participant in the first-ever national television advertising campaign supporting donations to Jewish federations. The program featured "film and television personalities celebrating their Jewish heritage and promoting charitable giving to the Jewish community" and included Marlee Matlin, Joshua Malina, Kevin Weisman, and Jonathan Silverman. [3] Grunberg also made a tongue-in-cheek promotional video for Temple Judea Religious School lambasting boring Hebrew Religious schools.[15]

Grunberg currently[when?] is one of the hosts of Social Tron Live, a Twitch channel, in a segment called Greg Grunberg live where he plays video games with fellow celebrities, comedians, and popular Twitch streamers.

Filmography and television credits

Year Title Role Notes
1993 Witchcraft V: Dance with the Devil Bartender (uncredited) Film
1996 The Pallbearer Bobby (uncredited) Film
1997 Picture Perfect Date #1 (uncredited) Film
1998 BASEketball Wilke Film
1998 Senseless Steve Film
1998 Diagnosis: Murder Brad Carver TV series
1998–2002 Felicity Sean Blumberg TV series
2000 Hollow Man Carter Abbey Film
2001 NYPD Blue Joey Schulman Season 8, episodes 18,19,20
2001–2006 Alias Eric Weiss TV series
2002 Austin Powers in Goldmember Shirtless Fan T Film
2003 Malibu's Most Wanted Brett Film
2004 The Dead Zone Frankie Cantrell TV series
2004 The Ladykillers TV commercial director Film
2004 Connie and Carla Studio tour guide Film
2004, 2010 Lost Seth Norris (Pilot) TV series
2005 Condemned: Criminal Origins Ethan Thomas Video game
2006 Monk Jack Leverett Episode: "Mr. Monk and the Actor"
2006 The Jake Effect Nick Case TV series
2006 The Darkroom Bob Film
2006 Mission: Impossible III Kevin Film
2006 House Ronald Neuberger TV series
2006–2010 Heroes Matt Parkman TV series
2007 TimeShift Commander Mason Cooke Video game
2008–2009 Head Case Himself TV series
2009 Star Trek James T. Kirk's stepfather Voice only
2009 The Super Hero Squad Show Ant-Man Voice only
2010 Halo: Reach Trooper 2 Video game
2010 Kill Speed Chief of Police Film
2010 Group Sex Jerry Film
2011 Love Bites Judd Rousher TV series
2011 L.A. Noire Hugo Moller Video game
2011 ISSUES The Dark Kodiak Television/webseries
2011 Hawaii Five-0 Agent Jeff Morrison Guest on season 2, episode 8
2012 Psych Jay Guest on season 6, episode 12
2012–2013 The Client List Dale Recurring
2012 Baby Daddy Ray Wheeler TV Series
2013 End of the World Owen Stokes TV movie[16]
2013 Big Ass Spider! Alex Film
2013–2014 Masters of Sex Gene Moretti TV series
2014 Let's Kill Ward's Wife Bruce Film
2015 The Haunting of...Greg Grunberg Documentary TV series Season 5, episode 1
2015 Criminal Minds Chris Callahan TV series, 2 episodes
2015 Heroes Reborn Matt Parkman TV Series/Miniseries
2015 Underdog Kids Announcer Film
2015 Tales Of Halloween Alex Mathis Film
2015 Star Wars: The Force Awakens Temmin "Snap" Wexley Film

References

  1. ↑ Greg Grunberg Biography - Yahoo! Movies
  2. ↑ NNDB: "Greg Grunberg" retrieved November 2, 2013
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Jewish Federations of North America: "Film and Television Celebrities Promote Jewish Federations in First-Ever National Television Advertising Campaign - Jewish Stars Promote Federations' Initiatives and Mission" August 2, 2004
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ http://www.makingmusicmag.com/features/09may03.html
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Parent Dish: "Greg Grunberg is a Hero for Epilepsy" by Susan Wagner April 1, 2009
  11. ↑ Premier Magazine: "La biographie de Greg Grunberg" retrieved November 2, 2013 |(in French)
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 People: "Greg Grunberg's Son 90 Percent Better after Brain Surgery" By Lisa Ingrassia April 1, 2009
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Look To the Stars: "Greg Grunberg" retrieved November 2, 2013
  14. ↑ Epilepsey Foundation: "Hollywood Movie Premiere Highlights National Epilepsy Awareness Month" retrieved November 2, 2013
  15. ↑ You Tube Temple Judea: "Save the Children - Stop Hebrew School Suffering" retrieved November 2, 2013
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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