ANDY SAMBERG
Date of Birth: August 18, 1978
Born and raised in Berkely, California, Andy Samberg attended NYU film school and UC Santa Cruz. Together with childhood friends Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer, he formed a group called The Lonely Island. The Lonely Island wrote, performed and directed several short films that aired on Web site Channel 101.com.
While working as an assistant on the sitcom
Spin City, his boss introduced the trio to an agent, who landed them a job writing for the 2004 MTV Video Music Awards. There they met Jimmy Fallon, who arranged an audition for them for
Saturday Night Live. Samberg was cast as a performer, while Taccone and Schaffer were hired as writers. During his first season on SNL Samberg landed his first TV acting gig, with a bit part on
Arrested Development.
Due to the success of their digital short
Lazy Sunday, which was downloaded over a million times the day after it aired on SNL, Paramount executives saw him as upcoming big comedy star similar to SNL alumni Adam Sandler or Will Ferrell, and cast him as the lead in the motion picture
Hot Rod (2007), co-starring Taccone, directed by Schaffer and produced by Lorne Michaels.
Filmography:
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) (voice)
I Love You, Man (2009)
Space Chimps (2008) (voice)
Hot Rod (2007)