Favreau, Jon

American actor and director Jonathan Kolia Favreau was born on October 19, 1966[1]. Rudy (1993), PCU (1994), Swingers (1996, Very Bad Things (1998), Deep Impact (1998), The Replacements (2000), Daredevil (2003), and The Break-Up (2006) are just some of the films in which Favreau has appeared as an actor. Four Christmases (2008), Couples Retreat (2009), I Love You, Man (2009), People Like Us (2012), The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), Chef (2014), and a number of Marvel Studios films are just a few of the films in which he has appeared.

Favreau's filmmaking career has been intricately linked to the MCU. In the films Iron Man (2008) and Iron Man 2 (2010), he directed, produced, and played the role of Happy Hogan. In addition to his work on and appearances in the aforementioned films, he also produced and/or portrayed the character in the following: The Avengers (2012), Iron Man 3 (2013), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019), Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), and Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021).

In addition to helming Elf (2003) and Zathura: A Space Adventure (2005), his filmography also includes Cowboys & Aliens (2011), Chef (2014), The Jungle Book (2016), and The Lion King (2019). The Mandalorian (2019-present), an original Star Wars series from Disney, was created by and stars Favreau as one of the show's executive producers and directors. He is also involved with the spinoff series The Book of Boba Fett as a writer and executive producer. Fairview Entertainment is his film production company, and he hosts the food-focused TV show The Chef Show.

Early life [ edit ]

On October 19, 1966[1] in Flushing, Queens, New York, Jonathan Kolia Favreau was born to Madeleine, an elementary school teacher who passed away in 1979 from leukemia, and Charles Favreau, a special education teacher. His mother was Jewish (of Russian Jewish descent)[2, 3], [4, 5], and his father is a Catholic of Italian and French-Canadian ancestry. Favreau left Hebrew school [6, 7][8, 10] to pursue acting. After his mother passed away, however, his extended family made it a priority to make sure he had a Bar Mitzvah. [9]

After completing high school in 1984[10] at the gifted-student-focused The Bronx High School of Science, Favreau enrolled in and dropped out of Queens College in 1987[11]. Mitchell Pollack, a college friend of Favreau's, claims that Favreau's nickname was "Johnny Hack" because of his skill at the game Hacky Sack. In early 1988, he spent a semester at Queens College after working briefly for Bear Stearns on Wall Street. When he was only a few credits away from graduating, he decided to leave college for good and move to Chicago in the summer of 1988 to pursue a career in comedy. In Chicago, [13] he appeared on stage at ImprovOlympic and the Improv Institute, among others. [14]

Career [ edit ]

Career Beginnings: 1992-2000 [ edit ]

Favreau's first film role was as the tutor D-Bob opposite Sean Astin in the underrated hit Rudy (1993), which he landed in Chicago. Favreau got to know Vince Vaughn, who had a bit part in the movie, on set. Later that year, he co-starred with Jeremy Piven in the film PCU about a college campus, and in 1994, he played Eric the Clown in an episode of Seinfeld called "The Fire." [16]

After relocating to Los Angeles, Favreau found success as an actor and screenwriter in the 1996 film Swingers, in which Vaughn also found fame as the character Trent Walker, the antagonist to Favreau's heartbroken Mike Peters. During the 1997 season of Friends, he guest starred as Pete Becker, Monica Geller's millionaire boyfriend who is also a professional mixed martial arts fighter. During 1996 and 1997, [18] Favreau was a guest star on the sketch comedy series Tracey Takes On.... [19]

For Deep Impact (1998), Favreau played Gus Partenza, and for Very Bad Things (1998), he teamed up with Piven again. In 1999, he played the title role in the biopic Rocky Marciano, which was based on the life of the former heavyweight champion. Later, he co-starred with Famke Janssen in the cult classic Love & Sex (2000). [22] Favreau played the maniacal linebacker Daniel Bateman in the 2000 film The Replacements, and he also appeared as himself in the 2001 episode of The Sopranos titled "D-Girl," in which he portrayed a Hollywood director who pretended to be interested in developing a screenplay written by mob associate Christopher Moltisanti in order to gather material for his own screenplay. [23][24]

The years 2001-2015: Actor-Director [ edit ]

Favreau at the 2008 Mexico City Iron Man photocall

He directed his first film, Made (also written by him), in 2001. Made reunited him with Vince Vaughn, with whom he had worked in Swingers. Dinner for Five, which starred Favreau, ran on the cable network IFC from 2001 to 2005.

Favreau appeared as lawyer Foggy Nelson in Daredevil (2003), and he directed an episode of the college drama Undeclared in 2001 (his appearance in the film increased significantly in the director's cut). He also had roles in Steve Anderson's 2003 film The Big Empty ([26][27]). His character, John Person, was a jobless actor with a peculiar assignment: to deliver a blue suitcase to a man named Cowboy in the desert. To wit: [28] Favreau wrote the script for "The First $20 Million Is Always the Hardest" in 2002.

His first major box office success as a director came in the fall of 2003 with the release of Elf, a comedy starring Will Ferrell, Zooey Deschanel, James Caan, and Peter Dinklage. Favreau also had a small role in the 2003 film Something's Gotta Give, which starred Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson, as Leo, Harry Sanborn (Nicholson), Sanborn's personal assistant. The film version of the children's book Zathura was directed by Favreau in 2005. Despite favorable reviews, its commercial success was limited. Throughout the '30s and '30s, Favreau was a fixture in both the film and television industries. In the romantic comedy The Break-Up, he starred alongside Vaughn, and in My Name Is Earl, he played a despicable fast food manager. And don't forget about Favreau's cameo in Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show! [32]

In week five of NBC's primetime reality TV business show The Apprentice, Favreau appeared as a guest judge and executive representative of Sony Corporation. Judged the efforts of the show's two competing teams as they created floats to promote his 2005 Sony Pictures film Zathura: A Space Adventure. [33]

Favreau's hiring as the film's director for Iron Man was announced on April 28, 2006. Favreau's reputation as a director was cemented after the May 2, 2008 release of the film, which was a critical[35] and commercial[36] success. [37]

Favreau directed and executive produced Iron Man, the first film to come from Marvel Studios' partnership with Paramount. Favreau plays Tony Stark's driver Happy Hogan in the film's opening sequence. Iron Man: Viva Las Vegas was a two-issue miniseries he wrote for Marvel Knights that debuted in September 2008 and was canceled in November 2008. Iron Man 2 was also directed by Favreau, and he served as executive producer on the film. In December of 2010, Favreau announced that he would not be directing Iron Man 3, but would continue to serve as the film's executive producer. [40]

Favreau was Edgar Rice Burroughs' third choice to direct the film version of the swashbuckling space hero John Carter. Even though he didn't end up being the director, he did make a cameo as a bookie in the movie.

While filming Four Christmases in 2008, he played Denver, Vaughn's bully older brother. In 2009, Favreau co-starred in the comedy Couples Retreat, which he also wrote and directed. The film follows four married couples as they undergo therapy sessions while vacationing on a tropical island. Kristin Davis played his wife, and he co-starred with Vince Vaughn again in the film. [41]

In Star Wars: The Clone Wars, he provides the voice of Mandalorian Death Watch leader Pre Vizsla. [42]

He signed on in September 2009 to direct Cowboys & Aliens, an adaptation of Scott Mitchell Rosenberg's graphic novel of the same name. Released in 2011, the science fiction Western starring Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford is widely regarded as a financial failure, having earned only $174 million worldwide. It earned $163 million on a budget of million, and audiences and critics both loved and hated it.

Favreau directed the pilot episode and served as an executive producer for the NBC series Revolution alongside J. J. Abrams in 2012. [44]

A season nine episode of The Office, another NBC smash hit, was directed by Favreau in 2013. [45]

He shot the pilot episode of a TV show in 2013 that was inspired by the novel About a Boy but was set in San Francisco. Additionally, he directed the "The Law of the Jungle" trailer for Destiny (46).

With Chef, released in 2014, Favreau served as writer, co-producer, director, and star. After getting into it with a food critic in public, Favreau's character, the chef, decides to leave his job at a successful Los Angeles restaurant and open a food truck with his son. Robert Downey Jr. makes a cameo appearance alongside Sofa Vergara, John Leguizamo, Scarlett Johansson, Oliver Platt, Bobby Cannavale, and Dustin Hoffman. After helming a number of expensive movies, Favreau wrote the script for this one in an effort to get "back to basics" and make a movie about cooking. It earned $45 million against a production budget of $11 million thanks to positive reviews and enthusiastic audiences. citation needed(Citation required)

From 2016 onwards, I've been working in the franchise industry. [ edit ]

The live-action The Jungle Book, which Favreau directed and produced for Walt Disney Pictures and was released on April 15, 2016, to widespread acclaim both critically and financially. [47]

It was also announced that same year that Favreau would be directing a computer-animated remake of Disney's The Lion King[48][49], which would be his first time helming a musical. Released in theaters this past July, the film stars Donald Glover as Simba and James Earl Jones as Mufasa. As of July 29th, The Lion King had earned more money than either the original or Favreau's previous directorial effort, The Jungle Book. He also served as a consultant on 24 episodes of The Orville between 2017 and 2019, [52] while working on other directing projects. [53]

Both Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) and Avengers: Infinity War (2018) featured his return as Happy Hogan. In preparation for Avengers: Infinity War, Favreau filmed a scene that ultimately did not make the cut and was relegated to the Blu-ray. Favreau helmed the first episode of the CBS series Young Sheldon in 2017. [54]

A live-action Star Wars TV series, The Mandalorian, would be written and executive produced by Favreau, Lucasfilm announced on March 8, 2018. Disney would air the series. The series, which was co-produced by Favreau's production company Golem Creations, debuted on the same day as the streaming service, November 12, 2019. Voice actor Jon Favreau also provided his talents for Tait Fletcher's Paz Vizsla. [57]

In the same year, Favreau voiced Rio Durant, "a very cool and important alien character" and member of Beckett's crew, in Solo: A Star Wars Story. [58][59]

Favreau made a cameo appearance as Happy Hogan at the film's conclusion in 2019's Avengers: Endgame. Favreau served as executive producer on the Russo brothers'[60] film. On April 26, 2019, Marvel's Avengers: Endgame was released. Spider-Man: Far From Home, the sequel to Homecoming, also featured Favreau in 2019. [62]

It was also announced in May of that year that Favreau, along with co-host Roy Choi, would co-host and executive produce a cooking show for Netflix titled The Chef Show. To begin airing in June of 2019, it had to wait until then. [63]

Favreau returned to the role of Happy Hogan in the December 2021 film Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Together with the BBC Studios Natural History Unit, Favreau created the documentary series Prehistoric Planet for Apple TV in May 2022. [64]

Planned Future Activities [ edit ]

The critically acclaimed live-action adaptation of The Jungle Book that Favreau directed was rumored to be getting a sequel in April 2016. Pre-production on the sequel began on June 12, 2018, with Justin Marks, the film's original writer, having completed an early script draft. [67]

Appearances [ edit ]

In Tim Ferriss's book, Tools of Titans, Favreau contributes a chapter offering guidance.

Works in progress [ edit ]

Favreau was set to write and produce a motion-captured animated film titled Neanderthals[68] for Sony Pictures Animation in the mid-2000s, but the project was canceled sometime in 2008[69].

It was first reported in November 2010 that Favreau would direct a film titled Magic Kingdom, based on The Walt Disney Company's theme park of the same name.[70] In July 2012, Favreau confirmed that he was in fact working on the film. After filming The Jungle Book was completed, he stated in 2014 that he was still interested in directing the project. [73]

Favreau, along with David Fincher, Brad Bird, Matthew Vaughn, and Ben Affleck, was reportedly in contention to direct Star Wars: The Force Awakens in November 2012, but J. J. Abrams ultimately won the job. Favreau stated in June 2015 that he would not be involved with the Star Wars anthology films, but that he was open to working on future Star Wars films. Later, Favreau collaborated with the franchise on the live-action series The Mandalorian (75).

Will Ferrell said he didn't want to make another Elf movie in December 2013. Even so, in an interview conducted in January of 2016, Favreau mentioned the possibility of a sequel. But the following month, Ferrell said again that the sequel was not likely and that he had no interest in reprising his role. [78]

Intimate sphere [ edit ]

On November 24, 2000, Favreau wed doctor Joya Tillem. They have three children together: son Max Favreau (who played a young version of himself in Iron Man 2), two daughters, and a baby daughter. Tillem is the niece of Len Tillem, a lawyer and talk show host. [82]

Favreau says that his "really strong background in imagination, storytelling, understanding how to create tone and a sense of balance" came from his time playing Dungeons & Dragons. "[83]

Constructing Golems [ edit ]

Manufacturers of Golems, L.L.C. On August 30, 2018, Jon Favreau formed an LLC that specializes in television production. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Favreau explained the inspiration behind his company's name: "a golem was like technology; it could be used to protect or destroy if control was lost of it." They've collaborated with Lucasfilm on shows like "The Mandalorian" and "The Book of Boba Fett"

Filmography [ edit ]

2012 San Diego Comic-Con appearance by Favreau

It was announced in May of this year that Favreau would be honored as a Disney Legend at this year's D23 Expo for all of his hard work and dedication to the Walt Disney Company. [86][87]

References [ edit ]

Connecting to the Outside World: Some Useful Resources [ edit ]