B. J. Novak

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American actor, writer, and producerTemplate:SHORTDESC:American actor, writer, and producer[[Category:**Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Pagetype/config' not found.**s with short description]]

* writer
* comedian

**Benjamin Joseph Manaly Novak** (born July 31, 1979) is an American actor, writer, comedian, and director. Novak was one of the writers and executive producers of *The Office* (2005–2013), in which he also played Ryan Howard.

## Early life

Novak was born July 31, 1979, in Newton, Massachusetts. His parents are Linda (née Template:Proper name) and author William Novak. Novak's family is Jewish. His father co-edited *The Big Book of Jewish Humor*, and has ghostwritten memoirs for Nancy Reagan, Lee Iacocca, Magic Johnson, and others; his parents also established a Jewish matchmaking service. Novak has two younger brothers, Jesse, a composer, and Lev. He attended Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Boston for elementary school and middle school.

He went to Camp Ramah in New England for a couple of summers when he was a teenager.

He attended Newton South High School with future  *The Office* costar John Krasinski, and they graduated in 1997. Novak graduated from Harvard University in 2001, where he was a member of the *Harvard Lampoon* and the Hasty Pudding Club. He majored in English and Spanish literature, and wrote his honors thesis on the films of Shakespeare's *Hamlet*.

Aside from the *Lampoon*, he occasionally staged and performed in a variety show called *The B.J. Show* with fellow Harvard student B. J. Averell.

## Career

Following his graduation from Harvard, he moved to Los Angeles, California and began working in clubs as a comedian. His first live stand-up performance took place at the Hollywood Youth Hostel on October 10, 2001.Template:Citation needed He was named one of *Variety's* "Ten Comedians To Watch" in 2003.

Novak was a writer for the short-lived The WB sitcom *Raising Dad*. He performed on Comedy Central's *Premium Blend* and on *Late Night with Conan O'Brien*.

Novak's television acting career began on MTV's *Punk'd*. He was the lead accomplice to Ashton Kutcher on the show's second season in 2003, playing pranks on Hilary Duff, Rachael Leigh Cook, Usher, and Mýa.Template:Citation needed

 File:Bjnovak crop.jpg
### *The Office*

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After hearing Novak's opening joke at a comedy club, executive producer Greg Daniels decided he "wanted to do something with him"; Novak was subsequently cast as Ryan Howard.

Novak plays a character who goes through ups and downs throughout his work career and has an on off relationship with Kelly Kapoor (Mindy Kaling).

Novak was not only a cast member on the show but a producer and writer. He along with Mindy Kaling, Greg Daniels, Michael Schur, and Paul Lieberstein were the original writers for the show. He is credited with writing fifteen episodes during the show's duration including the Writer's Guild of America nominated episodes "Diversity Day" and "Local Ad".

On July 21, 2010, news reports indicated Novak had signed a contract to remain with the show for its seventh and eighth seasons; under the new terms, he would be made an executive producer midway through Season 7 and direct two episodes of the show. In a June 2009 interview with *The Philadelphia Inquirer*, Novak spoke about sharing the success of *The Office* with his Newton South High School classmate John Krasinski:

> "Sometimes when this feels too good to be true, I think that if this were all a dream, that would be what should have tipped me off. I'd wake up saying, "I was in this incredible TV show and it was a big hit and the star was John [Krasinski] from high school. Isn't that weird?"
>
>

### Post *The Office* career

Novak has appeared in the films *Unaccompanied Minors*, *Reign Over Me*, *The Internship*, *Knocked Up*, *The Smurfs*, and *The Amazing Spider-Man 2*.

He has had supporting roles in Quentin Tarantino's *Inglourious Basterds* (2009), John Lee Hancock's *Saving Mr. Banks* (2013), and *The Founder* (2016).

He has starred in episodes of *The Mindy Project*, *The Newsroom*, *Community*, and *Crazy Ex-Girlfriend*.

 File:BJNovak2013.jpeg
### Book deal

On April 11, 2013, publishing house Alfred A. Knopf announced it had signed a seven-figure, two-book deal with Novak, with the first book slated to be a fictional collection of Woody Allen-like stories.

On February 4, 2014 a book of 22 stories, *One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories*, was published and spent 6 weeks on the NYT Hardcover Fiction Bestsellers List. Novak also signed a deal with Penguin's children's books label and wrote *The Book With No Pictures*, which was released in September 2014 and has spent four full years on the New York Times Picture Books list, with 34 weeks charting as the #1 seller in the United States.

In May 2015, it was announced that Novak and Mindy Kaling had signed a book deal worth a reported $7.5 million to write about their long friendship and former relationship, though Kaling said in an interview that the book would "not be a tell-all."

### The List App

On October 14, 2015 Novak released an Apple iOS app along with co-founder Dev Flaherty called The List App. The app has since been nominated for a Webby Award (losing in its category to Beme and Pocket) and in May 2016 rebranded as 'li.st' and became available on the Android platform.

In September 2017, the app was shut down, citing that the growth wasn't enough to sustain the current product.

## Personal life

Novak has a close friendship with Mindy Kaling, whom he met through writing for *The Office*. The two dated on and off while writing and acting on the show, sometimes mirroring the on-again, off-again nature of the relationship between their respective characters Ryan Howard and Kelly Kapoor. He served as a consulting producer for Season 1 of *The Mindy Project*, and has appeared on the show several times, though his formal producing role ended after the first season. Novak is the godfather of Kaling's daughter, Katherine.

### Books

* Template:Cite book
* Template:Cite book
* Template:Cite book

### Essays, reporting and other contributions

* Template:Cite journal
* "Pants" on Current Mood with John Mayer. Aired: 2/17/19.

## Filmography

Roles as a writer
 2005–2012
1. "Diversity Day" (March 29, 2005) – Season 1
2. "Sexual Harassment" (September 27, 2005) – Season 2
3. "The Fire" (October 11, 2005) – Season 2
4. "Boys and Girls" (February 2, 2006) – Season 2
5. "Initiation" (October 19, 2006) – Season 3
6. "Safety Training" (April 12, 2007) – Season 3
7. "Local Ad" (October 25, 2007) – Season 4
8. "Chair Model" (April 17, 2008) – Season 4
9. "Prince Family Paper" (January 22, 2009) – Season 5
10. "Dream Team" (April 9, 2009) – Season 5
11. "Happy Hour" (March 25, 2010) – Season 6
12. "Counseling" (September 30, 2010) – Season 7
13. "Threat Level Midnight" (February 17, 2011) – Season 7
14. "The List" (September 22, 2011) – Season 8
15. "Free Family Portrait Studio" (May 10, 2012) – Season 8

 2013

Roles as a director
 2009
 2011
 *The Office* – "The List"
 2012
 2013
 2013

## References

1. ↑ Template:Cite book
2. ↑ "B.J. Novak". TV Guide. https://tvguide.com/celebrities/bj-novak/193427/.
3. ↑ Courtney Hollands (December 20, 2007). "Molly Goodson has stars in her eyes – and on her blog", *The Boston Globe*. Retrieved on March 6, 2009.
4. ↑ Berman, Alyssa R. (May 14, 2001). "BJs Bring a Full House to Sanders", Harvard Crimson. Retrieved on August 19, 2009.
5. ↑ Template:Cite book
6. ↑ Getlin, John (September 17, 1992). "Ghost to the Stars – William Novak Is the Invisible Writer Behind Memoirs by Lee Iacocca, Nancy Reagan and—Soon—Magic Johnson", Los Angeles Times. Retrieved on August 19, 2009.
7. ↑ Uriel Heilman (November 19, 2006). "Better than Pork, Isn't it? Jewish Joke Book turns 25", *JTA*. Retrieved on March 13, 2009. Archived from the original on September 4, 2009.
8. ↑ "Class Notes-Solomon Schechter Day School". http://www.ssdsboston.org/alumni/class-notes.
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 Christopher Muther (December 6, 2005). "Class reunion", *The Boston Globe*. Retrieved on March 6, 2009. Archived from the original on February 24, 2009.
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Template:IMDb name
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "B.J. Novak: Videos, Jokes, Tour Dates, Biography and more". *Jokes.com*. ComedyCentral. 2009. Archived from the original on October 20, 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20081020040317/http://www.comedycentral.com/comedians/browse/n/bj\_novak.jhtml. Retrieved March 11, 2009.
12. ↑ David Hiltbrand, "B.J. Novak gives at 'The Office' and out of it" Template:Webarchive, *Philadelphia Inquirer*, June 11, 2009.
13. ↑ Julie Bosman, "B.J. Novak, Actor and Writer, Signs Two-Book Deal" Template:Webarchive, nytimes.com, April 12, 2013; accessed September 21, 2013.
14. ↑ "Best Sellers". March 30, 2014. https://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/2014-03-30/hardcover-fiction/list.html. Retrieved November 30, 2014.
15. ↑ Towers, Andrea (January 22, 2014). "On the Books: B.J. Novak lands children's book deal". http://shelf-life.ew.com/2014/01/22/on-the-books-b-j-novak-lands-childrens-book-deal/. Retrieved November 30, 2014.
16. ↑ "B.J. Novak introduces new app for people who 'just love lists'" (in en), *EW.com*.
17. ↑ Perez, Sarah. "B.J. Novak's "The List App" rebrands to li.st, arrives on Android" (in en), *TechCrunch*.
18. ↑ "List App Shuts Down App, Moves On To New Project". https://commaful.com/play/bestlistapp/list-app-shuts-down-the-list-app-by-bj-novak/.
19. ↑ Burton, Summer Anne. "33 Times Mindy Kaling And B.J. Novak's Best Friendship Killed You In The Heart". https://www.buzzfeed.com/summeranne/mindy-kaling-and-bj-novak-sitting-in-a-tree.
20. ↑ "B.J. Novak on his 'Mindy Project' arc, being BFF with Mindy Kaling, and returning to 'The Office'" Template:Webarchive, ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com, January 29, 2013.
21. ↑ "B.J. Novak on His Relationship with Mindy Kaling and Returning to the Mindy Project". https://www.glamour.com/story/bj-novak-the-mindy-project.
22. ↑ "Mindy Kaling Reveals B.J. Novak Is Godfather to Her 16-Month-Old Daughter: He's 'Family Now'". May 4, 2019. https://people.com/parents/mindy-kaling-reveals-bj-novak-godfather-to-her-daughter/.
23. ↑ Andrew Krukowski, "'Sopranos,' 'The Office' Win SAG Ensemble Awards," Template:Webarchive *TVWeek*, January 27, 2008.

## External links

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* "The Office's BJ Novak: Uncut", an NPR interview from May 2008
* Template:IMDb name
* B. J. Novak on Twitter**Lua error in Module:EditAtWikidata at line 36: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).**Template:WikidataCheck

Template:ScreenActorsGuildAwards EnsembleTVComedy 2000–2009

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