Ben Schwartz

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**Ben Schwartz** (born September 15, 1981) is an American actor, comedian, writer, director, and producer. He is known for portraying Jean-Ralphio Saperstein on the NBC sitcom *Parks and Recreation*, voicing Dewey Duck in *DuckTales*, and for his various recurring roles in the CollegeHumor web series *Jake and Amir*. In 2012, he joined Showtime's comedy *House of Lies* as the mischievous, arrogant, and neurotic management consultant Clyde Oberholt.

His feature film credits include *Peep World*, *Everybody's Fine*, *The Other Guys*, *The Walk,* *This Is Where I Leave You,* and *Sonic the Hedgehog* as the titular character.

## Early life

Schwartz grew up in Riverdale, a neighborhood in The Bronx in New York City. When he was 11 his family moved to Edgemont, New York, in adjacent Westchester County. In an interview with Kevin Pollak, he stated, "When I told people I was from the Bronx, it was like 'Oh, do you have bullet wounds?' And I'm like 'No, it's just me and, like, Jewish people.'"

His father was a social worker before going into real estate, and his mother was a music teacher. He graduated from Union College in 2003 with a double major in psychology and anthropology.

## Career

On television, Schwartz guest-starred as Jean-Ralphio Saperstein on NBC's *Parks and Recreation* and was a lead in the Showtime show *House of Lies*. In 2010, Schwartz played series regular Bill Hoyt on J. J. Abrams' one-hour spy drama *Undercovers* for NBC.

Schwartz has been writing, directing and acting in his own short films for some time.Template:When He had his own segment on HBO’s *Funny or Die Presents* called *Terrible Decisions with Ben Schwartz* and has appeared in multiple CollegeHumor sketches including the popular web series *Jake and Amir*. Schwartz has been nominated for three Emmys and won the 2009 Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Special for coauthoring Hugh Jackman's opening number for the 81st Academy Awards.

In September 2013, he was hired by Paramount Pictures to re-make the 1991 comedy *Soapdish*, retitled *El Fuego Caliente* and reworking the original's American soap opera into a Latin telenovela, with producers Rob Reiner and Alan Greisman, and he sold an original pitch to Universal Studios based on an idea by Brian Grazer with Imagine Entertainment attached to produce. He was a staff writer for the third season of Adult Swim’s *Robot Chicken* and served as a freelance writer for the Weekend Update segment of *Saturday Night Live* as well as the monologues for the *Late Show with David Letterman*.

Schwartz is an alumnus of the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre (UCBT) and continues to perform there regularly. He is a member of the improv group "Hot Sauce" with Adam Pally and Gil Ozeri, the group performs their long-form improv show "Something Fresh" at UCBT every month.

He and Bill Hader served as vocal consultants for *Star Wars: The Force Awakens*. Schwartz also played a cameo role as a Stormtrooper in the film.

Since 2014 Schwartz has appeared in episodes of the *Comedy Bang! Bang!* podcast as the only guest in "Solo Bolo" (2014), "Solo Bolo Dos Lo" (2015), "Solo Bolo Trolo" (2016), "Solo Bolo Cuatrolo" (2016) "Solo Bolo Cincolo" (2017), and "Solo Bolo Sonicolo" (2020). In nearly each episode he and host Scott Aukerman compete in the Olympic Song Challenge.

In 2017, Schwartz began voicing Dewey in the Disney XD revival of *DuckTales*. Schwartz has been featured as himself in Netflix's *Home: Adventures with Tip & Oh*’s 2017 animated Christmas special - *Home for the Holidays* - alongside Kelly Clarkson. He is currently the voice of Leonardo in *Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles*. In August 2018, Schwartz was announced to voice the titular character in the 2020 film, *Sonic the Hedgehog*.

On September 26, 2019, it was announced that Schwartz was cast as F. Tony Scarapiducci in the upcoming Netflix comedy series, *Space Force*.

### Books

Schwartz has co-written four books, three with writer Amanda McCall: *Grandma’s Dead: Breaking Bad News with Baby Animals*; *Maybe Your Leg Will Grow Back!: Looking on the Bright Side with Baby Animals'* and *Why is Daddy in a Dress?: Asking Awkward Questions with Baby Animals*; and one with writer Laura Moses, *Things You Should Already Know About Dating, You F-king Idiot*.

## References

1. ↑ "UPI Almanac for Saturday, Sept. 15, 2018", United Press International (September 15, 2018). Retrieved on October 15, 2019. Archived from the original on October 15, 2019. "comedian/actor Ben Schwartz in 1981 (age 37)"
2. ↑ Fernandez, Jay (25 February 2011). "TRAILER: Rainn Wilson and Sarah Silverman in 'Peep World'". Retrieved on 26 February 2011. Archived from the original on 29 December 2011.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Pollak, Kevin. "Kevin Pollak Chat Show: Ben Schwartz #143". *Kevin Pollak Chat Show*. YouTube. 10:30. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DU3UV3e6NIc&feature=player\_embedded#!. Retrieved July 13, 2012.
4. ↑ Marsh, Steve (January 12, 2012). "Ben Schwartz '03". Retrieved on June 18, 2012.
5. ↑ "Notable Alumni in Entertainment". Retrieved on August 13, 2018.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 "Ben Schwartz". Upright Citizens Brigade. Archived from the original on 26 February 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110226013223/http://newyork.ucbtheatre.com/performers/2641. Retrieved 26 February 2011.
7. ↑ Template:Cite magazine
8. ↑ ""Ben Schwartz" Stuff on CollegeHumor". CollegeHumor. http://www.collegehumor.com/tag:ben-schwartz. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
9. ↑ "Primetime Emmy® Award Database". *Primetime Emmy Award Database*. Emmy.org. http://www.emmys.com/bios/ben-schwartz-0. Retrieved 13 August 2011.
10. ↑ Kit, Borys (23 February 2011). "Ben Schwartz to Pen 'Soapdish' Remake for Paramount". Retrieved on 26 February 2011.
11. ↑ Finke, Nikki (12 December 2011). "The Black List 2011: Screenplay Roster". *Deadline Hollywood*. http://www.deadline.com/2011/12/the-black-list-2011-screenplay-roster/. Retrieved 17 September 2013.
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 "Turns out Bill Hader and Ben Schwartz did the voice of BB-8 in *The Force Awakens*", *The A.V. Club* (December 16, 2015). Retrieved on December 16, 2015.
13. ↑ Template:Cite tweet
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Petski, Denise (December 16, 2016). "‘DuckTales’: David Tennant, Danny Pudi, Ben Schwartz Among Voice Cast For Disney XD Reboot", *Deadline*.
15. ↑ Boone, John (November 17, 2017). "Kelly Clarkson Gets Animated in 'DreamWorks Home For the Holidays' Christmas Special (Exclusive)", *Entertainment Tonight*.
16. ↑ Snierson, Dan (November 2, 2017). "Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cast features Ben Schwartz and Kat Graham", *Entertainment Weekly*.
17. ↑ Couch, Aaron (August 8, 2018). "Ben Schwartz to Lead Paramount's 'Sonic the Hedgehog' Movie", *The Hollywood Reporter*.
18. ↑ Porter, Rick (September 26, 2019). "John Malkovich, Ben Schwartz Join Steve Carell in Netflix's 'Space Force'". *The Hollywood Reporter*. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/john-malkovich-ben-schwartz-join-steve-carell-netflixs-space-force-1243752.
19. ↑ "Ben Schwartz, Laura Moses announce new book", *Entertainment Weekly*. Retrieved on 9 October 2018.
20. ↑ "Crazy Free Stuff On Craigslist (GAME) ft. Ben Schwartz". Good Mythical Morning. 2018-09-03. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfEQa2J5NG0. Retrieved 2020-01-15.
21. ↑ "Playing Magic Kingdom w/ Ben Schwartz!". Game Grumps. 2019-06-07. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0N\_vVUQsY1g. Retrieved 2019-06-07.
22. ↑ "Playing Games with Epic Gamer BEN SCHWARTZ - Guest Grumps - Aladdin". Game Grumps. 2020-01-25. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHFi\_nh-kQ8. Retrieved 2020-01-25.
23. ↑ "Who Is the Fastest? (SPEED CHALLENGE)". Good Mythical Morning. 2020-02-20. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6J-MUTDX-k. Retrieved 2020-02-20.

## External links

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* Martin, Michael (August 21, 2014). "Ben Schwartz", *Interview*. Retrieved on October 15, 2019. Archived from the original on May 22, 2018.

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