Jason Segel facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Jason Segel
Segel in 2017
Born	Jason Jordan Segel (1980-01-18) January 18, 1980 (age 45) Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor comedian writer
Years active	1998–present

Jason Segel (born January 18, 1980) is an American actor and writer. He is well-known for playing Marshall Eriksen in the TV show How I Met Your Mother from 2005 to 2014. Jason started his acting journey with director Judd Apatow in the TV series Freaks and Geeks (1999–2000) and Undeclared (2001–2002).

He became famous for his main roles in many successful comedy movies. He has not only starred in these films but also helped write and produce them. Some of his popular comedies include Knocked Up (2007), Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008), and I Love You, Man (2009). He also appeared in family-friendly movies like Despicable Me (2010) and The Muppets (2011).

For his role as David Foster Wallace in the movie The End of the Tour (2015), he was nominated for an award. Jason has also acted in dramas such as Jeff, Who Lives at Home (2011) and Our Friend (2019). From 2022 to 2023, he played Paul Westhead in the HBO series Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty.

In 2023, Jason began starring in the Apple TV+ series Shrinking. He also helped create this show. For his acting in Shrinking, he has been nominated for several awards, including the Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award.

Early Life and School

Jason Segel was born on January 18, 1980, in Santa Monica, California. His parents are Jillian and Alvin Segel. He grew up in a neighborhood called Pacific Palisades. He has an older brother, Adam, and a younger sister, Alison.

Jason's father is Jewish, and his mother has English, Scottish, Irish, and French family roots. Jason has said he was raised Jewish. He also went to an Episcopal school.

After elementary and middle school, Jason went to Harvard-Westlake School for high school. He was very tall, standing at 6 feet 4 inches. This helped him a lot in basketball. He was an important player on the school's basketball team in 1996 and 1997. They even won state championships! Jason was so good at basketball that he won a slam dunk contest. People nicknamed him "Dr. Dunk." He was a backup player to Jason Collins, who later played in the NBA.

Jason Segel's Acting Career

Segel at the Austin premiere of I Love You, Man in 2009

Jason Segel's first big acting job was in the TV show Freaks and Geeks (1999–2000). He played a character named Nick Andopolis. The show was about high school students in the 1980s. Jason even wrote a song for his character to sing in the show.

He also had roles in other TV shows like CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Undeclared. From 2005 to 2014, Jason was a main actor in the popular CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother. He played the character Marshall Eriksen.

Movies and Writing

Jason's first movie was Can't Hardly Wait in 1998. He also appeared in films like Slackers and SLC Punk!. In 2007, he was in Knocked Up, which was directed by Judd Apatow.

In 2008, Jason starred in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. He also wrote this movie, and Judd Apatow helped produce it. In the film, Jason's character creates a musical about Dracula using puppets. Jason has shared that the idea for the puppet musical came from his own experiences. These puppets were specially made by the Jim Henson Company. This experience inspired Jason to suggest making a new Muppets movie.

Segel at the Australian premiere of The Muppets in Sydney in 2011

In 2010, Jason lent his voice to the villain Vector in the animated movie Despicable Me. He also appeared in the fantasy comedy Gulliver's Travels. In 2011, he was in Bad Teacher with Cameron Diaz.

Jason and Nicholas Stoller approached Disney in 2007 with their idea for a new Muppets film. Disney approved the project because they saw how much Jason loved the Muppets. Jason wanted to make the movie because he felt younger generations were missing out on these beloved characters from his own childhood. The last Muppets movie in theaters before this was Muppets from Space in 1999.

Jason did not star in the sequel to The Muppets, which was called Muppets Most Wanted. He filmed The Five-Year Engagement with Emily Blunt in 2011. This movie was released in 2012.

Writing Books

In 2013, Jason Segel shared that he was working on a series of books for young adults. These books were based on a story he thought of when he was 21 years old. The first book in the series, Nightmares!, was released in 2014. He wrote it with Kirsten Miller. A second book followed the next year.

In 2017, Jason and Kirsten Miller released a new young adult series called Otherworld. The second book, OtherEarth, came out in 2018, and the third, OtherLife, in 2019.

Recent Projects

Jason created and starred in the TV drama series Dispatches from Elsewhere, which started in March 2020 on AMC. In 2019, he also starred in the movie Our Friend.

Personal Life

Jason Segel is an ordained minister with the Universal Life Church. This means he can perform wedding ceremonies. He even performed a wedding on The Tonight Show in 2010 for a couple who asked him to.

As of June 2025, Jason Segel is engaged to Kayla Radomski, a former Taylor Swift backup dancer. She announced their engagement on Instagram.

Filmography

Segel, Neil Patrick Harris and Joss Whedon in 2011

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998	Can't Hardly Wait	Matt
	Dead Man on Campus	Kyle
	SLC Punk!	Mike
2002	Slackers	Sam Schechter
2003	11:14	Leon (Paramedic #1)
	Certainly Not a Fairytale	Leo
2004	LolliLove	Jason
2005	The Good Humor Man	Smelly Bob
2006	Bye Bye Benjamin	Theodore Everest
	Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny	Frat Boy	Deleted scenes
2007	Knocked Up	Jason
2008	Forgetting Sarah Marshall	Peter Bretter	Also writer
2009	I Love You, Man	Sydney Fife
2010	Despicable Me	Victor "Vector" Perkins (voice)
	Gulliver's Travels	Horatio
2011	Bad Teacher	Russell Gettis
	Friends with Benefits	Brice	Uncredited cameo
	Jeff, Who Lives at Home	Jeff Thompkins
	Muppets, TheThe Muppets	Gary	Also writer and executive producer
2012	The Five-Year Engagement	Tom Solomon
	This Is 40	Jason
2013	This Is the End	Himself	Uncredited cameo
2014	Muppets Most Wanted	Gary
	... Tape	Jay Hargrove	Also writer and executive producer
2015	The End of the Tour	David Foster Wallace
2017	The Discovery	Will Harbor
2018	Come Sunday	Henry
2019	Our Friend	Dane Faucheux
2022	The Sky Is Everywhere	Big Walker
	Windfall	Nobody	Also story writer and producer
2023	Mooned	Victor "Vector" Perkins (voice)	Short film
2024	Despicable Me 4		Archival audio
2025	Over Your Dead Body	0TBA	Post-production

Television

Awards and Nominations

See also

In Spanish: Jason Segel para niños