Michael Cera facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Michael Cera
Cera in 2012
Born	Michael Austin Cera (1988-06-07) June 7, 1988 (age 37) Brampton, Ontario, Canada
Occupation	Actor comedian musician
Years active	1999–present
Spouse(s)	Nadine
Children	2
Musical career
Genres	Lo-fi indie folk
Instruments	Vocals bass

Michael Austin Cera (born June 7, 1988) is a Canadian actor, comedian, and musician. He is well-known for playing leading roles in many popular comedy films. He has also appeared in TV shows and performed on Broadway.

Michael Cera became famous for his roles in movies like Superbad (2007), Juno (2007), and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010). He also voiced characters in animated films, including Robin in The Lego Batman Movie (2017). On TV, he played George Michael Bluth in the comedy series Arrested Development. More recently, he appeared in the movie Barbie (2023).

Besides acting in films and TV, Cera has also performed in plays on Broadway. He was even nominated for a Tony Award for his role in the play Lobby Hero. He is also a musician and has released his own music.

Early life and acting beginnings

Michael Cera was born in 1988 in Brampton, Ontario, Canada. His father, Luigi Cera, was a technician from Sicily, Italy. His mother, Linda, has a mix of Irish, Dutch, Scottish, and English family roots. Both of his parents worked for a company called Xerox. Michael has an older sister named Jordan and a younger sister named Molly.

When Michael was three years old, he got chicken pox. While he was sick, he watched the movie Ghostbusters many times. He loved it so much that he memorized all the lines! This made him want to become an actor, especially because he admired Bill Murray, who starred in the movie. To learn more about acting, he took improvisation classes at The Second City in Toronto.

Michael went to public school until grade nine. After he started acting more, he finished his high school education online.

Career highlights

First roles and big break (1999–2008)

Michael Cera's very first acting job was in a commercial for a summer camp, but he wasn't paid for it. After that, he got a role in a Pillsbury commercial where he had his first lines. He found it tough to get roles at first.

In 1999, Michael got a part in a Canadian children's TV show called I Was a Sixth Grade Alien. He also appeared in TV movies like Switching Goals with the Olsen twins. The next year, he made his first movie appearance in Frequency (2000). He also started voicing Josh Spitz in the cartoon series Braceface.

In 2002, Michael played a younger version of the main character in the movie Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. He also voiced Brother Bear in The Berenstain Bears cartoon.

Cera in 2007

His big break came in 2003 when he was cast in the TV comedy Arrested Development. He played George Michael Bluth, a main character. The show was very popular with critics, even though it was canceled in 2006.

In 2007, Michael Cera starred in two major comedy films: Superbad and Juno. Both movies were very successful and helped him become widely known. For these roles, he won awards like the Breakthrough Artist Award. He also starred with Kat Dennings in the romantic comedy Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist (2008).

New challenges (2009–2013)

In 2009, Michael Cera played a fictional version of himself in the movie Paper Heart. He also starred in the comedy Year One and Youth in Revolt, where he played a shy teenager with a wild alter ego.

Cera dressed as Captain America to promote Scott Pilgrim vs. the World at the 2010 San Diego Comic Con

A big role for him was playing Scott Pilgrim in the movie Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010). In this action-comedy, his character had to fight his girlfriend's seven evil exes.

In 2012, Michael made his debut on stage in a play called This Is Our Youth in Sydney, Australia. He later performed the same play on Broadway in New York City. Critics praised his performance.

Arrested Development was brought back by Netflix in 2012, and Michael Cera returned to play George Michael Bluth. He also helped write and produce some episodes. In 2013, he worked on two films in Chile, Magic Magic and Crystal Fairy & the Magical Cactus. He even learned Spanish for one of the roles! He also appeared as an exaggerated version of himself in the comedy film This Is the End.

Recent projects (2014–present)

Since 2014, Michael Cera has continued to take on many different roles. He voiced a hot dog named Barry in the animated comedy Sausage Party (2016) and Robin in The Lego Batman Movie (2017). He also appeared in the crime drama Molly's Game (2017).

In 2017, he made a special guest appearance in the TV show Twin Peaks. He returned to Broadway in 2018 for two more plays by Kenneth Lonergan: Lobby Hero and The Waverly Gallery. For Lobby Hero, he was nominated for a Tony Award, which is a very important award for theater actors.

In 2022, he voiced Hank in the animated comedy Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank. In 2023, he played Allan in the hugely popular movie Barbie, alongside Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling. He also voiced Scott Pilgrim again for the Netflix animated series Scott Pilgrim Takes Off.

Music career

Cera performing in 2011

Michael Cera is also a talented musician. In 2010, he played mandolin and sang backing vocals on a song for the band Weezer. He is also the touring bass player for an indie rock band called Mister Heavenly. He is also a member of another band called The Long Goodbye with his friend Clark Duke.

He released his first full music album, True That, in 2014. It included 19 original songs and some covers. In 2015, he toured with Canadian musician Alden Penner, playing bass in his band. A song he wrote and performed for the film Dina was nominated for an award in 2017.

Personal life

Michael Cera likes to keep his personal life private. In 2022, it was shared that he had become a father to a baby boy with his wife, Nadine. In early 2024, he announced that they had welcomed a second son. As of 2023, Michael Cera lives in New York City.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000	Frequency	Gordy Hersch Jr. (Age 10)
	Steal This Movie!	America Hoffman (Age 7–8)
	Ultimate G's: Zac's Flying Dream	Young Zac
2002	Confessions of a Dangerous Mind	Chuck Barris (Age 8–11)
2007	Superbad	Evan
	Juno	Paulie Bleeker
2008	Extreme Movie	Fred
	Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist	Nick O'Leary
2009	Paper Heart	Himself
	Year One	Oh
	Youth in Revolt	Nick Twisp / François Dillinger
2010	Scott Pilgrim vs. the Animation	Scott Pilgrim	Short film; voice
	Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
2012	The End of Love	Michael
	The Immigrant	Michael	Short film
2013	Crystal Fairy & the Magical Cactus	Jamie
	Magic Magic	Brink	Also executive producer
	Brazzaville Teen-Ager	Gunther	Short film; also director and writer
	Failure	Man	Short film; also director and writer
	This Is the End	Himself
	Gregory Go Boom	Gregory	Short film
	...	Himself	Short film; also director and writer
2014	Hits	Bennie
2015	Entertainment	Tommy
	That Dog	Tim	Short film
	A Very Murray Christmas	Jackie the Talent Agent
2016	Sausage Party	Barry	Voice
	Man Rots from the Head	Sydney Ward	Short film
2017	Person to Person	Phil
	Lemon	Alex
	The Lego Batman Movie	Richard "Dick" Grayson / Robin	Voice
	How to Be a Latin Lover	Remy
	Cooking with Alfred	Richard "Dick" Grayson / Robin	Voice; Short film
	Molly's Game	Player X
2018	Tyrel	Alan
	Spivak	Robby LeBeau
	Gloria Bell	Peter
2021	Cryptozoo	Matthew	Voice
2022	Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank	Hank	Voice
2023	The Adults	Eric
	Barbie	Allan
	Dream Scenario	Trent
	Under the Boardwalk	Armen	Voice
2024	Christmas Eve in Miller's Point	Officer Gibson
	Sacramento	Glenn
2025	The Running Man	Bradley Throckmorton	Filming
TBA	The Phoenician Scheme	0TBA	Post-production

Key

Denotes films that have not yet been released

Television

Theatre

Discography

Studio albums

• True That (2014)

Soundtrack

• Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2010)

Awards and nominations

See also

• List of former child actors from Canada
• Italians in Toronto