Jake Johnson

Mark Jake Johnson Weinberger (born May 28, 1978) is an American actor. He starred as Nick Miller in the Fox sitcom New Girl (2011–2018), for which he was nominated for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Comedy Series in 2013. He is also known for voicing Peter B. Parker/Spider-Man in the animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and its 2023 sequel.

Johnson also starred in Let's Be Cops (2014), and appeared in Paper Heart (2009), Safety Not Guaranteed (2012), 21 Jump Street (2012), Jurassic World (2015), The Mummy (2017), and Tag (2018). From 2022 to 2023, he starred in the comedy series Minx. In 2023, he made his directorial debut with Self Reliance.

Early life Johnson was born on May 28, 1978, in Evanston, Illinois, a northern suburb of Chicago, to Ken Weinberger, who owned a car dealership, and Eve Johnson, an artist who made stained glass windows. He was named after his maternal uncle, Mark Johnson, who died at the age of 26 in a motorcycle accident in 1977, a year before Jake was born. Johnson attended New Trier High School in Winnetka. His parents divorced when he was two, and he and his older siblings, brother Dan and sister Rachel, were raised by his single mother. Johnson then took his mother's last name during high school. His father died in 2021.

Career Johnson grew up a fan of the Second City improv troupe. Raised in Winnetka, Illinois, he graduated from New Trier High School and started his post-secondary education at the University of Iowa. While in Iowa City, he wrote a play, which wound up earning him admission to the Dramatic Writing Department at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, followed by the 2002 John Golden Playwriting Prize and the Sloan Fellowship for Screenwriting. The New York City off-Broadway group The Ensemble Studio Theater produced his play Cousins.

While in New York, Johnson started a sketch comedy troupe The Midwesterners, modeling their material and style after HBO's sketch comedy Mr. Show with Bob and David. After moving to Los Angeles, Johnson supported himself as a waiter and a production assistant, also scoring a series of bit feature and guest TV roles. In 2007, he landed a more regular gig with the TBS mini-show Derek and Simon: The Show, produced by Bob Odenkirk.

In 2009, he appeared in the mockumentary Paper Heart. In 2010, Johnson was cast in a small role in the Russell Brand comedy, Get Him to the Greek. He played Uma Thurman's character's brother in the romantic comedy Ceremony, and as a buddy of Ashton Kutcher's character in No Strings Attached. In 2011, he played Jesus in A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas. In 2012, he appeared in the film version of 21 Jump Street, which starred Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum. Johnson made an appearance at the 2012 Sundance Festival as one of the leads in Safety Not Guaranteed.

From 2011 to 2018, Johnson starred as Nick Miller alongside Zooey Deschanel on New Girl. In 2013, he appeared in the music video for "Rouse Yourself", a song by indie soul band JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound alongside his Safety Not Guaranteed co-star Aubrey Plaza. He also starred (as a fictional version of himself) in a series of Dodge Dart commercials with Craig Robinson. In 2015, he played park informatician Lowery Cruthers in Jurassic World. In 2017, Johnson starred as Eddie Garrett in the Netflix comedy film Win It All.

The web series Drunk History was inspired by a 2007 conversation that Johnson had with series creator Derek Waters. Johnson, while drunk, was trying to describe the story of Otis Redding's death to Waters, and Waters was inspired to build a series around history narrated by drunk people. Johnson later appeared in the first episode of the web series as Aaron Burr. After it was adapted for television under the same title on Comedy Central, he appeared in the eighth episode as William B. Travis, and the ninth episode of season three as Boris Spassky.

In 2018, Johnson appeared in the comedy film Tag as Randy Cilliano. In the same year, it was announced that Johnson was cast in the lead role of Ben Hopkins in the Netflix adult animation series Hoops. Also that year, Johnson provided the voice of Peter B. Parker / Spider-Man in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

In 2019, Johnson was cast in the lead role of Grey McConnell in the ABC drama series Stumptown; he took over the role from Mark Webber, who played the character in the original pilot episode.

In 2023, Johnson started an advice podcast entitled We're Here to Help with co-host Gareth Reynolds. The same year, he made his directorial debut with Self Reliance.

Personal life Johnson married Erin Payne, an artist, in 2006. They have twin daughters, Elizabeth and Olivia, born in 2014.

Johnson is a fan of several Chicago sports teams, including the Chicago Cubs and the Chicago Bears.

Filmography

Film Year Title Role Notes 2007 Bunny Whipped Basketball Player 2008 Redbelt Guayabera Shirt Man 2009 Paper Heart Nicholas Jasenovec 2010 Get Him to the Greek Jazz Man Ceremony Teddy Spilt Milk Todd 2011 No Strings Attached Eli A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas Jesus Christ 2012 Safety Not Guaranteed Jeff Schwensen 21 Jump Street Principal Dadier 2013 Drinking Buddies Luke Darlingson The Pretty One Basel Coffee Town Will's Roommate 2014 The Lego Movie Barry Voice Cameo only Neighbors Sebastian Cremmington Let's Be Cops Ryan J. O'Malley 2015 Digging for Fire Tim Also writer/producer Jurassic World Lowery Cruthers 2016 Joshy Reggie Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates Ronnie Lego Jurassic World: The Indominus Escape Lowery Cruthers Voice only; Short film; Direct-to-video 2017 Win It All Eddie Garrett Also writer/producer Smurfs: The Lost Village Grouchy Smurf Voice only Flower Raymond Vandross Uncredited Becoming Bond Peregrine Carruthers Documentary The Mummy Chris Vail 2018 Tag Randy "Chilli" Cilliano Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Peter B. Parker / Spider-Man Voice only 2021 Ride the Eagle Leif Also writer/producer2023 Self Reliance Tommy Also writer/producer/director Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Peter B. Parker / Spider-Man Voice only 2026 The Sun Never Sets Jack Also producer The Dink Dusty Boyd Also producer Mr. McKeel Voice only; In production 2027 Peter B. Parker / Spider-Man Voice only; In production

Television Year Title Role Notes 2007 Derek and Simon: The Show Jake 6 episodes Curb Your Enthusiasm Man on Cell Phone Episode: "The N Word" The Unit Martin Episode: "MPs" 2009 Lie to Me Howard Crease Episode: "Love Always" 2010 FlashForward Powell Episode: "Countdown" 2011–2018 New Girl Nick Miller Main cast; 146 episodesDirected episode: "Bob & Carol & Nick & Schmidt"Nominated – Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Comedy Series (2013)Nominated – TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Comedy (2013)Nominated – Teen Choice Award for Best Actor Comedy (2012, 2013)Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy (2013) 2011 Allen Gregory Joel Zadak (voice) 6 episodes 2013–2019 Drunk History Various 3 episodes 2015 Comedy Bang! Bang! Himself Episode: "Jake Johnson Wears a Light Blue Button-Up Shirt and Brown Shoes" No Activity Cutler Episode: "The American" 2015–2017 BoJack Horseman Oxnard (voice) 3 episodes 2016 We Bare Bears Dave (voice) Episode: "The Island" 2016–2017 Idiotsitter 2 episodes 2016–2019 Easy Drew 2017 Comrade Detective Stan (voice) Recurring role; 5 episodes 2017–2019 No Activity DEA Agent John Haldeman 3 episodes 2019–2020 Stumptown Grey McConnell Main cast 2020 Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet Doc Michael Episode: "A Dark Quiet Death" Hoops Ben Hopkins (voice) 10 episodes; also executive producer 2022 Roar Greg Episode: "The Woman Who Found Bite Marks on Her Skin" Lost Ollie Daddy Main cast 2022–2023 Minx Doug Renetti Main cast; also co-executive producer 2023 History of the World, Part II Marco Polo Episode: "II" 2026 Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed Karl Main cast

Video games Year Title Role Notes 2015 Lego Jurassic World Lowery Cruthers Voice Lego Dimensions Voice

Music videos Year Title Role Notes2019"Hot Shower"Jimmy Dickerson

Playwright

Year Title Role Publisher 2002 Cousins Writer Ensemble Studio Theater