Michael Cera

Actor, Producer, Director

Birthdate: June 7, 1988 (37 Years Old)

Birthplace: Brampton, Ontario, Canada

Capable of capturing his characters’ unpredictable sides, with a peculiar “man-boy” persona, Michael Cera (birthname: Michael Austin Cera) seems at once an actor out of time and also particularly current. While first establishing himself with a wide viewing audience in the long-running sitcom, Arrested Development (2003-2006, 2013, 2018-2019), Cera’s unclassifiable style has allowed him to flourish in indie movies and defy the typecasting so common in studio fare, while also co-starring in such Oscar-winning movies as Juno (2007). While devoting the bulk of his young career to television, Michael Cera appeared as a child performer in a handful of significant feature films, starting with Gregory Hoblit’s science fiction thriller, Frequency (2000), with Noah Emmerich, Dennis Quaid, and Andre Braugher, followed by the Robert Greenwald/Bruce Graham biopic of Yippie activist Abbie Hoffman, Steal This Movie! (2000), with Vincent D’Onofrio and Janeane Garofalo. Cera was 13 going on 14 when he played young Chuck Barris, aged 8 to 11 years old, in George Clooney’s stunning directorial debut, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002), with Sam Rockwell as Barris, Clooney, Julia Roberts, and Drew Barrymore. Michael Cera didn’t appear in the movies for another five years, but 2007 was a breakthrough year for him, appearing as a co-star in two hits of different stripes: The tender yet gross-out coming-of-age comedy Superbad, directed by Greg Mottola and co-written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg and co-starring Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Rogen, Bill Hader, and Emma Stone; and the Oscar-winning Juno, directed by Jason Reitman and written by Diablo Cody, with a superb cast featuring Elliot Page, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, Allison Janney, and J.K. Simmons. Over the next three years, Michael Cera amassed an interesting body of credits in a range of different comedy styles, from the super-broad Extreme Movie (2008), with Will Forte and Andy Samberg to the more nuanced romance of Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist (2008) with Kat Dennings, from the wacky caveman humor of Year One (2009), with Jack Black, to the pointed social satire of Youth in Revolt (2009), with Portia Doubleday, Jean Smart, Fred Willard, Ray Liotta, and Steve Buscemi. But Cera’s artistic triumph came in 2010 with, ironically, one of his poorer box-office performers but a now-legendary cult hit—Edgar Wright’s masterful comedy, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, often described as one of the first mainstream movies to visualize the metaverse and bring comic book graphic art to kinetic life in new ways. By contrast, Cera veered off course into a rather disastrous terrain with a pair of movies made back-to-back by the Chilean filmmaker, Sebastian Silva, and both commercial failures: Crystal Fairy & The Magic Cactus and Magic Magic (both 2013). This was the same year that Michael Cera wrote, directed, and starred in two short films (Bitch and Failure) while playing a cameo in filmmaker friends Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s This Is the End for Sony Pictures, with James Franco, Jonah Hill, Rogen, Jay Baruchel, and Emma Watson, which finished with a worldwide gross of $126 million. Michael Cera continued to explore the limits of his distinctive comedy with independent filmmaker Rick Alverson in the Caustic Entertainment (2015), with John C. Reilly, Tye Sheridan, and Amy Seimetz, and the debut of writer-director Janicza Bravo, Lemon (2017), with Brett Gelman and Judy Greer. Recently, Cera has expanded his repertoire in two different directions: First, in dramas like Sebastian Lelio’s English-language debut starring Julianne Moore, Gloria Bell (2018), and Aaron Sorkin’s Molly’s Game (2017), with Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba, and Kevin Costner; and as a vocal actor in a range of studio and independent animated features, including the hilarious The Lego Batman Movie (2017)—with Cera voicing Robin—to the Sundance hit, Cryptozoo (2021), written and directed by Dash Shaw, with Peter Stormare, Zoe Kazan, and Lake Bell, and Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank (2022), with Michelle Yeoh, Samuel L. Jackson, Mel Brooks, and Djimon Hounsou. Michael Cera is part of the ensemble for Greta Gerwig’s anticipated feature version of the famed Mattel Toy character, Barbie (2023), with Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Barbie and Ken, followed by the Broadway-set comedy, Jonty (date to be announced), co-written by Succession creator Jesse Armstrong, and writer-director-Michael Angarano’s road movie, Sacramento (date to be announced), with Maya Erskine and Angarano.

Personal Life
Movies
Facts

Personal life

Born in the, Ontario, Canada community of Brampton, Michael Cera was raised by Sicilian-born father Luigi and Montreal-born mother Linda. Cera has two sisters, elder Jordan and younger Molly. He attended Conestoga Public School, Heart Lake Secondary School, and Lagerquist Senior Public School. To accommodate his professional career as a young actor, Cera graduated from high school as a corresponding student. Cera has never attended college or university. Cera was in a relationship with actor Aubrey Plaza from 2010-2011 but broke off their wedding plans. In late March 2022, Cera announced that he was the father of a boy born in the fall of 2021, but did not reveal the mother’s name. His height is 5’ 9”.

Known For

The Phoenician Scheme

Bjorn (2025)

Sacramento

Glenn (2025)

Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank

Hank (2022)

Cryptozoo

Matthew (2021)

Gloria Bell

Peter (2019)

Awards

Three-time Nominee, Best Ensemble in a Comedy Series, Screen Actors Guild (2005-2006, 2014); Nominee, Best Featured Actor, Tony Awards (2018).

Actor

Actor

Screen Actors Guild Awards

Actor

Actor

Screen Actors Guild Awards

Critics Choice Award

Critics Choice Award

Critics Choice Awards

Michael Cera Movies

Actor

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Previous (20)

2025 |
Sacramento
Sacramento
2025
Comedy
An energetic and free-spirited young man convinces his long-time friend, who's settled into domestic life, to go on an impromptu road trip from Los Angeles to Sacramento.
asGlenn
2025 |
The Phoenician Scheme
The Phoenician Scheme
2025
Action, Comedy, Crime, Drama, Thriller
The story of a family and a family business.
More Info
asBjorn
2024 |
Christmas Eve in Miller's Point
Christmas Eve in Miller's Point
2024
Comedy, Drama
On Christmas Eve, a family gathers for what could be the last holiday in their ancestral home. As the night wears on and generational tensions arise, one of the teenagers sneaks out with her friends to claim the wintry suburb for her own.
asOfficer Gibson
2023 |
The Adults
The Adults
2023
Comedy, Drama
The plan to make a trip back home as short as possible begins to unravel as Eric finds himself balancing the challenging relationship with his two sisters and his addiction to a local poker game.
More Info
asEric
2022 |
Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank
Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank
2022
Action, Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Family, Fantasy
Hank, a loveable dog with a head full of dreams about becoming a samurai, sets off in search of his destiny.
asHank
2021 |
Cryptozoo
Cryptozoo
2021
Action, Animation, Crime, Drama, Fantasy, Mystery, Thriller
Cryptozookeepers try to capture a Baku, a dream-eating hybrid creature of legend, and start wondering if they should display these beasts or keep them hidden and unknown.
More Info
asMatthew
2019 |
Gloria Bell
Gloria Bell
2019
Comedy, Drama, Music, Romance
A free-spirited woman in her 50s seeks out love at L.A. dance clubs.
More Info
asPeter
2018 |
Tyrel
Tyrel
2018
Comedy, Drama
Tyler, a sole black man, attends an otherwise all-white weekend of drunken bro debauchery on a birthday trip to a cabin in the Catskills.
More Info
asAlan
2017 |
The Lego Batman Movie
The Lego Batman Movie
2017
Action, Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
A cooler-than-ever Bruce Wayne must deal with the usual suspects as they plan to rule Gotham City, while discovering that he has accidentally adopted a teenage orphan who wishes to become his sidekick.
More Info
asRobin
2017 |
Molly's Game
Molly's Game
2017
Biography, Crime, Drama
The true story of Molly Bloom, an Olympic-class skier who ran the world's most exclusive high-stakes poker game and became an FBI target.
More Info
asPlayer X
2017 |
Person to Person
Person to Person
2017
Comedy, Drama
Follows a variety of New York characters as they navigate personal relationships and unexpected problems over the course of one day.
asPhil
2017 |
Lemon
Lemon
2017
Comedy, Drama
A man watches his life unravel after he is left by his girlfriend of 10 years.
asAlex
2016 |
Sausage Party
Sausage Party
2016
Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Fantasy
A sausage leads a group of supermarket products on a journey to discover the truth about their existence and what really happens when they are picked off the shelf.
More Info
asBarry
-- |
Entertainmentas Tommy
-- |
This Is the Endas Michael Cera
-- |
as Scott Pilgrim
-- |
as Elton
-- |
Scott Pilgrim vs. the Worldas Scott Pilgrim
-- |
Superbadas Evan
-- |
Junoas Paulie Bleeker

Producer

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Previous (1)

2023 |
The Adults
The Adults
2023
Comedy, Drama
The plan to make a trip back home as short as possible begins to unravel as Eric finds himself balancing the challenging relationship with his two sisters and his addiction to a local poker game.
More Info

Facts About Michael Cera

Musician: Michael Cera plays the bass guitar in his spare time away from acting, has released a solo album titled True That in 2014 and has toured with indie bands Mister Heavenly and The Long Goodbye and Canadian musician Alden Penner. Non-Movie Highlights: Beyond his movie work, Michael Cera has starred in three lauded plays by Kenneth Lonergan—This Is Our Youth (2012, 2014), Lobby Hero (2018), and The Waverly Gallery (2018)—and delivered a striking cameo spoofing Marlon Brando in David Lynch’s groundbreaking limited TV series, Twin Peaks (2017).

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