Jon Favreau
Jonathan Kolia Favreau (/ˈfævroʊ/ FAV-roh; born October 19, 1966)[1] is an American filmmaker and actor. As an actor, Favreau has appeared in films such as Rudy (1993), PCU (1994), Swingers (1996), Very Bad Things (1998), Deep Impact (1998), The Replacements (2000), Daredevil (2003), The Break-Up (2006), Four Christmases (2008), Couples Retreat (2009), I Love You, Man (2009), People Like Us (2012), The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), Chef (2014), and several films created by Marvel Studios.
This article is about the actor and filmmaker. For the speechwriter and podcaster, see Jon Favreau (speechwriter).
Jon Favreau
- Filmmaker
- actor
1988–present
3
As a filmmaker, Favreau has been significantly involved with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He directed, produced, and appeared as Happy Hogan in the films Iron Man (2008) and Iron Man 2 (2010). He also served as an executive producer for or appeared as the character in the films The Avengers (2012), Iron Man 3 (2013), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019), Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), and Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021).
He has also directed the films Elf (2003), Zathura: A Space Adventure (2005), Cowboys & Aliens (2011), Chef (2014), The Jungle Book (2016), and The Lion King (2019). Recently, Favreau has been known for his work on the Star Wars franchise with Dave Filoni, creating the Disney+ original series The Mandalorian (2019–present), which Filoni helped develop, with both serving as executive producers. Alongside Filoni, he serves as an executive producer on all of the show's spin-off series, including The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka, and the upcoming Skeleton Crew. He produces films under his production company banner, Fairview Entertainment, and also presents the television cooking series The Chef Show.
Early life[edit]
Jonathan Kolia Favreau was born in Flushing, Queens, New York, on October 19, 1966,[1] the only child of Madeleine, an elementary school teacher who died of leukemia in 1979, and Charles Favreau, a special education teacher.[2] His mother was Jewish, of Russian descent,[3][4][5] and his father is a Catholic of Italian and French-Canadian ancestry.[6][7][8] Favreau dropped out of Hebrew school to pursue acting. However, following his mother's death, both sides of his family worked to ensure he had a bar mitzvah ceremony.[9]
Favreau graduated from The Bronx High School of Science, a school for gifted students, in 1984[10] and attended Queens College from 1984 to 1987,[11] before dropping out. His friend from college, Mitchell Pollack, said that Favreau went by the nickname "Johnny Hack" because of his abilities in the game Hacky Sack.[12] He briefly worked for Bear Stearns on Wall Street before returning to Queens College for a semester in early 1988. He dropped out of college for good (a few credits shy of completing his degree),[11] and moved to Chicago in the summer of 1988 to pursue a career in comedy.[13] He performed at several Chicago improvisational theaters, including the ImprovOlympic and the Improv Institute.[14]
Career[edit]
1992–2000: Early career[edit]
While in Chicago, Favreau landed his first film role alongside Sean Astin as tutor D-Bob in the sleeper hit Rudy (1993).[15] Favreau met Vince Vaughn – who played a small role in this film – during shooting. The next year, he appeared in the college film PCU alongside Jeremy Piven, and the 1994 episode of Seinfeld titled "The Fire" as Eric the Clown.[16]
Favreau then moved to Los Angeles, where he made his breakthrough in 1996 as an actor-screenwriter with the film Swingers, which was also Vaughn's breakthrough role as the character Trent Walker, a foil to Favreau's heartbroken Mike Peters.[17] In 1997, he appeared on the television sitcom Friends, portraying Pete Becker – Monica Geller's millionaire boyfriend who competes in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) – for several episodes.[18] Favreau made appearances in the sketch-comedy series, Tracey Takes On... in both 1996 and 1997.[19]
Favreau landed the role of Gus Partenza in Deep Impact (1998), and that same year rejoined Piven in Very Bad Things (1998).[20] In 1999, he starred in the television film Rocky Marciano, based on the life of world heavyweight champion, Rocky Marciano.[21] He later appeared in Love & Sex (2000), co-starring Famke Janssen.[22] Favreau appeared in 2000's The Replacements as maniacal linebacker Daniel Bateman, and that same year he played himself in The Sopranos episode "D-Girl", as a Hollywood director who feigns interest in developing mob associate Christopher Moltisanti's screenplay in order to collect material for his own screenplay.[23][24]
Unreleased projects[edit]
A motion-captured animated film titled Neanderthals[69] was in development at Sony Pictures Animation in the mid-2000s that Favreau would have written and produced, but the project was cancelled sometime in 2008[70] after four years in development.
In November 2010, it was reported that Favreau will direct a film titled Magic Kingdom, based on The Walt Disney Company's theme park of the same name.[71] In July 2012, Favreau reported officially that he was working on the film.[72][73] In 2014, he stated that he still had interest in the project, and that he could direct it after finishing filming 2016 remake of The Jungle Book.[74]
In November 2012, it was said that Favreau was being considered to direct Star Wars: The Force Awakens, along with David Fincher, Brad Bird, Matthew Vaughn and Ben Affleck, but J. J. Abrams was selected to direct the film.[75] In June 2015, Favreau stated that although he would not be working on the Star Wars anthology films, he could work on future Star Wars movies at some point.[76] Favreau later worked with the franchise on the live action series The Mandalorian.
In December 2013, Will Ferrell stated that he did not want to make a sequel to Elf.[77] Despite this, during an interview in January 2016, Favreau stated that a sequel could possibly be made.[78] The next month however, Ferrell reiterated that it was unlikely that the sequel would happen and that he still did not want to return to the role.[79]
Personal life[edit]
Favreau married Joya Tillem, a physician, on November 24, 2000.[80] The couple has a son, Max Favreau (who appeared as a boy in Iron Man 2 later reported to be retroactively a young Peter Parker in the MCU),[81] and two daughters.[82][83] Tillem is the niece of lawyer/talk show host Len Tillem.[84]
Favreau credits the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons with giving him "a really strong background in imagination, storytelling, understanding how to create tone and a sense of balance."[85]
Golem Creations[edit]
Golem Creations Ltd. LLC is a television production company created by Jon Favreau on August 30, 2018.[86][87] In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Favreau cited his fascination with the overlap of technology and storytelling and that he gave the company its name because a golem was like technology; it could be used to protect or destroy if control was lost of it.[87] The company most recently produced The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett and Ahsoka television shows in partnership with Lucasfilm and the Apple TV+ documentary series Prehistoric Planet.