Born and raised in Los Angeles, Jonah Hill first started to find success in show business as a cast member of the brilliant but canceled Judd Apatow series Undeclared. Like many of the actors who were fortunate to work for the successful writer/director/producer, Hill became a part of Apatow's extended stock company, going on to appear in a number of films including The 40-Year-Old Virgin, as a young man who really wants to buy some boots, and Knocked Up, as the buddy who suggested his friend's pregnant girlfriend get "something that rhymes with smushmortion." He also starred alongside his onetime roommate Justin Long in a variety of projects, including the college comedy Accepted.
Hill re-teamed with Apatow and company for their second major effort of summer 2007, the Greg Mottola-directed, Seth Rogen-scripted comedy Superbad, but on that occasion, Hill scored his first lead. He starred as Seth, a slightly geeky high school senior desperate for sex and suffering from some fairly serious adolescent angst. The film rang in as a blockbuster and won critical raves across the board. At about the same time, Hill signed on for a much different screen assignment (and target audience), agreeing to provide one of the voices in the animated outing Horton Hears a Who (2008). He followed that up with a small but funny role in the heartbreak comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall as a starstruck hotel worker who really, really wants a visiting rock star to listen to his demo.
He scored laughs in the Judd Apatow-directed Funny People, and worked again with Russell Brand in Get Him to the Greek. Hill shored up his indie cred by starring in the Duplass Brothers comedy Cyrus as a young man who is way too attached to his mother.
2011 found Hill earning the best notices of his career in Moneyball, as the numbers-crunching Ivy Leaguer who helps Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) build the Oakland A's into a first-rate baseball team with seemingly second-rate players. His work in the movie brought him Best Supporting Actor nods from the Academy, BAFTA, the Golden Globes, and the Screen Actors Guild. Soon however, the actor was ready to get back to his comedic roots, pairing with Chaning Tatum for a satirical big-screen take on the 80's TV show 21 Jump Street, and following that up starring alongside Ben Stiller in The Watch.
