Jesse Eisenberg

Jesse Adam Eisenberg (born October 5, 1983) is an American actor, playwright, and filmmaker noted for his frequent depiction of anxious, intellectually sharp protagonists in independent cinema and stage works. Born in Queens, New York, and raised in East Brunswick, New Jersey, Eisenberg began performing in children's theater at age 10 and secured his first professional acting role while still in high school. After attending the Professional Performing Arts School in New York and studying liberal arts at The New School, he transitioned to film with early supporting roles in Roger Dodger (2002) and The Squid and the Whale (2005), establishing a niche for portraying precocious, neurotic young men.

Eisenberg achieved mainstream recognition with his lead performance as Columbus in the comedy Zombieland (2009), followed by an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for embodying Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network (2010), a role that also earned him BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations. He expanded into franchise films like the Now You See Me series (2013–2016) and voiced characters in animated features such as Rio (2011), while maintaining an output in theater, authoring and starring in Off-Broadway plays including Asuncion (2011), The Revisionist (2013), and The Spoils (2015). In recent years, Eisenberg has taken on directing and screenwriting duties, notably with A Real Pain (2024), for which he received the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at Sundance and a Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Original Screenplay.

Eisenberg has two older sisters: Kerri Eisenberg, who briefly acted before becoming an artist, and Hallie Eisenberg, a child actress known for commercials and roles in films like Paulie (1998). The family is Jewish, with ancestry tracing to Poland, Russia, and Ukraine; Eisenberg has described his childhood Jewish observance as largely secular, though family history tied to Eastern European Jewish roots influenced later personal reflections.

Eisenberg was born into a Jewish family in Queens, New York, and raised in East Brunswick, New Jersey, alongside two sisters: an older sister named Kerry and a younger sister, Hallie, who gained recognition as a child actress for her Pepsi commercials in the late 1990s and early 2000s. His parents, Barry and Amy Eisenberg, supported creative pursuits; Barry transitioned from hospital administration to a career as a college professor, while Amy worked as a professional clown performing at children's events and later contributed to educational programs, including starting a local school drama initiative.