Jeremy Samuel Piven, professionally known as Jeremy Piven, is a Hollywood producer and actor who became a household name after starring as Ari Gold in the comedy series Entourage. Piven is also known to play Spence Kovak in Ellen DeGeneres’ sitcom Ellen and to star in the British drama Mr. Selfridge.
Jeremy Piven has won several awards, including the Emmy Award, which he won three times, and a Golden Globe Award for best supporting actor in a series, mini-series or TV movie.
Jeremy Piven Brief Bio
Jeremy was born on 26 July 1965 in Manhattan, New York. He grew up in Evanston, Illinois, and attended Evanston Township High School in Evanston, Illinois.
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His parents Byrne Piven and Joyce Hiller Piven were both interested in acting and taught acting, while his older sister Shira Piven is a film director who also occasionally acts and produces. Jeremy describes Shira as his first acting teacher. He comes from a reconstructivist Jewish family of Ukrainian Jewish descent.
After high school, he studied for two years at Drake University Des Moines, Iowa, before transferring to the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. Piven left Tisch in his senior year to continue his acting career.
Jeremy Piven Career
Drama is something he loved since childhood. As a teenager, he attended Harand Theater Camp in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, and during this time he portrayed Bernardo in West Side Story.
Later he trained at a theatre workshop, the Piven Theatre Workshop, which belonged to his parents. Piven also spent a semester at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, the National Theater Institute in Waterford, Connecticut.
In 1986 he starred in Spike in Lucas (a love drama directed by David Seltzer), which also featured Charlie Sheen, Corey Haim, Courtney Thorne-Smith, and Kerri Green. His first major role was in 1992 when he began playing the role of Jerry on the HBO show The Larry Sanders Show. He stopped after the second season.
In 1993 he appeared as George Costanza in an episode of the sitcom Seinfeld, he also played Spence, Ellen’s cousin, in the sitcom Ellen. Jeremy played the lead role and acted as producer of the short-lived ABC drama series Cupid. He also starred as the voice of Elongated Man in three episodes of Justice League Unlimited.
Jeremy Piven had a huge success in 2004 when he started playing Ari Gold on the HBO series Entourage. For this role, he was nominated four times in a row (2005 – 2008) for the Emmy for Best Supporting Actor, and he won the awards three times (2006, 2007, and 2008).
He also received six Golden Globe nominations for the same role and won once (2008). From 2013 to 2016 he played the lead role in the British drama Mr. Selfridge, which was broadcast on ITV Network in the UK and on PBS in the US. Jeremy Piven has also starred in several other films, including The Family Man, The Kingdom, Big Tip Blank, Rock N Rolla, Very Bad Things, Smokin’ Aces, Singles, Serendipity, Runaway Jury, Old School, PCU, Black Hawk Down, and Heat.
He has had guest appearances in the cartoon comedy Cars and Rush Hour 2. In 2017 he appeared in Common’s music video for Drivin’ Me Wild. In 2009 he was a guest presenter of the WWE Raw Wrestling Program.
Is Jeremy Piven Gay? Married, Wife, Girlfriend
The Hollywood actor is not gay – at least he has not come out as such. He is also not married but has been with several women, including X Factor winner Alexandra Burke, Australian model Racheal Hunter, model Ashley Chontos, Kate Nardi, Erica Lancellotti, and Darcie Lincoln.
He was also associated with Nikki Benz, Melrose Bickerstaff, and Sophie Turner.
Amidst the sexual accusations made against him, Jeremy Piven was spotted in Los Angeles with a new girl identified as Liana Mendoza.
Sexual Accusations
The star of Entourage was accused of sexual harassment by six different women. In 2017, the actress Ariane Bellamar accused Piven of groping her inappropriately on two different occasions – on the set of Entourage and in the Playboy Villa.
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Jeremy denied the accusations on the grounds that this did not happen, but this was not to be the last time, as another woman, Tiffany Bacon Scourby, also came out claiming that the star attacked her in 2003. According to her, Piven jumped on her, exposed his genitals, held her hands down, and began rubbing them against his body until he ejaculated.
An extra in Entourage, Anastasia Taneie, also came out and claimed that Piven had cornered her in a dark hallway and felt her chest and genitals; the V area, as he pushed her against a wall with force. In January 2018, an article on Buzzfeed revealed that three more women appeared to accuse Piven of sexual misconduct and inappropriate behavior.
Piven denied all of the accusations and called them “absolutely false and completely fabricated,” but his denials were not enough to clear his name.
His Height And Other Body Stats
Piven stands at a height of 5″10 in, which is 178 cm and 1.78 in meters. It weighs 76 kg (167 lbs). His other body statistics are chest: 38 inches, waist: 32 inches, and biceps: 15 inches.