Rogen paid the bills and had become the main wage earner at just 16. Rogen dropped out of high school, began working for Apatow, and relocated with his family to Los Angeles. Around this time, he landed a role on Judd Apatow's television show Freaks and Geeks after attending a local casting call. Also when Rogen was 16, his father lost his job and his mother quit hers, forcing them to put their house up for sale and relocate to a significantly smaller apartment. With his deadpan humour, he placed second in the Vancouver Amateur Comedy Contest at 16 years old. His mother was supportive of his comic endeavours and would often drive him to stand-up gigs at the comedy club Yuk Yuk's. They initially worried that American Pie (1999) had beaten them to the idea for the movie, but they decided that the film "'managed to totally avoid all honest interaction between characters,' which is what we're going for." Based on their teenage experiences, Rogen and Goldberg spent the rest of their time in high school polishing the script. At the age of 13, he co-wrote a rough draft of Superbad with childhood friend Evan Goldberg, whom he had met at bar mitzvah classes. During his teenage years, he would perform stand-up comedy routines at places like bar mitzvahs and small parties, later shifting to bars. His early comedy routines involved jokes about his bar mitzvah, his grandparents, and his camp counsellors. Īs a child, Rogen did not want to pursue any career other than comedy, stating, "As soon as I realized you could be funny as a job, that was the job I wanted." He got his start in show business at age 12 after enrolling in a comedy workshop taught by Mark Pooley. He was also known for the stand-up comedy he performed at Camp Miriam, a Habonim Dror camp. He attended Vancouver Talmud Torah Elementary School and Point Grey Secondary School, incorporating many of his classmates into his writing, and took up kyokushin karate for ten years. He has described his parents, who met on kibbutz Beit Alfa in Israel, as "radical Jewish socialists". Of his dual citizenship, Rogen has stated, "I definitely associate with being Canadian much more than being American" because he grew up in Canada. His mother, Sandy Belogus, is a social worker, and his American father, Mark Rogen, worked for non-profit organizations and as an assistant director of the Workmen's Circle Jewish fraternal organization. Seth Aaron Rogen was born on April 15, 1982, in Vancouver, British Columbia to a Jewish family of Ukrainian and Russian origin.
He also serves as a writer, executive producer, and director, with Goldberg.
In 2016, he developed the AMC television series Preacher with his writing partner Evan Goldberg and Sam Catlin.
Rogen co-starred as Steve Wozniak in Universal's Steve Jobs biopic in 2015. Universal Pictures subsequently cast him as the lead in Apatow's films Knocked Up and Funny People. Rogen was cast in a supporting role and credited as a co-producer in Apatow's directorial debut, The 40-Year-Old Virgin.
His first movie appearance was a minor role in Donnie Darko (2001). As a staff writer, he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series. After landing his job as a staff writer on the final season of Da Ali G Show, Apatow guided Rogen toward a film career. Originally a stand-up comedian in Vancouver, he moved to Los Angeles for a part in Judd Apatow's series Freaks and Geeks, and then got a part on the sitcom Undeclared, which also hired him as a writer.
Seth Aaron Rogen ( / ˈ r oʊ ɡ ən/ born April 15, 1982) is a Canadian actor, comedian, and filmmaker.