Biography
Date of Birth
7 December 1988, Brampton, Ontario, Canada
Birth Name
Michael Austin Cera
Nickname
Mike
Height
5' 9" (1.75 m)
Mini Biography
Canadian actor Michael Cera was born in Brampton, Ontario, to parents who worked for Xerox. His mother, Linda, who is from Quebec, has English, Irish, Scottish, and Dutch ancestry, and his father, Luigi Cera, is Italian (from Sicily). Michael is the middle child between two sisters. He was educated at Conestoga Public School, Robert H. Lagerquist Senior Public School and Heart Lake Secondary School until the grade nine. Cera then completed his high school education via correspondence.
During a childhood illness he repeatedly viewed Ghostbusters (1984), learning the dialogue. It was this that sparked his interest in performing. He went on to take classes in improvisation at The Second City Toronto. Roles followed in commercials and TV, but he first came to major public attention when he was cast as George Michael Bluth in the critically acclaimed comedy series Arrested Development (2003). After the cancellation of this series, Cera successfully transitioned into movies, scoring starring roles in various projects such as Superbad (2007), Juno (2007), Youth in Revolt (2009) and as the eponymous hero in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010).
Alongside acting, Cera is also a musician - he sings and plays guitar and bass.
Trivia
Splits his time between Los Angeles and with his family at home in Brampton.
Michael has two siblings, an older sister Jordan and a younger sister, Molly.
His mother, Linda, comes from Montreal, Quebec, and has English, Irish, Scottish, and Dutch ancestry, and his father, Luigi Cera, is from Italy (Sicily).
Auditioned for the role of Cole Sear in The Sixth Sense (1999), which went to Haley Joel Osment.
Plays guitar in his free time and, according to Elliot Page, his Juno (2007) co-star, he's "very good at it".
Was ranked #1 on Entertainment Weekly's '30 Under 30' the actors list (2008).
His last name means "wax" in Italian, Spanish and Portuguese.
Last name is pronounced "SEH-ra".
Member of The Interstate 5 Tennis Association.
Says that he is often mistaken for Jesse Eisenberg.
Lives in ultra trendy Los Angeles neighborhood, Los Feliz. Giovanni Ribisi, Bo Barrett, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Pine, Ryan Reynolds, Mark Ruffalo, Kristen Stewart, Brad Pitt, Hannah Telle and Robert Pattinson are among the other actors who also call Los Feliz home.
Santiago, Chile: Filming Magic Magic (2013). [July 2011]
Moving from Los Angeles, CA, USA to Brooklyn, NY, USA. [July 2013]
Owns a house in New York and Toronto.
Nominated for a Tony Award as Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performance in "Lobby Hero" in 2018.
Trademarks:
Often plays naive and/or slightly nerdy characters
Often plays soft-spoken, sensitive characters
Wide expressive eyes
Curly light brown hair
Quotes
I'm not really trying to make 'great art.'
I like a woman to take control but they're hard to find. For example, when I go out to a restaurant I know every girl in there wants to come say hi and be sexually aggressive, but they're all so gripped by shyness that they don't even make a move. In some cases the shyness is so severe they won't even look at me.
[re his character in Crystal Fairy & the Magical Cactus (2013)] Even the nicest people in the world know what it's like to be selfish, even if they don't act on it. Everyone has access to those impulses. He's both fixated and miserable. He's a person who is so uncomfortable with himself that he can't be in the present moment for even a second.
[re social life in Hollywood, and move to NYC] I'm not plugged into that world. It's a really good city to be a homebody and sit and watch movies with friends. It takes a lot of work to be plugged in to people. Every day you wake up it's a new challenge, like: 'What am I going to do with myself today?'...In New York, if you walk outside you are involved. Everyone feels that, and everyone is feeding off that. I saw New York in Ghostbusters (1984) when I was 4 years old and decided I would end up living there.
[re confusion with Jesse Eisenberg] I get it a lot. People will tell me they loved me in The Social Network (2010), and I will tell them I'm not Jesse. I was in a convenience store one time buying something, and the guy just ahead of me was paying for something and he looked at me and he goes, 'Jesse Eisenberg?' I went, 'No.' Then he goes, 'Michael Cera?' I was pretty impressed he got it on the second try.
One of the great things about being involved in this business is that you meet people who are so talented, whose stuff you admire, who you can potentially work with.
