May / June 2006:

keeping up with: jeremy piven

Story by Gerri Miller



While he'd worked steadily as the sidekick, the best friend, the guy who never got the girl in films and TV, Jeremy Piven saw his career take off to a new level as the breakout character on Entourage, Ari Gold. “It’s a charismatic, abrasive character. I’ve gotten more attention for this than anything else and I think it’s because you have a character who says the unspoken. Most people live in fear of confrontation. This guy relishes it,” says Piven.

Fired in last season’s penultimate episode, Ari will open his own talent agency in season three, which premieres June 11. “Ari Gold will rise like a phoenix. There’s no way to hold that guy down,” promises Piven, though there will be conflict at home. “When he goes home his wife runs the show,” he notes.

Born in New York and raised in Evanston, Illinois, Piven grew up on stage in his parents’ theater workshop. “I had the best upbringing you could possibly have, surrounded by love and support and the arts,” says the 40-year-old Second City alumnus and Emmy and Golden Globe nominee.

In addition to Entourage and Steins, Piven will be seen in the indie drama Smokin’ Aces as a Las Vegas comedian who snitches on the mob. “It’s maybe the best role I’ve ever had in my life because I was allowed to go to a very deep emotional place, expose that, as well as the edge and the tragedy of a Vegas entertainer of the year who has unraveled. It’s a dramatic turn that still hopefully is funny. It’s a totally original piece that achieves dark comedy, which you see very rarely.”

Piven, who went to India for a Travel Channel documentary earlier this year, is now in the position to be as choosy about roles as he likes. As he sums up, “I’m looking to explore things that I feel are in my wheelhouse.”



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