Simon Helberg is an American actor, director, screenwriter, producer, comedian and musician. Best known for her role as Howard Wolowitz in one of the most successful comedy series of our time, The Big Bang Theory. He worked on the big screen in the films Serious Man and Primadonna, for the second he was nominated for many prestigious prizes.
Childhood and youth
Simon Helberg was born December 9, 1980 in Los Angeles, California. Father - actor Sandy Helberg, best known for his television roles. Mother is a casting director. The actor has Polish and Russian roots. Simon was brought up in the tradition of Judaism. In childhood, he practiced karate, according to him, he earned a black belt at the age of only nine years.
In high school, he met another popular future actor, Jason Ritter, best known for his starring role in the TV series Parents. After graduation, he entered the New York School of the Arts Tish. He rented an apartment there with Ritter.
Carier start
In the early 2000s, Helberg founded the comic duet "Derek and Simon" with Derek Waters, together they performed comedy sketches. Also, the young actor appeared in two small roles in the comedy King of Parties and Old Hardening. In 2002, the young actor starred in a commercial for the large Target chain of stores.
Over the next few years, Simon Helberg appeared in episodes of the famous comedy series Slow Motion and Joey, and also played a small role in George Clooney’s historical drama Good Night and Good Luck.
In 2007, he launched, together with Waters, the comedy web series "Derek and Simon", in addition to acting, he also took on the scripting for many episodes. In addition, he played a minor role in the series Aaron Sorkin "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" and appeared in the parody comedy "Ups and Downs: The Story of Dewey Cox" and the film "Evan Almighty."
Big breakthrough
In 2007, Simon Helberg was selected for one of the main roles in the CBS comedy series The Big Bang Theory. He appeared on the screen in the image of an engineer Howard Wolowitz. Sitcom quickly became a big hit, and over the years its ratings only continued to grow.
For his work in the series, Helberg received the Television Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy. So far, eleven seasons of The Big Bang Theory have been released; it has recently been announced that the twelfth season will be the last for the project. This is largely due to the busy schedule of the actors, who became in demand due to the series in demand in Hollywood, and their significantly increased fees. According to rumors, Simon, like other members of the main cast, receives about a million dollars for one episode.
Despite the fact that, according to many fans of the series, the quality of the project began to decline rapidly after the fourth season, Sitcom made a real television star from Simon Helberg. Photos of the actor appeared on the covers of glossy magazines, he became a guest of evening talk shows, starred in the advertising campaign of the world famous brand "Sprite" and received many interesting creative offers.
Other projects
Even during the filming of the sitcom, Simon Helberg began to appear in other projects. He played a supporting role in Joss Whedon’s web series, Dr. Horrible Music Blog, in 2008. A year later, in the drama of the Cohen brothers, the actor played a young rabbi. The film was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Film category.
In 2014, the directorial debut of Simon Helberg was released. The film "Do not see us Paris as our ears" has received negative reviews from critics and currently has a rather low audience rating on the most popular movie websites. At the same time, the picture was well received at film festivals and even received a prize for the best comedy film at the Newport Beach Festival.
In 2016, the actor appeared in the historical drama Stephen Frears "Diva" along with Hollywood stars Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant. For his work in the project, he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award in the category "Best Actor in a Supporting Role". Many analysts believed that Simon would also fall into a similar nomination following a vote by members of the Academy of Film Academy, but the actor was not nominated for an Oscar, unfortunately.
Simon Helberg is a talented parodist and voice actor. He gave his voice to the characters in the animated series Kung Fu Panda: Amazing Legends and The Tom and Jerry Show.
Personal life
The actor married in 2007 Joslyn Town, the niece of the famous Hollywood screenwriter Robert Town, who worked on the films Chinatown and Mission Impossible. Simon Helberg and his wife have two children, daughter Adeline and son Wilder. The couple jointly put the picture "Do not see us Paris as their ears."
Simon Helberg is a talented musician, which can often be seen in many episodes of The Big Bang Theory, he plays the piano professionally.