Chicago native Jeremy Piven stars as fellow Midwesterner Harry Gordon Selfridge in Masterpiece’s new series Mr. Selfridge about the mercantile genius who showed early 20th-century London how to shop.
Among his many notable roles, Piven is best known as movie agent Ari Gold in the hit series Entourage, which aired for eight seasons and won Piven three Emmy® Awards and a Golden Globe®. His extensive career in television also includes the satirical Larry Sanders Show.
In film, he starred in Mark Pellington’s drama I Melt with You, Gaby Dellal’s heart-wrenching Angels Crest, Gary Fleder’s Runaway Jury, Todd Phillips’ hit comedy Old School, Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down, Peter Chelsom’s Serendipity, The Family Man, Peter Berg’s Very Bad Things and The Kingdom, Cameron Crowe’s Singles, Joe Carnahan’s Smokin’ Aces, Guy Ritchie’s Rocknrolla, and The Player for director Robert Altman.
In 2005, Piven returned to his theater roots starring in the off-Broadway hit Fat Pig by Neil LaBute, for which he received a Distinguished Performance Honor from the Drama League. He also appeared as Bobby Gould on Broadway in Speed-the-Plow. As a child growing up in Chicago, the eight-year-old Piven climbed on stage at the Piven Theatre Workshop, founded by his father, Byrne, and mother, Joyce Piven. He is still very active with this workshop and returns to Chicago frequently to help keep his parents’ dream alive.
