Justin Long

Long was born the middle son of three boys in Fairfield, Connecticut, to father R. James Long, a philosophy and Latin professor at Fairfield University, and mother Wendy Lesniak,[2] a former actress who has mostly appeared on stage.[3] His paternal grandmother was of Italian descent.[4] Long had a "kind of conservative" Roman Catholic upbringing.[5] His older brother, Damian, is a local stage actor, teacher, and theater director at Weston High School.[6] Long attended Fairfield College Preparatory School, a Jesuit school, and Vassar College, where he was a member of the sketch comedy group Laughingstock and starred in several plays, including Butterflies Are Free.[6]

Long at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival

Long's film credits include Idiocracy, Waiting..., Jeepers Creepers, DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story, The Break-Up, Crossroads, Galaxy Quest, Dreamland and Live Free or Die Hard. He was also a regular on the NBC TV series Ed (2000–04), playing socially awkward Warren P. Cheswick. He was offered the opportunity to replace Steve Burns on Blue's Clues after he left the show, but ultimately declined.[7] He was the voice of the character Alvin in Alvin and the Chipmunks, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, and Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip.[8] He also played the main character in the comedy film Accepted (2006).

Long made a guest appearance in the documentary, Wild West Comedy Show (2006). In 2007, he co-starred with Bruce Willis as a "white-hat hacker" in Live Free or Die Hard[9] and had a role in the comedy The Sasquatch Gang. Long is known for his depiction of a Mac in Apple's "Get a Mac" campaign. The campaign featured commercials in which Long as a Mac and John Hodgman as a PC engaged in playful banter about "the strengths of the Mac platform and weaknesses of the PC platform."[10]

Long also had a small role in the comedy film Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008), where he plays Brandon St. Randy, a gay porn star. In 2009, he starred in He's Just Not That into You along with co-star Ginnifer Goodwin and After.Life opposite Liam Neeson and Christina Ricci. He also provided the voice of Humphrey in Alpha and Omega (2010), starring with Hayden Panettiere. Also in 2010, Long starred in the comedy film Going the Distance with Drew Barrymore. He was cast as a one-armed Civil War veteran in Robert Redford's The Conspirator.[11]

Long read the audiobook version of Judy Blume's Then Again, Maybe I Won't and Stephen King's Everything's Eventual. From July 7–18, 2010, he appeared in a production of Samuel J. and K. at the Williamstown Theatre Festival.[12] On August 16, 2010, he co-hosted WWE Raw with Going the Distance co-stars Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.[13] In 2014 he starred in the independent love drama Comet, which he and his co-star Emmy Rossum also produced. He also was in a few skits on the show ‘Inside Amy Schumer’. In April 2019, Long started the podcast, Life Is Short with Justin Long, with its introductory episode airing through Wondery on April 29, 2019. His first guest was actor Dax Shepard.[14]

On June 24, 2019 Long, along with an ensemble cast, presented The Investigation: A Search for the Truth in Ten Acts, a dramatic reading of Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III's Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election. Long portrayed former Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation James Comey.[15] In 2020, he appeared in reality television series Celebrity Watch Party alongside his younger brother Christian Long.[16]

He had a relationship with Drew Barrymore,[17] but they broke up in July 2008.[18] He also dated Amanda Seyfried from mid-2013[19] for two years, breaking up in September 2015.[20]

During an episode of the podcast [21] Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard, Long revealed that he was the victim of a drugging and abduction during the filming of Youth In Revolt while in Michigan. According to Long, after an evening of drinking he left with several local individuals who offered him marijuana but, he believes, in fact gave him the drug Phencyclidine, more commonly known as PCP. After getting him severely intoxicated, these individuals took him to various locations against his will and avoided taking him to his hotel as he repeatedly requested. According to Long, the individuals made reference to filming him while high on hard drugs and selling the footage to TMZ or another website dedicated to celebrity gossip. Long was so concerned that he eventually leapt from the moving vehicle in order to escape the ordeal. Long commented that he has faced lingering nerve damage in his leg due to the injuries he sustained in escaping from their car.

Long endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders for President in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.[22] He endorsed Sanders again in the 2020 Democratic primary, has been seen at Sanders rallies,[23] and has appeared on the campaign trail as a surrogate.[24]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Justin Long.

• Justin Long on IMDb
• Video interview with Justin Long at the premiere of The Break-Up