A biography of a celebrity

EUGENE LEVY

Eugene Levy (born December 17, 1946) is a Canadian actor, comedian, television director, producer, musician, and writer. He is known for his work in Canadian television series, American movies, and television movies. He is the only actor to have appeared in all eight of the American Pie films, as Noah Levenstein.
Levy was born to a Jewish family in Hamilton, Ontario. His father was a foreman in an automobile plant. He went to Westdale Secondary School, and attended McMaster University. He was vice-president of the McMaster Film Board, a student film group where he met moviemaker Ivan Reitman.
He began his career as a comedian in the sketch comedy series Second City Television. An alumn of both Second City Toronto and the sketch comedy series SCTV, Levy often plays unusual supporting characters with nerdish streaks. Perhaps his best known role on SCTV was as the dimwitted Earl Camembert.
He is the co-writer and frequent cast member of Christopher Guest’s mockumentary features, particularly A Mighty Wind, where his sympathetic performance as brain-damaged folksinger Mitch Cohen won kudos; his accolades included a Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor - Musical or Comedy and the prestigious New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor. In the 1980s and 1990s, he appeared in Splash, National Lampoon’s Vacation, Club Paradise, Stay Tuned, Multiplicity, and other comedies. Levy was the creator of Maniac Mansion, a television sitcom based on the LucasArts video game of the same name. He was also seriously considered for the role of Toby Ziegler on The West Wing, a role that went to actor Richard Schiff.

American Pie series
Levy's career received a tremendous boost in 1999, when he was cast as the clueless but loving dad in the sleeper blockbuster American Pie. Reprising the role in two film sequels and starring in four straight-to-video sequels made him something of a cult hero. In 2002, following the success of the American Pie film series, Levy signed a contract to make an additional three American Pie movies for a combined ten thousand dollars, forgoing an originally large, six figures salary. Levy has been quoted as saying the American Pie series was particular turning point in his career, affording him "a new perspective on his career at the time". Since working on the first two American Pie movies, Levy has worked with Steve Martin and Queen Latifah in Bringing Down the House, and most recently appeared with Martin in Cheaper by the Dozen 2.