Jesse Eisenberg

Jesse Eisenberg began his acting career onstage as a child. At age seven, he played Oliver Twist in a children's theater production of Oliver!. At 12, he was an understudy in the 1996 Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams' Summer and Smoke, and at 13 he understudied Young Scrooge in a musical version of A Christmas Carol starring Tony Randall. At 16, he made his professional Off-Broadway debut in Arje Shaw's The Gathering.

Eisenberg made his television debut in the series Get Real, which ran from 1999 to 2000. In 2001, he appeared in a UK Dr Pepper commercial as "Butt Naked Boy" and appeared in the television film Lightning: Fire from the Sky. In 2002, he made his feature-film debut in Roger Dodger as Nick and also appeared in The Emperor's Club as Louis Masoudi. He later appeared in the 2005 horror film Cursed and the independent drama The Squid and the Whale.

In 2007, Eisenberg appeared in The Hunting Party as an American journalist reporting from Bosnia and was also cast in Holy Rollers, which was filmed in 2008. His other work during this period included the films The Education of Charlie Banks, The Living Wake, One Day Like Rain and the short film Some Boys Don't Leave. He also appeared in Solitary Man and Camp Hell.

Eisenberg had a major breakthrough in 2009 with Adventureland, in which he starred alongside Kristen Stewart, and Zombieland, in which he played Columbus. He also appeared in the short film Beyond All Boundaries and in Solitary Man. In 2010, he portrayed Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network. That same year, he appeared in Holy Rollers and Camp Hell.

In 2011, Eisenberg voiced Blu in the animated film Rio and starred in the comedy 30 Minutes or Less. He also made his Off-Broadway playwriting debut with Asuncion at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, appearing in the production alongside Justin Bartha and Camille Mana.

In 2012, Eisenberg starred in Why Stop Now as a piano prodigy and appeared in Woody Allen's To Rome with Love. In 2013, he starred in Now You See Me as magician J. Daniel "Danny" Atlas, appeared as himself in He's Way More Famous Than You, and played Tex in Free Samples. He also starred in Richard Ayoade's The Double. That year, he debuted his second play, The Revisionist.

Eisenberg returned as the voice of Blu in Rio 2 in 2014 and appeared in the thriller Night Moves. In 2015, he starred in American Ultra as Mike Howell and portrayed journalist David Lipsky in The End of the Tour. He also appeared in the film While We're Young and wrote and starred in his third play, The Spoils, which premiered Off-Broadway.

In 2016, Eisenberg played Lex Luthor in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and reprised his role as J. Daniel Atlas in Now You See Me 2. He also starred in Woody Allen's Café Society. The Spoils transferred to London's West End that year, with Eisenberg again playing the lead role.

Eisenberg appeared as Lex Luthor in Justice League in 2017. He starred in The Hummingbird Project in 2018 and served as executive producer of the documentary The World Before Your Feet. In 2019, he starred in Zombieland: Double Tap, The Art of Self-Defense and Vivarium. He also appeared in the Serbian television series Žigosani u reketu and wrote the play Happy Talk, which premiered in 2019.

In 2020, Eisenberg portrayed French mime artist Marcel Marceau in Resistance. In 2021, he appeared as Lex Luthor in Zack Snyder's Justice League and starred in Wild Indian, on which he also served as an executive producer.

In 2022, Eisenberg starred as Toby Fleishman in the FX limited series Fleishman Is in Trouble. He also made his feature directorial debut with When You Finish Saving the World, which he wrote and directed. The film starred Julianne Moore and Finn Wolfhard and premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival before its theatrical release in 2023.

In 2023, Eisenberg starred as Ralphie in Manodrome. He also appeared in and directed projects during this period, continuing his work as a writer and filmmaker.

Eisenberg made his feature directorial debut in When You Finish Saving the World which was adapted from his own original audiobook series. The film premiered at 2022 Sundance Film Festival and was released in cinemas in 2023. The following year, he directed and wrote the comedy-drama A Real Pain, a film which he also acted in opposite Kieran Culkin. He earned two Golden Globe nominations for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and Best Screenplay, as well as a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.

In 2025, Eisenberg reprised his role as J. Daniel Atlas in Now You See Me: Now You Don't. Eisenberg's next project is The Debut, a musical comedy film starring Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti, which he will direct, write, and also contribute original music for.