Jeremy Piven is Spence Kovak on Ellen

		Saturday, Nov 21, 2009 08:41:31 AM

	ELLEN

	ELLEN DeGENERES as Ellen Morgan

	JOELY FISHER as Paige Clark

	JEREMY PIVEN as Spence Kovak

	CLEA LEWIS as Audrey Penney

	DAVID ANTHONY HIGGINS as Joe Farrell


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Jeremy Piven
Spence Kovak on Ellen

Born in Manhattan, Jeremy Piven was raised in Evanston, Illinois, where his parents founded the now famous Piven Theater Workshop, which claims among its former students such busy young actors as John and Joan Cusack, Rosanna Arquette, Aidan Quinn and, of course, their son Jeremy.

Piven concentrated on football by day and studying improvisational techniques by night at his parents' repertory. After graduating from high school, he attended Drake University as a student of the theater. Later earning his degree from New York University, Piven also attended the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center and The National Theater of Great Britain, where he trained intensively in Shakespearean acting.

Between projects, Piven and his lifelong friend, John Cusack, founded the New Criminals Theater Company in Chicago, an experimental troupe that mounted boisterous productions performed in a brash style. Says Piven, "Unless an entire row of people got up in the middle of a performance and left the theater in disgust, I felt as though I hadn't done my job."

Carol Burnett's "Carol & Co." first brought the actor to Los Angeles in 1989. He played the edgy head writer on "The Larry Sanders Show" for two seasons and starred as Nathan Green, the high-strung, unemployed father of two, in "Pride & Joy."

Piven's feature film credits include "Grosse Point Blank" with John Cusack; "Heat," opposite Robert De Niro and Al Pacino; "Larger Than Life" with Bill Murray; "Kiss the Girls" with Morgan Freeman; and the independent films, "Layin' Low" and "Livers Ain't Cheap."

During his summer hiatus from "Ellen," the prolific Piven completed work on the feature films, "Phoenix," starring Ray Liotta; and "Music From Another Room," starring Jude Law; as well as the upcoming cable television movie, "Only in America: The Life and Crimes of Don King."

See more about Jeremy Piven in his series, Cupid.

VITAL STATISTICS

BIRTHPLACE: New York, NY
BIRTHDATE: July 26
HEIGHT: 5'9"
HAIR: Brown
EYES: Brown

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