Adam Paul Scott is an American actor, comedian, producer, and podcaster. He is known for his role as Ben Wyatt in the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation for which he was nominated for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Comedy Series in 2013. He has also appeared as Derek in the film Step Brothers, Johnny Meyer in The Aviator, Henry Pollard in the Starz sitcom Party Down, Ed Mackenzie in the HBO series Big Little Lies, Adam Yates, Jr. in Hot Tub Time Machine 2, and Trevor in the NBC series The Good Place.
Scott has appeared in several feature films, including ', ', The Lesser Evil, High Crimes, The Aviator, Torque, Monster-in-Law, Who Loves the Sun, Knocked Up, Step Brothers, August, Piranha 3D, and Leap Year. Scott's name appears next to Jon Hamm's name in the film in one of the broadcast's credits. In an appearance on G4's Attack of the Show! program on April 21, 2011, he confirmed that this was due to his and Hamm's friendship with producer Shauna Robertson, who put their names in the credits as an Easter egg. He played Ted Hendricks, Walter Mitty's detestable corporate boss, in the 2013 remake of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Scott appeared in the films Our Idiot Brother as Jeremy and Bachelorette. He also starred as Jason Fryman in Friends with Kids. He starred as Caleb Sinclaire in the 2010 film The Vicious Kind, a more dramatic role than his previous comedic endeavors, for which Scott was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Actor. The film itself received positive reviews, and he won two individual awards at two separate film festivals. He starred in the film Passenger Side, released on DVD on October 26, 2010. Scott's film A.C.O.D. premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. In 2015, he worked as executive producer on, and portrayed Alex in, the comedy film The Overnight, and also co-starred in the Christmas comedy slasher film Krampus.
Television
On television, he appeared as Griff Hawkins in the series Boy Meets World and Josh on Party of Five, as well as David's love interest, Ben Cooper, on Six Feet Under. He played Palek on the HBO drama Tell Me You Love Me. Scott played a cocaine-addicted, delirious baseball front office representative in the first and second seasons of the HBO series Eastbound & Down. From 2009 to 2010, he appeared on the Starz network show Party Down. His role in Party Down earned him an Entertainment WeeklyEwwy nomination for Best Actor in a Comedy Series in 2009. In 2010, Scott joined the cast of NBC's acclaimed comedy series Parks and Recreation, in which he played Ben Wyatt, a state auditor who arrives in the fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana to evaluate the town's funds. He appeared as a guest star along with Rob Lowe in the second season before becoming a main character for the remainder of the series. The show's seventh and final season concluded in February 2015. Scott has appeared in the Adult Swim comedy Childrens Hospital. He was also on the show , in the episode "The Risky Business of Being Alone in Your Home", and the annual Adult Swim special The Greatest Event in Television History, which he also created and produced. Scott has also appeared in the Comedy Centraltelevision showNick Swardson's Pretend Time, as a newscaster in the episode "Relapse into Refreshment". He has appeared in a series of commercials for ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball. Starting in November 2016, Scott took on a recurring guest star role in The Good Place as Trevor. In 2017, Scott appeared in HBO's Big Little Lies as Ed Mackenzie, the husband of main character Madeline Mackenzie, played by Reese Witherspoon. Scott co-starred with Craig Robinson in the sitcom Ghosted, which premiered on October 1, 2017 on Fox, lasting just one season. In 2020, Scott became the host of ABC's new game show Don't, executive produced by Ryan Reynolds.
Podcasting
With Scott Aukerman, Scott is the co-host and co-creator of the EarwolfpodcastU Talkin' U2 To Me, launched in February 2014. The series is introduced at the outset of each episode as "the comprehensive and encyclopedic compendium of all things U2," but it generally uses discussion of the band as a jumping off point for improv and absurdist humor. In February 2018 Scott and Scott launched another podcast in the same format, this time covering the career and work of the band R.E.M., titled R U Talkin' R.E.M. Re: Me?. A third podcast, R U Talkin' RHCP Re: Me? debuted in July 2020, in which Scott and Scott discuss the Red Hot Chili Peppers; the podcast's format was almost immediately abandoned in favor of discussing Talking Heads and, as of the second episode, was renamed, R U Talkin' Talking Heads 2 My Talking Head? Scott has also been a guest on numerous podcasts, including Comedy Bang! Bang!, How Did This Get Made?, Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard, and Kevin Pollak's Chat Show.
Personal life
Scott married Naomi Sablan in 2005. They have two children. Scott is a "die-hard" fan of the band R.E.M. In 1992, he appeared as an extra in the music video to their song "Drive". During an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Scott revealed he invited actor Mark Hamill to his second birthday party. Guest host Kristen Bell surprised Scott with the guest appearance of Hamill wielding a lightsaber in observance of Star Wars Day.
