Benjamin Schwartz is an American actor, voice actor, comedian, improviser, writer, director and producer, who portrayed Jean-Ralphio Saperstein on the NBCsitcomParks and Recreation, Clyde Oberholt on the Showtime series House of Lies, voices Dewey Duck in DuckTales and appears in the CollegeHumor web series Jake and Amir. His feature film credits include Peep World, Everybody's Fine, The Other Guys, The Walk,This Is Where I Leave You, Standing Up, Falling Down, and Sonic the Hedgehog as the titular character.
Early life
Schwartz was born in 1981 in The Bronx, New York City. His parents, both Bronx natives, raised Schwartz in Riverdale, a neighborhood in the Northwestern part of the Bronx. His father was a social worker before going into real estate and his mother was a music teacher. In an interview with Kevin Pollak, he stated, "When I told people I was from the Bronx, it was like 'Oh, do you have bullet wounds?' And I'm like 'No, it's just me and, like, Jewish people.'" When he was eleven years old, his family moved to Edgemont, New York, in adjacent Westchester County. Schwartz attended Edgemont Junior–Senior High School where he played basketball and sang in the chorus; he graduated in 1999. He then attended Union College from which he graduated in 2003 with a double major in psychology and anthropology.
Career
On television, Schwartz guest-starred as Jean-Ralphio Saperstein on NBC's Parks and Recreation and was a lead in the Showtime show House of Lies. In 2010, Schwartz played series regular Bill Hoyt on J. J. Abrams' one-hour spy drama Undercovers for NBC. Schwartz has been writing, directing and acting in his own short films for some time. He had his own segment on HBO’s Funny or Die Presents called Terrible Decisions with Ben Schwartz and has appeared in multiple CollegeHumor sketches including the popular web series Jake and Amir. Schwartz has been nominated for three Emmys and won the 2009 Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics for coauthoring Hugh Jackman's opening number for the 81st Academy Awards. In September 2013, he was hired by Paramount Pictures to re-make the 1991 comedy Soapdish, retitled El Fuego Caliente and reworking the original's American soap opera into a Latin telenovela, with producers Rob Reiner and Alan Greisman and he sold an original pitch to Universal Studios based on an idea by Brian Grazer with Imagine Entertainment attached to produce. He was a staff writer for the third season of Adult Swim’s Robot Chicken and served as a freelance writer for the Weekend Update segment of Saturday Night Live as well as the monologues for the Late Show with David Letterman. Schwartz is an alumnus of the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre and continues to perform there regularly. He is a member of the improv group "Hot Sauce" with Adam Pally and Gil Ozeri, the group performs their long-form improv show "Something Fresh" at UCBT every month. He and Bill Hader served as vocal consultants for '. Schwartz also played a cameo role as a Stormtrooper in the film. Since 2014 Schwartz has appeared in episodes of the Comedy Bang! Bang! podcast as the only guest in "Solo Bolo", "Solo Bolo Dos Lo", "Solo Bolo Trolo", "Solo Bolo Cuatrolo" "Solo Bolo Cincolo" and "Solo Bolo Sonicolo". In nearly each episode he and host Scott Aukerman compete in the Olympic Song Challenge. In 2017, Schwartz began voicing Dewey in the Disney XD revival of DuckTales. Schwartz has been featured as himself in Netflix's '’s 2017 animated Christmas special - Home for the Holidays - alongside Kelly Clarkson. He is currently the voice of Leonardo in Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. In August 2018, Schwartz was announced to voice the titular character in the 2020 film, Sonic the Hedgehog. On September 26, 2019, it was announced that Schwartz was cast as F. Tony Scarapiducci in the upcoming Netflixcomedy series, Space Force. In April 2020, Schwartz and fellow improvisor, Thomas Middleditch, starred in Netflix's first long-form improv special, Middleditch and Schwartz, a three-part series of hour-long performances filmed at New York University's Skirball Center for the Performing Arts.
Books
Schwartz has co-written four books, three with writer Amanda McCall: Grandma’s Dead: Breaking Bad News with Baby Animals; Maybe Your Leg Will Grow Back!: Looking on the Bright Side with Baby Animals and Why is Daddy in a Dress?: Asking Awkward Questions with Baby Animals and one with writer Laura Moses, Things You Should Already Know About Dating, You F-king Idiot.
