Nat Faxon

Nat Faxon
Faxon at the series premieres of You're the Worst and Married in July 2014
Born	Nathaniel Wales Faxon (1975-10-11) October 11, 1975 (age 49) Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Alma mater	Hamilton College
Occupation(s)	Actor, comedian, screenwriter, director
Years active	1999–present
Spouse	Meaghan Gadd ​ (m. 2007)​
Children	3

Nathaniel Wales Faxon (born October 11, 1975)^[1][2] is an American actor and comedian. A frequent presence on comedic films and TV series, he won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for co-writing The Descendants (2011). He starred in the Fox comedy series Ben and Kate (2012–2013) and the FX comedy series Married (2014–2015), and voices Elfo in the Netflix adult animated television series Disenchantment (2018–2023). He also co-wrote and co-directed The Way, Way Back (2013) and Downhill (2020) with writing partner Jim Rash.^[3]

Early life

Faxon's early years were spent in the seaside community of Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts, where he attended the Brookwood School. He later graduated from the Holderness School near Plymouth, New Hampshire, and then Hamilton College in 1997.

Career

Acting

Faxon is an alumnus of the Los Angeles-based improvisational and sketch comedy troupe The Groundlings, where he began performing in 2001.^[4]

He may be best known for his appearances in comedic films such as Orange County (2002), Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007), Bad Teacher (2011), and several Broken Lizard films including Beerfest (2006). He co-starred in Darren Star's semi-autobiographical satire Grosse Pointe and had recurring roles in several television series, including The Cleveland Show, Joey, Up All Night and Reno 911!. He has also appeared on the Roseanne spin-off The Conners since 2020 as Neville Goldufski.^[5]

Faxon has been featured in a series of prominent Holiday Inn commercials featuring Joe Buck, as well as an ad by Blockbuster. In 2012, he was cast as Ben Fox on the Fox sitcom Ben and Kate.^[6][7] He starred with Judy Greer in the FX comedy series Married, which ran for two seasons.

Writing and directing

Faxon and writing partner Jim Rash, whom he met while performing with The Groundlings, co-wrote the screenplay for the film The Descendants, starring George Clooney and directed by Alexander Payne. On February 26, 2012, the screenplay for The Descendants won an Oscar, with Faxon, Rash, and Payne sharing the award.^[8] The duo made their directorial debut with The Way, Way Back (2013), based on their original screenplay, and starring Steve Carell, Toni Collette and Sam Rockwell.^[9] It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where Fox Searchlight Pictures acquired it for $10 million;^[10] it was released domestically to positive reviews that July.

Personal life

Faxon is married to Meaghan Gadd. They have three children.^[11]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2002	Orange County	Kip
	Slackers	Karl, the Grad Student
2004	Club Dread	Manny
2006	The TV Set	Reporter
	Beerfest	Rolf
2007	Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story	Awards Show Stage Manager
2008	Hamlet 2	Glenn from Copy Shop
	Lower Learning	Turner Abernathy
2009	The Slammin' Salmon	Carl the Manager
2011	Freeloaders	Fritz
	Bad Teacher	Mark
	Zookeeper	Dave
	The Descendants	None	Co-screenwriter only; Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
2012	The Babymakers	Zig-Zag
2013	The Way, Way Back	Roddy	Also co-screenwriter and co-director
2014	Tammy	Greg
	Sex Tape	Max
2016	Operator	Gregg
2017	Thoroughbreds	None	Producer
	A Happening of Monumental Proportions	Paramedic #2
2018	Life of the Party	Lance
	Father of the Year	Mardy
2019	Ready or Not	Justin (voice)
	Charlie's Angels	Peter Fleming
2020	Downhill	None	Co-director and co-screenwriter
2021	Yes Day	Mr. Deacon
2022	Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe	Jim Hartson (voice)
2024	Orion and the Dark	Worrisome Insomnia (voice)

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1999	Rude Awakening	Slackula	Episode: "Slackula"
2000–2001	Grosse Pointe	Kevin the P.A.	17 episodes
2003–2004	Reno 911!	Milk Shake	6 episodes
2004	Significant Others	Breck	Episode: "A Breck, a Brother & a Funeral"
2004–2005	Joey	Bodie	3 episodes
2005	Romy and Michele: In the Beginning	Chad	TV movie
	NCIS	Carter Finch	Episode: "The Voyeur's Web"
	Reba	Elder Care Worker	Episode: "Grannies Gone Wild"
2005–2014	American Dad!	Various voices	4 episodes
2006–2008	Happy Hour	Brad Cooper	14 episodes
2008	Mad Men	Flatty	Episode: "The Benefactor"
2009	DJ & the Fro	The Fro (voice)	12 episodes
	Glenn Martin DDS	Trailer Park Teen (voice)	Episode: "Halloween Hangover"
	The Big D	Brady	Pilot
	The Burr Effect	Dale
2009–2012	The Cleveland Show	Raymond the Bear (voice)	10 episodes
2010	Party Down	Garlan Greenbush	Episode: "Party Down Company Picnic"
2011	Allen Gregory	Jeremy (voice)	7 episodes
	Happy Endings	Chef Leslie	Episode: "Bo Fight"
2012	Are You There, Chelsea?	Tim Kornick	Episode: "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Crying"
	Up All Night	Lawrence	Episode: "Couple Friends"
2012–2013	Ben and Kate	Ben Fox	Main role
2013	Comedy Bang! Bang!	Earl of Crathmore	Episode: "Jessica Alba Wears a Jacket with Patent Leather Pumps"
	Spy	Alan	Pilot
2013–2014	Trophy Wife	Sad Steve	3 episodes
2014	Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja	Sinjin Knightfire (voice)	Episode: "Julian's Birthday Surprise/True Bromance"
	Marry Me	Scooby	Episode: "Win Me"
	Benched	Harold	Episode: "Solitary Refinement"
2014–2015	Married	Russ Bowman	Main role
2014–2016	TripTank	Various voices	8 episodes
2014–2022	Robot Chicken	Various voices	6 episodes
2014–present	Blaze and the Monster Machines	Pickle (voice), Joe (voice)	Main role
2015	Community	None	Director, 2 episodes
	The Grinder	Lyle	Episode: "Little Mitchard No More"
2015–2018	SuperMansion	Ivan Whiff (voice)	3 episodes
2015–2019	Family Guy	Various voices	4 episodes
2016	Black-ish	Joseph Everton	Episode: "Super Rich Kids"
2016 & 2020	Mike Tyson Mysteries	Will / Nat O'Sullivan (voice)	2 episodes
2017	Jeff & Some Aliens	Farmer (voice)	Episode: "Jeff & Some Energy Trading
	Speechless	Undercover Boss	Episode: "J-J'S D-R-- DREAM"
	Dogs In A Park	Various Dogs (voice)	8 episodes
2017–2018	Nobodies	Himself	3 episodes
2017–2019	Friends from College	Nick	Main role
2018	Great News	Anthony Lyon	Episode: "Early Retirement"
	Dallas & Robo	Clark (voice)	3 episodes
	Summer Camp Island	Popular Banana Split (voice)	Episode: "Popular Banana Split"
	The Guest Book	Derek	Episode: "Finding Reality"
	The Kids Are Alright	Tom	Episode: "Christmas 1972"
2018–2020	The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants	Captain Underpants/Mr. Krupp (voice)	Main role
2018-2023	Disenchantment	Elfo (voice)
2019	Harvey Street Kids	Stu (voice)	3 episodes
	Catastrophe	Pat	Episode #4.6
	Life in Pieces	Hayes	Episode: "Jungle Push Resort Anniversary"
	Euphoria	Rick	Episode: "The Trials and Tribulations of Trying to Pee While Depressed"
2019–2020	Harvey Girls Forever!	Stu (voice)	5 episodes
2019–2021	Tacoma FD	Frenchie Willikers	2 episodes
2020	Narcos: Mexico	Ted Faye
	Solar Opposites	Bryson (voice)	Episode: "The Lavatic Reactor"
	It's Pony	Mr. Underwood (voice)	2 episodes
2020–present	The Conners	Neville Goldufskyi	Recurring role
2021	The Great North	Calvin Prescott (voice)	Episode: "Avocado Barter Adventure"
	Archibald's Next Big Thing Is Here!	Randy (voice)	Episode: "A Star is Hatched/Say Cheese"
	The Chicken Squad	Endicott (voice)	2 episodes
2021–2023	HouseBroken	Chief (voice)	Main role
2022	Our Flag Means Death	The Swede	Recurring role
	Gaslit	Bob Haldeman	4 episodes
2022–present	Loot	Arthur	Main role
2023–present	Frog and Toad	Frog (voice)
	Mulligan	Matty Mulligan (voice)
2025	Ghosts	Alexander Hamilton	1 episode[12]

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Title of work	Result
2011	Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards	Adapted Screenplay	The Descendants	Won
	Toronto Film Critics Association Awards	Adapted Screenplay		Nominated
	Satellite Awards	Adapted Screenplay		Won
	San Diego Film Critics Society Awards	Adapted Screenplay		Nominated
	Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards	Adapted Screenplay		Nominated
	Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards	Adapted Screenplay		Won
	Florida Film Critics Circle Awards	Adapted Screenplay		Won
	Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards	Adapted Screenplay		Won
	Chicago Film Critics Association Awards	Adapted Screenplay		Nominated
	National Board of Review	Adapted Screenplay		Won
2012	Writers Guild of America	Adapted Screenplay		Won
	Vancouver Film Critics Circle	Adapted Screenplay		Nominated
	USC Scripter Award	Adapted Screenplay		Won
	Online Film Critics Society Awards	Adapted Screenplay		Nominated
	London Critics Circle Film Awards	Adapted Screenplay		Nominated
	Independent Spirit Awards	Adapted Screenplay		Won
	Golden Globe	Adapted Screenplay		Nominated
	Central Ohio Film Critics Association	Adapted Screenplay		Nominated
	Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards	Adapted Screenplay		Nominated
	BAFTA Awards	Adapted Screenplay		Nominated
	Australian Film Institute	Adapted Screenplay		Nominated
	Academy Award	Adapted Screenplay		Won
2013	Newport Beach Film Festival Audience Award	Feature Film	The Way Way Back	Won
	Filmfest Hamburg	Art Cinema Award		Nominated
2014	St. Louis Film Critics Association	Best Comedy		Nominated
	Critics' Choice Movie Awards[13]	Best Comedy		Nominated
2022	Peabody Awards[14]	Entertainment	Our Flag Means Death	Nominated

References

1. "Today in History". Associated Press. 5 October 2020. Archived from the original on January 3, 2024. Retrieved January 2, 2024.
2. "Nat Faxon - Biography". Turner Classic Movies. Archived from the original on April 22, 2023. Retrieved June 30, 2022.
3. "Nat Faxon". IMDb. Archived from the original on 2023-04-22. Retrieved 2023-03-23.
4. Faxon Archived 2014-05-17 at the Wayback Machine at Groundlings.com
5. The Conners (TV Series 2018–2025) - IMDb. Retrieved 2024-12-05 – via www.imdb.com.
6. Adams, Erik (25 September 2012). "Nat Faxon ascends to leading man on Ben And Kate". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on 4 November 2013. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
7. Ben and Kate (TV Series 2012–2013) ⭐ 6.6 | Comedy. Retrieved 2024-12-05 – via m.imdb.com.
8. Goldberg, Lesley (28 February 2012). "Descendents Oscar Winner to Star in Fox Comedy Pilot". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 2012-05-01. Retrieved 2012-09-06.
9. Itzkoff, Dave (24 August 2012). "The Writers Nat Faxon and Jim Rash Direct The Way, Way Back". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2012-09-06. Retrieved 2012-09-06.
10. "The Way, Way Back". Sundance Institute. Archived from the original on 30 December 2012. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
11. "Biography of Nat Faxon". FaxonRash.com. Archived from the original on 2013-10-23.
12. Campione, Katie (December 5, 2024). "'Ghosts': Nat Faxon Joins CBS Sitcom For One Episode As Alexander Hamilton". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved December 5, 2024.
13. "19th Annual Critics' Choice Movie Awards Nominations". CriticsChoice.com. The Broadcast Films Critics Association. 16 December 2013. Archived from the original on 8 June 2018. Retrieved December 31, 2013.
14. Voyles, Blake (September 20, 2023). "83rd Peabody Award Nominees". Archived from the original on September 26, 2023. Retrieved September 20, 2023.

External links

• Nat Faxon at IMDb