Seth Benjamin Gesshel Green (born February 8, 1974) is an American
actor,
comedian,
voice actor, and
television producer. He is well known for his role as
Daniel "Oz" Osbourne in
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as well as
Doctor Evil's son
Scott in the
Austin Powers series of comedy films and
Mitch Miller in
That '70s Show. He also voices the characters of
Chris Griffin on
Family Guy,
Lieutenant Gibbs in
Titan Maximum, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau in the 2007 video game
Mass Effect and its upcoming 2010 sequel
Mass Effect 2, and is one of the creators and producers of the
stop motion comedy series
Robot Chicken, where he voices many characters as well. Green appeared in many other movies, such as
Rat Race,
The Italian Job,
Can't Hardly Wait, as a child, in
Stephen King's It and as Dan in the 2004 movie
Without a Paddle.
Personal life
Seth Green is
West Philadelphia born and raised, a section of the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His parents are Barbara (
née Gesshel), an artist, and Herb Green, a math teacher. His parents divorced when Seth was 15, which caused havoc in his personal life. However, he found refuge in
URJ Camp Harlam in Kunkletown, Pennsylvania, where he had been going since he was five years old. His mother worked there for a couple of years as the art director. This was where he discovered that performing was his true calling. After his parents' divorce, he said that camp was a place where he could reinvent himself and be good at anything he wanted. Green is an
atheist Jew and played a 1940s Jewish boy in
Woody Allen's movie
Radio Days; his ancestors were from
Poland,
Russia and
Scotland.
Career
Early Career
Green's first movie role was in the
1984 film
A Billion for Boris. At eight, Green landed his first film assignment, a co-starring role in the 1984 film
The Hotel New Hampshire with Jodie Foster and Rob Lowe. He appeared in the 1987 film
Can't Buy Me Love, playing the part of
Patrick Dempsey's little brother, Chuckie Miller. He also starred in
Woody Allen's
Radio Days (
1987) as Joe, and appeared in
Big Business (1988) and, in the same year, in
My Stepmother Is an Alien. Green appeared in the
miniseries It (as Richie Tozier, age 12), all three
Austin Powers movies as Dr. Evil's son, Scott, and
Enemy of the State and
The Italian Job as a computer specialist. He was also in the films
Can't Hardly Wait,
Rat Race,
Without a Paddle,
Idle Hands and
Sex Drive.
In 1994, he starred alongside
Jennifer Love Hewitt in the short-lived series
The Byrds of Paradise. He worked with Hewitt again in 1998's
Can't Hardly Wait , which also featured
Paige Moss, who would later play with him in
Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Amber Benson (
Tara Maclay,
Buffy) was also in this film, but her scenes were cut in order to get a PG-13 rating.
Green appeared as
Daniel "Oz" Osbourne, a
werewolf, in the television series
Buffy the Vampire Slayer during the second through fourth seasons, and one episode in the first season of the spinoff
Angel. Green has also been featured in roles on
Greg the Bunny,
Tucker,
The X-Files,
That '70s Show,
Will & Grace,
MADtv,
Reno 911!,
Entourage,
Grey's Anatomy, and
My Name Is Earl.
Family Guy
Green primarily plays
Chris Griffin and
Neil Goldman. Green admittedly did an impression of the
Buffalo Bill character from the thriller film
The Silence of the Lambs during his audition. His main inspiration for Chris' voice came from envisioning how "Buffalo Bill" would sound if he were speaking through a PA system at a
McDonalds.
After two episodes of the second season,
Family Guy was taken off the network's permanent schedule and shown irregularly thereafter. The show returned in March 2000 to finish airing the second season which contained 21 episodes, all the cast came back for the series return. The third season contained 21 episodes and began airing from July 11, 2001 to February 14, 2002. During its second and third-season runs, Fox publicly announced that the show had been canceled at the end of the second season in 2002. In spite of the announced cancellation, in 2003 Fox decided to make the third season. During the third season, Fox announced that the show was canceled for good.
The series was renewed later in 2005 for its fourth season due to strong DVD sales and its
syndication on basic-cable networks. Once again Green and the rest of the cast came back for thier voice works.
Further Career
He is a co-creator and producer of the stop motion TV series
Robot Chicken, for which he also does many voices and has even appeared in animated form. He also appeared as a cameo in the
Fall Out Boy music video, "
This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race", and in
"Weird Al" Yankovic's "
White & Nerdy" music video. He made two appearances on
The Soup in 2007 and 2008, using his first appearance to lampoon then-Internet celebrity
Chris Crocker.. He also played a parody of "Daisy" from the Vh1 show daisy of love on the soup in 2009. He voiced the character Joker, pilot of the
SSV Normandy, in the video game
Mass Effect for the
Xbox 360 and
PC; according to the trailer released by
Bioware at
E3 2009 Green will reprise his role in
Mass Effect 2. He is a producer of
The 1 Second Film and appears in the "making of" documentary that accompanies its feature-length credits. Green is also the co-creator (with Hugh Sterbakov) of the comic
Freshmen, published by
Top Cow Productions.
Green, along with
Robot Chicken co-producer
Breckin Meyer, appeared in the NBC show
Heroes during the 2008-09 season.
In January 2009, Green worked with
David Faustino (Bud Bundy from
Married with Children) for an episode of Faustino's show
Star-ving - Faustino is often mistaken for Green. On July 13,
World Wrestling Entertainment's official website announced Green as the special guest host for the July 13 episode of
WWE Raw, and on the night, Green competed in the
main event, a six-man
tag team match, which his team won by
disqualification.
Filmography
Awards and nomination
Annie Awards- 2008: Won, "Best Directing in an Animated Television Production" - Robot Chicken: Star Wars
- 2009: Won, "Best Writing in an Animated Television Production" - Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II
Chlotrudis Awards- 2004: Nominated, "Best Supporting Actor" - Party Monster
Emmy Awards- 2007: Nominated, "Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming Less Than One Hour)" - Robot Chicken (shared w/producers & writers)
Teen Choice Awards- 2000: Nominated, "Choice TV Actor" - Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- 2002: Nominated, "Choice Comedic TV Actor" - Greg the Bunny
- 2005: Nominated, "Choice Movie Dance Scene" - Be Cool
Young Artist Awards- 1989: Won, "Best Young Actor Guest Starring in a Syndicated Comedy, Drama or Special" - The Facts of Life
- 1992: Nominated, "Outstanding Young Comedian in a Television Series" - Good & Evil
See also
