December 17: Happy Birthday Eugene Levy

[TMC]

https://lebeauleblog.com/2021/12/17/...y-eugene-levy/

Eugene Levy, who celebrates his 75th birthday today, is pictured above with his son Dan. The two were the co-creators of the hit Canadian series Schitt’s Creek, and also starred as Johnny and David Rose.

Levy has been active in film, television, comedy and theater for about 50 years, and has an enormous body of work. We only have space to sample it here.

Levy is well known for his collaborations with Christopher Guest on a series of mockumentaries, begging with Waiting for Guffman in 1996. Levy is normally credited as a co-writer with Guest and also is part of the ensemble casts. For A Mighty Wind, Levy wrote or co-wrote several songs, including one which won a Grammy for Best Song Written for Visual Media.



Levy grew up in Ontario, Canada, and attended McMaster University. In 1972, he was part of the cast of a famous Toronto production of the musical Godspell–the cast also included Victor Garber, Andrea Martin, Gilda Radner, and Martin Short (among others).

Levy became a member of the Second City comedy troupe, and then was a regular on SCTV. He won his first two Emmys, both for writing, during his time with SCTV. During the 1980s, he also had prominent roles in films such as Splash, Armed and Dangerous, and Speed Zone.

Anyone familiar with the American Pie franchise will remember Levy as Noah Levenstein, the father of Jason Bigg’s character. He made his feature directing debut in 1992, with Once Upon a Crime. A few of his other feature film roles have been in Serendipity, The Secret Life of Girls, The Man, and Madea’s Witness Protection.

As noted above, Levy and his son Dan created the Canadian sitcom Schitt’s Creek, which aired from 2015-2020. It was a critical hit, winning 18 Canadian Screen Awards. During its final two seasons, the show attracted some attention from the Emmys. Levy won two Emmys for the show’s final season, for Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.