Gregory Phillip "Greg" Grunberg (born July 11, 1966) is an American television actor. He is best known from starring as Matt Parkman on the NBC television series Heroes. Other notable roles included the characters Sean Blumberg on Felicity (1998–2002) and Eric Weiss on Alias (2001–2006), both created and produced by childhood friend J. J. Abrams.
Career[]
Grunberg has had guest roles in television starting 1990. From 1998-2002 he appeared as Sean Blumberg on Felicity. He appeared from 2001-2006 as Eric Weiss on Alias. He left that series as a regular to star on the NBC sitcom, Grand Union. Since 2003, Abrams had planned a series called The Catch about a bounty hunter, starring Grunberg in the lead role. Suggested for both the 2004–2005 and 2005–2006 seasons, the series was never produced; however, a pilot episode was shot. Abrams also cast Grunberg in a brief role as the pilot for the 2004 series Lost. Grunberg returned for the first-season finale, but his scenes were cut for time, and were instead included on the season 1 DVD set. He also appeared in a small role in Mission: Impossible III, which Abrams directed.
Grunberg has a major role in the NBC TV show Heroes. He plays police officer Matt Parkman, who has the power of telepathy. Grunberg has also guest starred on House. He was offered a part in Star Trek, which Abrams directed, but was unable to take it because of a conflict with another project he is working on (he did, however, provide the voice for Kirk's stepfather in the opening sequence).[1] Grunberg voices FBI agent Ethan Thomas in the video game Condemned: Criminal Origins.
Outside of acting, Grunberg is known as one of the creators of the popular Yowza iPhone application, which combines coupon codes with GPS navigation.[2]
He also voices Ant-Man in the animated series The Super Hero Squad Show.
On May 17, 2010, Greg Grunberg announced via Twitter that he will be joining the cast of Love Bites.[3]
Personal life[]
Grunberg was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Sandy (née Klein) and Gerry Grunberg,[4] and had a Jewish upbringing. He is married to Elizabeth Dawn Wershow and has three children.
Grunberg's son, Jake, has epilepsy, which has inspired Grunberg to take an active role in raising awareness of the neurological disorder and raising funds for research. He often organizes charity efforts to raise funds for the Pediatric Epilepsy Project in Los Angeles. In the past, this has included events such as an auction of guitars handpainted by celebrities such as Donald Trump, Pink and Grunberg's Alias costars Jennifer Garner and Michael Vartan, concerts by the Band From TV that includes Grunberg and Hugh Laurie and an online auction of cartoons drawn of Heroes costars such as Santiago Cabrera, Tawny Cypress, Noah Gray-Cabey, Ali Larter, Masi Oka, Adrian Pasdar, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Leonard Roberts, Milo Ventimiglia, and Hayden Panettiere. In March 2007, Greg served as the chair of the first National Walk for Epilepsy, presented by the Epilepsy Foundation.
In 2009, Grunberg launched Talk About It, a Web site dedicated to epilepsy education and awareness, featuring many of Greg's co-stars and celebrity friends, including Garner, Larter, Pasdar, Ramamurthy, Ventimiglia, Panettiere, as well as Zachary Quinto, Chris Pine, Dr. Drew Pinsky, Ron Rifkin, and John Mayer. More stars will be added in the coming weeks and months. The site features Grunberg interviewing top epilepsy experts on the need to talk more about epilepsy, and includes a section for people all over the world to talk about it.
While appearing on G4's Holiday Hit List in 2003, Grunberg stated he is the only man in Hollywood with four g's in his name.
Grunberg's older brother Brad is also an actor, sometimes billed as "Johnny Cocktails".[5]
Filmography and television credits[]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | The Pallbearer | Bobby (uncredited) | film |
| 1997 | Picture Perfect | Date #1 (uncredited) | film |
| 1998 | BASEketball | Wilke | film |
| 1998 | Senseless | Steve | film |
| 1998 | Diagnosis: Murder | Brad Carver | TV series |
| 1998–2002 | Felicity | Sean Blumberg | TV series |
| 2000 | Hollow Man | Carter Abbey | film |
| 2001–2006 | Alias | Eric Weiss | TV series |
| 2002 | Austin Powers in Goldmember | Shirtless Fan T | film |
| 2003 | Malibu's Most Wanted | Brett | film |
| 2004 | The Ladykillers | TV commercial director | |
| 2004 | Connie and Carla | Studio tour guide | film |
| 2004, 2010 | Lost | Seth Norris (Pilot) | TV series |
| 2005 | Condemned: Criminal Origins | Ethan Thomas | video/computer game |
| 2006 | Monk | Jack Leverett | TV series |
| 2006 | The Jake Effect | Nick Case | TV series |
| 2006 | Mission: Impossible III | Kevin | film |
| 2006 | House | Ronald Neuberger | TV series |
| 2006–2010 | Heroes | Matt Parkman | TV series |
| 2007 | TimeShift | Commander Mason Cooke | video/computer game |
| 2008–2009 | Head Case | Himself | TV series |
| 2009 | Star Trek | James T. Kirk's stepfather | Voice only |
| 2009 | Super Hero Squad Show | Antman | Voice only |
| 2010 | Halo: Reach | 'Trooper 2' | video/computer game |
| 2010–present | Love Bites | TBA | TV series |
References[]
- ↑ "Abrams + Trek Team Chat Starts HERE 1 PM (Pacific)". trekmovie.com. 2008-01-25. Retrieved 2008-01-25.
- ↑ "Greg Grunberg: “Heroes” star, Yowza iPhone app maven". shortformblog.com. 2009-07-10. Retrieved 2009-07-11.
- ↑ "Greg Grunberg "It's official!!!...." (May 17, 2010)
- ↑ Greg Grunberg Biography - Yahoo! Movies
- ↑ Brad Grunberg
External links[]
| File:Commons-logo.svg | Wikimedia Commons has media related to [[commons: Category:Greg Grunberg
| Greg Grunberg ]]. |
- Official website
- Template:Title without disambig at the Internet Movie Database
- REDIRECT Template:AllRovi person
- Greg Grunberg at TV.com
- Greg Grunberg at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
- The Onion A.V. Club interview
ar:غريغ غرونبرغ da:Greg Grunberg et:Greg Grunberg id:Greg Grunberg is:Greg Grunberg it:Greg Grunberg he:גרג גרונברג hu:Greg Grunberg nl:Greg Grunberg no:Greg Grunberg pms:Greg Grunberg pl:Greg Grunberg pt:Greg Grunberg ro:Greg Grunberg ru:Гранберг, Грегори fi:Greg Grunberg sv:Greg Grunberg tr:Greg Grunberg