50 Fun Facts About Michael Cera

Which Bill Murray comedy did Michael Cera watch on repeat at age three while sick with chicken pox?

Ghostbusters hooked a three-year-old Michael Cera so thoroughly that he memorized all of its dialogue. Those repeat viewings are what first made him want to act.

In Superbad, the fake ID that renames a friend of Michael Cera's character McLovin is from which state?

Hawaii saw a small controversy when the special-edition DVD included a replica of the McLovin ID, because it looked so much like the state's real driver's license.

In Barbie, Michael Cera plays which doll who helps Gloria and Weird Barbie deprogram the other Barbies?

Allan was first offered to Jonathan Groff, who turned the part down before Michael Cera made the awkward outsider one of the film's unlikely saviours.

Michael Cera reunited with Arrested Development co-star Will Arnett to voice which character in The Lego Batman Movie?

Robin is adopted by Will Arnett's Batman in the film, a neat in-joke: on Arrested Development the two actors had played uncle and nephew.

Which actor was Oscar-nominated for the title role in Juno, opposite Michael Cera as the baby's teenage father?

Elliot Page earned one of Juno's four Academy Award nominations, alongside Best Picture and Best Director. The film's only win went to its screenplay.

Which actor starred opposite Michael Cera in Superbad, in a role one of its writers was first slated to play?

Jonah Hill and Michael Cera physically recalled classic comic duos such as Laurel and Hardy, the Los Angeles Times review said, while still playing recognisably modern kids.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, starring Michael Cera, is set in which Canadian city, local pizza chain included?

Toronto plays itself, landmarks such as Casa Loma included, and one producer called it the biggest movie ever identifiably set in the city.

On Arrested Development, Michael Cera's George Michael holds the title Mister Manager at which Bluth family business?

A frozen banana stand is where the Bluth fortune began, and the family's adopted son later claims his grandfather dreamed up the idea before the Bluths stole it.

In the Twin Peaks revival, Michael Cera plays Wally, a deputy's son who shares a birthday with which screen legend?

Marlon Brando is the whole joke of the character, who is nicknamed after the actor. Michael Cera, a huge David Lynch fan, played him in a single episode.

Which advertising mascot shared the screen with a young Michael Cera in his first commercial role with spoken lines?

The Pillsbury Doughboy got a poke from the young Michael Cera in the ad, his first part with dialogue after an unpaid debut in an earlier commercial.

Which actor played the father of Michael Cera's character on Arrested Development, then appeared with him in Juno?

Jason Bateman's Michael Bluth is the sitcom's straight man, while in Juno he plays Mark, the husband hoping to adopt the baby.

Which director cast Michael Cera in Barbie, having co-written the script with her husband, Noah Baumbach?

Greta Gerwig's beach-fight scene was first meant to feature a Ben Affleck cameo, but a scheduling clash saw the moment rewritten for Michael Cera.

Michael Cera plays a technician inside a simulated reality in Joan Is Awful, an episode of which anthology series?

Black Mirror opened its sixth series with the episode, whose villainous streaming service, Streamberry, parodies the real platform that carries the show.

In Dream Scenario, Michael Cera co-stars with which actor, as a professor who starts appearing in strangers' dreams?

Nicolas Cage earned a Golden Globe nomination for the part and also helped produce the film, alongside Ari Aster.

Which director cast Michael Cera as Bjørn, a Norwegian entomologist, in the espionage caper The Phoenician Scheme?

Wes Anderson's film won Michael Cera critical acclaim as an insect expert who is unmasked as a spy, then switches sides for love.

Michael Cera played the young Chuck Barris in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, the directing debut of which actor?

George Clooney pushed for the then-unknown Sam Rockwell to play the adult Barris, the game-show host who claimed to have been a CIA assassin.

Which Scott Pilgrim vs. the World co-star later joined Michael Cera on stage in the play This Is Our Youth?

Kieran Culkin, the film's sarcastic roommate Wallace, played Dennis to Michael Cera's Warren, and the pair took the production to Broadway in 2014.

Which actress made her film debut as party host Jules in Superbad, the teen comedy starring Michael Cera?

Emma Stone was not the only newcomer: Christopher Mintz-Plasse, who plays the fake-ID-wielding Fogell, was also making his first film.

Michael Cera guest-starred on The Simpsons as Nick, a love interest for which member of the family?

Lisa meets Nick in The Daughter Also Rises, a 2012 episode that added the sitcom to the long list of cartoons Michael Cera has voiced.

In Molly's Game, Michael Cera plays Player X, a movie star who is a ruthless regular at which game?

Poker is the game Molly Bloom ran for the rich and famous, and Player X was said to be a composite of real celebrity players, Tobey Maguire among them.

Which streaming service revived Arrested Development for a fourth season, with Michael Cera joining the writers' room?

Netflix brought the Bluths back more than six years after Fox cancelled the sitcom, and Michael Cera served as a consulting producer on the new season.

Which actress plays Maeby, the cousin Michael Cera's George Michael has a secret crush on in Arrested Development?

Alia Shawkat's Maeby kissed George Michael as a prank, which is how his crush began. The original run ends by revealing that the pair share no blood ties after all.

Which Arrested Development actress, who played girlfriend Ann, later fought Michael Cera as an evil ex in Scott Pilgrim?

Mae Whitman played Ann Veal, a girlfriend the writers planned to recast every time until her performance proved perfectly forgettable, before turning up as evil ex Roxy Richter.

Which film director narrates Arrested Development, the Fox sitcom featuring Michael Cera as teenager George Michael?

Ron Howard also had the original idea for the show's handheld, reality-TV style, and in later seasons he appears on screen as a version of himself.

Which director made Scott Pilgrim vs. the World with Michael Cera, then cast him again in The Running Man?

Edgar Wright chose Michael Cera after seeing Arrested Development, believing audiences would keep following him even when the character behaved badly.

In Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Michael Cera's slacker must defeat seven evil exes to date which delivery girl?

Ramona Flowers went to Mary Elizabeth Winstead, the actress the director had in mind for the part two years before filming began.

In Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Michael Cera plays bass for which garage band named after a Mario enemy?

Sex Bob-omb's raw songs were written for the film by Beck, who took just two days over them so that they would sound like demos.

Which actress plays Norah opposite Michael Cera in Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist, about the hunt for a secret gig?

Kat Dennings was the second actor cast after Michael Cera, and said she related to Norah more than to any character she had played before.

In Youth in Revolt, Michael Cera's shy Nick Twisp invents which suave, rule-breaking alter ego to win a girl?

François Dillinger is dreamed up after Nick falls for Sheeni, a girl fascinated by French culture, leaving Michael Cera to play both the shy teen and his troublemaking double.

Which Groundhog Day director made the prehistoric comedy Year One, starring Michael Cera, as his last film?

Harold Ramis also appears on screen as Adam, and Year One proved to be the last film he was involved in before his death in 2014.

Which Superbad co-writer, who also plays an irresponsible cop, named Michael Cera's character after his writing partner?

Seth Rogen wrote the script as a teenager with Evan Goldberg, and the film's two leads carry the pair's own first names.

In Juno, Michael Cera's Paulie Bleeker is kept in the dark about the birth because of a meet for which school team?

Track mattered so much to Paulie that Juno chose not to tell him she was in labour, but he guessed when he saw she was missing from the crowd.

In This Is the End, Michael Cera plays an exaggerated version of himself at a housewarming party hosted by which actor?

James Franco's new home becomes the bunker where the survivors ride out a biblical apocalypse, with every star playing a fictional version of themselves.

Which screenwriter won an Oscar for Juno, co-starring Michael Cera, after writing it in a Starbucks inside a Target?

Diablo Cody spent seven weeks on the script in Crystal, Minnesota, and her Best Original Screenplay award was the film's one win at the Academy Awards.

Michael Cera studied Spanish for hours a day for Magic Magic, which was filmed, like Crystal Fairy, in which country?

Chile hosted both shoots with local director Sebastián Silva, and the two films premiered at the same Sundance Film Festival in 2013.

In the first Drunk History web episode, a retelling of a fatal duel, which man did Michael Cera play?

Alexander Hamilton's duel with Aaron Burr was the subject of the show's very first instalment, a web short made years before Drunk History became a television series.

Michael Cera plays John, a farmhand, in Life & Beth, a Hulu series created by and starring which comedian?

Amy Schumer plays a wine saleswoman rethinking her life after her mother's death, who meets his character on a sales trip to rural Long Island.

A staged 2007 comedy video shows Michael Cera being fired from the lead role of which Judd Apatow film?

Knocked Up was the film in the spoof, in which he belittles and argues with the director, mocking a notorious blow-up on the set of I Heart Huckabees.

Michael Cera's first acting job was an unpaid summer camp commercial for which Canadian coffee and doughnut chain?

Tim Hortons paid him nothing for the spot, but the appearance led to a second commercial that gave him his first spoken lines.

Michael Cera earned a 2018 Tony nomination for his performance as Jeff in which Broadway play?

Lobby Hero landed two of its four actors in the same Tony category in 2018, with Brian Tyree Henry nominated alongside him.

Michael Cera made his stage debut in a two-week 2012 run of This Is Our Youth at which landmark venue?

The Sydney Opera House hosted the run in March 2012, two years before he took the same play to Broadway.

Michael Cera released which debut album on Bandcamp in 2014, mixing original songs with a Blaze Foley cover?

True That appeared in August 2014 with 19 original songs plus two covers, one of them a Roderick Falconer number.

Michael Cera and an Arrested Development castmate guest-starred as college students in which teen drama series?

Veronica Mars cast the pair as Hearst College students in a single episode, in the year Fox cancelled the sitcom that had made them famous.

Which best friend of Michael Cera co-created a 2007 CBS web series with him, a mockumentary about selling a TV pilot?

Clark Duke directed the pilot as his college thesis film, and the series, named after the two friends, had them play deluded versions of themselves.

Michael Cera's comic story My Man Jeremy ran in the Shouts & Murmurs column of which magazine in 2013?

The New Yorker was not his first byline: his debut short story, Pinecone, had appeared in an issue of McSweeney's Quarterly in 2009.

This Is Our Youth and The Waverly Gallery, Broadway plays starring Michael Cera, were written by which playwright?

Kenneth Lonergan, who won an Oscar for writing Manchester by the Sea, saw Michael Cera star in three of his plays on Broadway between 2014 and 2018.

Michael Cera was born in which Ontario city, where he attended Heart Lake Secondary School until grade nine?

Brampton was home until acting took over: Michael Cera, whose parents both worked for Xerox, finished high school online through grade twelve.

Michael Cera voiced little brother Josh in Braceface, a cartoon whose lead was voiced by which Clueless star?

Alicia Silverstone was also the show's executive producer, voicing Sharon Spitz for two seasons while Michael Cera played Josh until 2004.

Which actress plays the title role in Gloria Bell, an English-language remake co-starring Michael Cera?

Julianne Moore led a remake made by Sebastián Lelio, the same director who had filmed the original Gloria five years earlier.

Michael Cera played mandolin and sang backing vocals on Hang On, a song from the album Hurley, for which band?

Weezer named the album after the Lost character Hurley, whose actor, Jorge Garcia, appears on its cover, and Hang On became its second single.