I loved it. I did regional commercials,
modeling and extra work. I got the
SAG card for a commercial I did in
’88, and I’ve had one for 30 years
now. It’s ironic, because the idea
behind the acting was to get money
to put away for our education. My
parents had three kids, and it’s hard
financially to send three kids to
college. So, I had a nice little college
nut, but when college came around,
I didn’t want to do anything but act.
DIDN’T YOU ATTEND MONTCLAIR
STATE UNIVERSITY BRIEFLY? First
I tried NYU. I was going out on
auditions and was undecided about
what to study, but I thought
I should have something
to fall back on because
I didn’t want to be an
unemployed actor as an
adult. And I was miser-
able. I was wasting the
money I’d saved. I transferred
to MSU for a few weeks, and then
I got a part in a show in Los Angeles.
It went for 13 episodes and was
canceled, but it got me out of New
Jersey. And then American Pie came
after that.
HOW DID AMERICAN PIE CHANGE
YOUR LIFE? It was sort of instant.
It was shot in the summer of ’98, and
it was a great time to be a teen actor
in Hollywood, because there was a
resurgence of those teen comedies.
I was auditioning for all of them and
would have been happy to get cast
in any of them, but when I read the
script, I thought that it stood out.
When I got on set with the cast,
especially while filming the pie scene
with people in the room, I thought,
“This may be insane!” There was
an interesting period between when
it was shot and when it came out.
Under the advice of my manager at
the time, I wasn’t taking some jobs,
and I’d never done that before. It
was so surreal to be in that posi-
tion. So, the movie came out, and
sure enough, it was as we’d hoped
and suspected: It opened up a whole
bunch of doors for me.
JUST FOR LAUGHS (Top) Jason Biggs and Eugene Levy have a heart-to-heart talk in American
Reunion. (Above) Biggs and his wife, Jenny Mollen, host the Lifetime TV show My Partner Knows Best.
YOU’VE DONE STAGE WORK AS
WELL, INCLUDING CONVERSATIONS
WITH MY FATHER ON BROADWAY
WITH JUDD HIRSCH. HOW DOES LIVE
THEATER COMPARE TO MAKING
MOVIES? Theater for me is one of
the greatest experiences. There’s
definitely something about a live
audience that I feed off of; most
actors who do live theater will say
that the audience is everything. I’ve
done a lot of comedies on stage, so
you’re getting that instant feedback
from the audience, and telling a
whole story in one night. Filmmaking
is nonlinear and disjointed. But I also
love the photographic aspect. I love
being on the set and thinking, “Look
at us, this is our job!” We can close
down a street, and get free lunch
and breakfast. It’s cool.
WHAT BROUGHT YOU BACK EAST
AFTER 18 YEARS IN L.A.? When I was
19 and first in L.A., I was exercising
my independence, breaking free from
home, and becoming my own person.
L.A. represented everything I wanted
WAYNE MAGAZINE MAY 2018
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