Jay Baruchel

Jay Baruchel has built a career around a quality movies do not always know how to use: nervous energy that feels completely genuine. Whether he is playing the uncertain lead, the quick-talking friend or someone trying to hold himself together while events get increasingly strange, Baruchel rarely sands away the awkward edges. That has made him a natural fit for comedy, but his work has never been limited to it. Born in Ottawa and raised in Montréal’s Notre-Dame-de-Grâce neighbourhood, Baruchel began acting at 12. Early television work included My Hometown and co-hosting Popular Mechanics for Kids, before Undeclared gave him a substantial role as Steven Karp. Film parts followed across a striking range, from Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous and Clint Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby to Knocked Up, Tropic Thunder and Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist. In 2010, Baruchel moved decisively into leading-man territory with The Trotsky, She’s Out of My League and The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. That same year, he first voiced Hiccup in How to Train Your Dragon, beginning a role he would continue throughout the franchise and its television series. His performance gives Hiccup a recognisable mixture of hesitation, intelligence and determination—the sort of balance Baruchel handles especially well. His career also extends behind the camera. Baruchel developed the screenplay for Goon with Evan Goldberg and played Johnny Klutz, a character he created. He later wrote, directed and starred in Goon: Last of the Enforcers, then directed the Canadian horror film Random Acts of Violence. Those projects reflect a career shaped not only by acting jobs, but by an active interest in making films. Baruchel has continued to move between comedy, drama, voice work and directing. His lead performance as BlackBerry co-founder Mike Lazaridis in BlackBerry earned him the Canadian Screen Award for Best Lead Performance in a Comedy Film. It is a fitting showcase for an actor whose best work often finds humour and tension occupying the same uneasy space.