Adam Jared Brody (born
December 15,
1979) is an
American film and
television actor. He began his career in the early 2000s, appearing on the
Gilmore Girls and other series and subsequently came to fame for his role as
Seth Cohen on
The O.C., establishing his defining screen persona.
Joel Stein of
Time magazine has described Brody as creating an "Adam Brody type", a screen
persona of a "nerdy, sarcastic, obscure-reference-laced
Jew".
Brody has also appeared in several film roles, including
Mr. & Mrs. Smith,
Thank You for Smoking, and
In the Land of Women.
Early life
Adam Brody was born and raised in
San Diego,
California, USA. He is the eldest son of Valerie, a graphic artist and Mark, a lawyer. He has fraternal twin brothers, Sean and Matt. He spent a lot of his teen years hanging out with his friends, having fun and
surfing. When growing up, Brody considered being a professional surfer and first got the idea of becoming an actor while he was sitting out on the waves atop his surfboard. He graduated from
Scripps Ranch High School in 1998. When growing up, he worked at
Blockbuster Video in La Jolla, San Diego and a Mother Board Shop in La Jolla before it closed. Brody claims that working in Blockbuster is what got him interested in acting. After graduating, he convinced his parents to let him go to college in Los Angeles. But, he never enrolled and instead got an acting coach and signed with a personal manager. He then soon got his first lead role.
Career
After a year of training and auditioning, Brody landed the role of
Barry Williams in the 2000
TV movie Growing Up Brady. He was cast in recurring roles on
Gilmore Girls as
Dave Rygalski, Lane's bandmate and love interest, and the Canadian
comedy television series
The Sausage Factory. In 2001, he played a small role in
American Pie 2, named as "high school guy". He was one of two high school guys that get chased away from Steve Stifler's party. In 2003, he wrote "Home Security" (a short film),
appeared in the feature film
Grind, and began playing his most famous role to date,
Seth Cohen, a slightly awkward teenager, on the television show
The O.C. The role turned Brody into a
teen idol, with the character having been described by the
Los Angeles Times as "TV's sexiest geek"
and by
Time as having "redefined" the screen persona of "unapologetic"
nerdiness;
his character (defined by director
Jon Kasdan as the "new kind of nerdy Jewish guy: both self-deprecating and self-obsessed")
has since inspired scripts to describe particular characters as "Adam Brody types".
The role also developed Brody a female fan following
and as a result, Brody was ranked No. 17 in
Independent Online's "100 Sexiest Men Alive", was twice placed on
Teen Peoples annual list of "25 Sexiest Stars under 25",
