Jeremy Piven

Jeremy Piven delivers a biting line as though the person listening has already wasted enough of his time. As the fast-talking agent Ari Gold in Entourage (2004–2011), that impatience became his defining screen habit. We rate his ability to keep hectoring dialogue funny, although it is easy to start looking only for the next insult. His earlier supporting work is worth remembering before treating that one character as the whole actor.

In Cameron Crowe’s Say Anything... (1989), he plays Mark alongside John Cusack’s Lloyd, in a film whose warmth comes partly from its interest in the people around its central couple. We were moved by Lloyd’s anxious determination, because Cusack allows the effort of being brave to show. Piven is a supporting player here, and there is no need to pretend otherwise. The film gives us a useful starting point for his work in ensembles, even if Diane deserves fuller writing and the rhythm occasionally falters.

Grosse Pointe Blank (1997) reunites him with Cusack, this time as Paul Spericki, but it is a much less satisfying film. Cusack and Minnie Driver make the unlikely romance worth following, and the early comedy has a sharpness we enjoy. Then the film grows too pleased with its cleverness and finds too little to do with its premise. Piven’s presence cannot be a recommendation on its own: we would choose Say Anything... first.

Playing Harry Selfridge in the period drama Mr Selfridge (2013–2016) gave him a leading role beyond Ari. Shira Piven’s The Performance (2024) also asks for dramatic and physical commitment. The risk of being so closely identified with one character is that a reduction in pressure can get mistaken for a loss of ability, when it may simply suit another part. For the comedy, start with Say Anything...; for Piven at full speed, try Entourage.