Biography
With his childhood friend, actor Seth Rogen, writer-producer-director Evan Goldberg was a key creative figure on some of the most uproarious comedies of the late 2000s, including Judd Apatow's "Knocked Up" (2007) and "Superbad" (2007), as well as "Pineapple Express" (2008), "Funny People" (2009) and the unexpectedly heartfelt "50/50" (2011). Goldberg and Rogen cut their teeth on Hollywood comedies as teenagers in their native Canada, and wrote the earliest draft of "Superbad" shortly before Rogen made his television debut on "Freaks and Geeks" (NBC 1999-2000). That series' creator, Judd Apatow, took the pair under his wing, providing them with their first feature hit on "Knocked Up" and shepherding "Superbad" to the screen, where it became a substantial hit. Goldberg and Rogen were soon key members of the so-called "frat pack," a loose constellation of actors and creative figures orbiting around Apatow, including James Franco, Danny McBride, Jonah Hill and Jay Baruchel, all of whom would appear in most of Goldberg and Rogen's subsequent efforts, including the hit "Pineapple Express" and the less well-received "Green Hornet" (2011). Though Goldberg and Rogen's humor frequently concerned young men in various states of arrested development - and inebriation - their work on "50/50," with Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a 20-something battling cancer, also showed a remarkably mature side. They would return to broader work with "The Guilt Trip" (2012) and their directorial debuts on "This Is the End" (2013), both of which would extend their status as original and anarchic voices on the studio comedy scene.
