Biography
Relatives of famous people rarely have the chops to overcome nepotism cries, but Jason Schwartzman, nephew of
Francis Ford Coppola, is one actor who does.
Schwartzman was born June 26, 1980, to producer Jack Schwartzman and actress
Talia Shire, the latter best known as Rocky Balboa's love interest Adrian. He graduated from the Windwood School in 1999 and continued to live with his mom and two brothers at their home in the Los Angeles area.
Chosen at the tail end of an exhausting casting search, Schwartzman burst into the film industry with his deft, hilarious portrayal of chronic overachiever Max Fischer in
Wes Anderson's critically acclaimed
Rushmore (1998). Since then, the young actor kept a low profile, opting to spend time with his band Phantom Planet, which recorded an album for Epic Records. Keeping with his geek-chic nature, he also chose small, quirky roles in television, such as his guest appearance as a slimy fake-ID dealer on NBC's tragically short-lived series
Freaks and Geeks or his work in spoofs for the 1999 MTV Movie Awards.
He maintained his credibility in the independent scene during the next couple of years, appearing in
Spun, and acting in his cousin Roman Coppola's
CQ. After a role on the short-lived, though critically acclaimed, Fox sitcom
Cracking Up in 2003, Schwartzman began kicking his film career into high gear. After a role in the quirky 2004 David O. Russell ensemble comedy
I Heart Huckabees, the young actor appeared in 2005's big-screen version of
Bewitched with
Will Ferrell. He then played a lovable slacker in the intimate, critically acclaimed dramedy
Shopgirl, appearing with
Claire Danes and
Steve Martin, who wrote the novella that the script was adapted from.
In 2006, Schwartzman joined the cast of his cousin Sophia Coppola's biopic
Marie Antoinette, playing French king Louis XVI opposite star
Kirsten Dunst. Then in 2007, he re-teamed with
Wes Anderson, starring in and co-writing
The Darjeeling Limited, a film about three brothers taking a soul-searching train ride through India. The film got mixed reviews, but reception to it was positive overall, setting Schwartzman up nicely for his next film,
The Marc Pease Experience, in which he played the title role of a former high-school musical star who's stuck living in the past.
~ Stephanie M. Kuenn, All Movie Guide