Oscar Profile #256: Steve Carell

Born August 16, 1962 in Concord, Massachusetts, Steven John (Steve) Carell was the son of a psychiatric nurse and an electrical engineer. After graduating from Denison University in Granville, Ohio, he worked as a letter carrier but quit because his supervisor told him was too slow. Later a stand-up comic, he eventually moved to Chicago where he taught an improvisational comedy class and performed with The Second City troupe alongside Stephen Colbert. He made his screen debut in a minor role in 1991’s Curly Sue.

On TV he was a regular on The Dana Carvey Show in 1996 and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart from 1999 to 2005, when he had his breakout screen role as the star of The 40-Year-Old Virgin, which he co-wrote. Later that year he began a highly successful run as the star of the TV situation comedy series, The Office for which he was nominated for Emmys for the first six years of the show’s eight year run.

Carell’s first awards recognition for his film work came for 2006’s Little Miss Sunshine for which he won numerous ensemble awards along with co-stars Toni Collette, Greg Kinnear, Abigail Breslin, Paul Dano and Alan Arkin. The following year he stumbled with the poorly received comedy, Evan Almighty which co-starred Morgan Freeman as God, but won kudos for the subtler Dan in Real Life featuring Juliette Binoche and Dianne Wiest. In 2008 he starred in the film version of the 1960s TV series, Get Smart opposite Anne Hathaway.

In 2010, Carell had great success lending his voice to the animated Despicable Me, but stumbled with the unfortunately titled Dinner for Schmucks co-starring Paul Rudd. In 2011 he starred in the hit comedy, Crazy, Stupid, Love with Julianne Moore, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone. The following year he appeared opposite Keira Knightley in Seeking a Friend for the End of the World and supported Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones in Hope Springs. 2013 brought the indie hit The Way Way Back with Toni Collette and Sam Rockwell and the highly anticipated animated sequel, Despicable Me 2.

In 2014, Carell received the best notices of his career to date as John Eleuthere DuPont in Bennett Miller’s Foxcatcher for which he received Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild and Oscar nominations for Best Actor and Broadcast Critics and BAFTA nominations for Best Supporting Actor for his performance.

Steve Carell is at the height of his career at 52.

ESSENTIAL FILMS

LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE (2006), directed by Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris

Nominated for four Oscars and winner of two for Best Supporting Actor Alan Arkin and Best Original Screenplay, this late summer hit was a triumph for all concerned.

Best Supporting Actress nominee Abigail Breslin was superb as the young girl whose family takes her cross country to participate in a tacky talent show, as were Toni Collette and Greg Kinnear as her determined parents, Paul Dano as her morose brother, Arkin as her foul-mouthed grandfather and Carell as her suicidal gay uncle. All have their moment to shine and then some in this very dark, very funny comedy. Carell’s performance proved that he could play more than strict comedy roles.

DAN IN REAL LIFE (2007), directed by Peter Hedges

Carell was front and center in this one as the title character, an advice columnist just going through the motions, raising three daughters on his own since the death of his wife until he meets the charming Juliette Binoche. The problem is that Binoche is seeing someone else. That someone turns out to be his brother, Dane Cook.

The usual obstacles arise, but all is nicely resolved by the film’s end. Alison Pill, Dianne Wiest, John Mahoney, Norbert Leo Butz and Amy Ryan are among the featured players in this film which greatly enhanced Carell’s reputation for appealingly combining comedy and drama.

CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE (2011), directed by Glenn Ficarra, JohnRequa

This was another bittersweet romantic comedy-drama with Carell at his best as a middle-aged man whose wife (Julianne Moore) tells him seemingly out of the blue that she wants a divorce. He enlists the aid of young stud Ryan Gosling in learning how to pick up girls. Gosling would earn a Golden Globe nomination for his performance.

Emma Stone as a young attorney, Josh Grobin as her boyfriend, Kevin Bacon as Moore’s co-worker and newfound lover and the always reliable Marisa Tomei add immeasurably to the cascading fun.

THE WAY WAY BACK (2013), directed by Nat Faxon, Jim Rash

Carell received top billing as Toni Collette’s overbearing boyfriend in this sweet coming-of-age comedy-drama but Liam James as Collette’s fourteen year-old son is the real star of the film.

James and supporting players Sam Rockwell and Allison Janney received most of the kudos for their performances, but Carell is also quite good in what is an unusual role for him and one in which he does not take center stage.

FOXCATCHER (2014), directed by Bennett Miller

Carell has his most unusual role yet as John DuPont, the eccentric millionaire who took a middle-aged interest in helping to train young U.S. wrestlers for the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea in this film which earned five Oscar nominations, but no wins. Channing Tatum as 1984 Gold Medal winner Mark Schultz and Mark Ruffalo as Tatum’s older brother, Olympian Dave Schultz co-star.

Ruffalo was nominated for just about every award there is for Best Supporting Actor, but Carell also earned his share of awards recognition, having been nominated in the Best Actor category by The Golden Globes, SAG and Oscar and Supporting Actor by the Broadcast Critics and BAFTA.

The film is grounded by the three star performances, but for my money Tatum and Ruffalo believably convey their characters’ outward and inner torment while Carell is only partially successful. He handles the melancholia and depression of his character quite well but doesn’t convey much of DuPont’s well-known charisma. Nonetheless it’s nice to see Carell finally sharing in some of the awards recognition his many co-stars have received for their work in his films over the last decade.