Biography

Born in Queens and raised in New Jersey, actor Jesse Eisenberg first made an impression on filmgoers as an awkward teen whose uncle leads him on a lusty tour of Manhattan in director Dylan Kidd's award-winning indie Roger Dodger. Though Eisenberg had previously appeared on the Fox drama Get Real and as a storm-chasing teen in the made-for-television drama Lightning: Fire from the Sky, it was Roger Dodger that marked his entrance as a dramatic actor. While subsequent roles in M. Night Shyamalan's The Village and the Wes Craven werewolf fiasco Cursed may have offered Eisenberg little chance to display his dramatic prowess on camera, a more substantial role as a teen whose parents are divorcing in The Squid and the Whale found Eisenberg singled out for praise at both The Gotham Awards and The Independent Spirit Awards. Next cast as the eponymous lead in Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst's directorial debut, The Education of Charlie Banks, Eisenberg played a college student whose past catches up with him in the most unexpected of ways. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide