Jon Favreau

Born: October 1966
Where: Queens, New York, USA

Improvisational comedian Favreau came to the fore with a surprise hit in Swingers, which he also wrote and starred in.

He had quit college to pursue a comedy career and was a member of Chicago's ImprovOlympic troupe, whose members included Mike Myers and Chris Farley.

He made a first uncredited appearance in Hoffa in 1992 and also worked as an assistant on Tim Burton's Batman.

However, it was 1996's Swingers opposite Vince Vaughn that he realised his potential, with the movie receiving plaudits for its urbane and witty script.

Roles followed in Deep Impact and as Monica's wannabe-kickboxer boyfriend in the TV series Friends as well as Love & Sex and The Replacements.

The Swingers chemistry with Vaughn was repeated in the excellent but less well-received Made (which Favreau also directed) and he could also be seen as Franklin "Foggy" Nelson in Daredevil.

In 2003, he directed and appeared in the children's box office hit Elf and also appeared in the Jack Nicholson romantic comedy Something's Gotta Give.

He followed his role as a tennis agent in the romantic comedy Wimbledon with directing duties on the 'Jumanji-in-space' family flick Zathura: A Space Adventure.