(1974-)

Who Is Ed Helms?

Ed Helms is an American actor who pursued a video-editing career while doing improv comedy, eventually landing a role on The Daily Show. He later starred in the Emmy Award-winning sitcom The Office and in 2009, was one of the leads in the blockbuster film The Hangover. Helms is also a singer and guitarist/banjo player who presents an annual bluegrass festival.

Background and College

Edward P. Helms was born on January 24, 1974, in Atlanta, Georgia. Helms pursued theatrical arts in high school and played guitar before going on to attend Oberlin College in Ohio. He switched from being a geology major to focus on cinema, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in film theory and technology in 1996.

After Oberlin, he moved to New York City, where he worked as a video editor while also doing stand-up comedy and improv, including a stint with the city's Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. He eventually quit editing and did commercial voiceover work.

Singing and Musical Interests

During college, Helms made time for performance pursuits, studying improv and singing in the acapella group The Obertones.

To this day, Helms continues to enjoy musical pursuits by co-presenting the L.A. Bluegrass Situation, an annual festival that hosts bluegrass/Americana performances from a variety of artists.

Movies and TV Shows

'The Daily Show' and 'The Office'

In 2002, Helms auditioned for Jon Stewart's The Daily Show and landed a spot on the popular cable comedy series, staying on for four years. After work on shows like Arrested Development and Sunday Pants, he landed a recurring role on the hit sitcom The Office, in which he portrayed Andy Bernard, a disgruntled employee who's prone to show his more open, sensitive side in spontaneous song, allowing Helms to showcase his musical prowess as a banjo player and singer. The Emmy Award–winning Office ran for nine seasons and ended in 2013.

TODAY -- Pictured: Actor Ed Helms talks about his role on NBC's 'The Office' on NBC News' 'Today' on September 27, 2007-- Photo by: Heidi Gutman/NBC NewsWire
Photo: Heidi Gutman/NBC NewsWire
Ed Helms

By the mid-2000s, Helms had also started to hit the big screen. In 2006, his voice was featured in the baseball-themed animated film Everyone's Hero. The following year, Helms appeared in the comedic indie I'll Believe You and the satirical biopic Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. That year also saw Helms appear with former Office co-star Steve Carell in the film Evan Almighty, a comedic, contemporary retelling of the story of Noah's Ark. Helms starred in more film comedies in 2008, including Meet Dave, Semi-Pro and Lower Learning.

'The Hangover'

In 2009, Helms was featured in Night at the Museum: Battle at the Smithsonian and then became a marquee name with the unexpected blockbuster The Hangover, a summer comedy co-starring Bradley Cooper and Zach Galifianakis. The film focuses on a trio of men who go to Las Vegas for a friend's bachelor celebration only to awaken in a hazy, undone state. Helms, who plays a dentist who ironically discovers he's missing a tooth from the previous night's shenanigans, sings "Stu's Song," a piano-driven ode to finding his lost friend. The Hangover went on to earn more than $465 million worldwide.

Helms co-starred in 2011's The Hangover Part II, set in Thailand; the sequel became an even bigger international box-office success than its predecessor. That year, Helms was also the lead and executive producer of the salesperson comedy Cedar Rapids, with 2012 bringing him major roles in Jeff, Who Lives At Home and Dr. Seuss' The Lorax.

'Vacation' to 'Chappaquiddick'

Helms went on to co-star in the third installment of The Hangover in 2013 and continued with a string of more comedies, playing Rusty Griswold in the spinoff of the National Lampoon's Vacation series, aptly entitled Vacation (2015), as well as Love the Coopers (2015) and The Clappers (2017). He also voiced the title role of Dreamworks' Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (2017).

In 2018, Helms took a turn from comedy and appeared on the drama Chappaquiddick, a film about Ted Kennedy's involvement in the 1969 car crash that resulted in the accidental drowning of Mary Jo Kopechne. In it, Helms plays Kennedy's cousin and lawyer Joe Gargan.

QUICK FACTS

  • Birth Year: 1974
  • Birth date: January 24, 1974
  • Birth State: Georgia
  • Birth City: Atlanta
  • Birth Country: United States
  • Gender: Male
  • Best Known For: Ed Helms is an actor, comedian, singer and musician known for his work on 'The Daily Show,' 'The Office' and 'The Hangover' films.
  • Industries
    • Television
    • Film
  • Astrological Sign: Aquarius
  • Schools
    • Oberlin College

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CITATION INFORMATION

  • Article Title: Ed Helms Biography
  • Author: Biography.com Editors
  • Website Name: The Biography.com website
  • Url: https://www.biography.com/actors/ed-helms
  • Access Date:
  • Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
  • Last Updated: September 5, 2019
  • Original Published Date: April 2, 2014

QUOTES

  • Vulnerability is huge. I love to see that in characters. It's something I feel like a lot of my comedic heroes have always done.
  • It's incredibly fun to play someone that you don't like. It exorcises your own demons in a way. It's cathartic.
  • I feel very lucky to have had a lot of focus in my life, in terms of goals and career stuff, but that said, there have definitely been dips in the sine curve of life. There are moments where I've just been utterly confounded by what I'm supposed to do next, how I'm supposed to move forward, and that pertains both to my professional life and my personal life.