Jim Rash

Jim Rash Headshot

Actor

Birth Date: July 15, 1970

Age: 53 years old

Birth Place: Charlotte, North Carolina

After making his bones as a journeyman actor specializing in loopy characters, Jim Rash began drawing name recognition in the early 2010s as the camp-happy college administrator on the NBC sitcom "Community" (NBC, 2009-15; Yahoo!, 2015) and as an Academy Award-winning writer. A North Carolina native with a spindly build and nerdy countenance, Rash found a groove as a sitcom character actor, inking his first cast job in 1999 on the television oddity "Thanks" (CBS, 1999). Honing his skills in the comedic cauldron of Los Angeles' famed Groundlings troupe, he joined a number of his cohorts on Comedy Central's "copumentary" lampoon "Reno 911!" (2003-07) as a local prone to bawdy calamity. In 2006, he landed among another talent-laden ensemble populating the shorter-lived Ted Danson vehicle "Help Me Help You" (ABC, 2006). In 2009, Rash took it to the next level on "Community," playing Craig Pelton, the daffy, cross-dressing, attention-hungry dean of the show's central community college. His popularity led to Rash being given full cast member status in its third season. He and writing collaborator Nat Faxon scored a major success on a different track, penning the Oscar-winning script for the 2011 George Clooney film "The Descendants." It set in motion their original feature project, "The Way, Way Back." Many in Hollywood designated Rash a talent on the uptick as an auteur, even as he became widely acknowledged for creating one of the zaniest characters on television.

He was born James Rash on July 15, 1970, in Charlotte, NC. Rash attended a K-12 parochial school, the Charlotte Latin School, but he was, he later said, not a particularly studious youth. Upon graduation in 1989, Rash had hoped to go to the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, but, lacking the grades, he spent a year at a boarding prep school, the Lawrenceville School in Lawrenceville, NJ. It was there, with the school's dynamic theater department that he discovered a proclivity for drama, which he took back to North Carolina once accepted to UNC. He graduated in 1994 with a bachelor's degree in radio, television and motion picture arts. Rash moved to Los Angeles, did his requisite time waiting tables while searching for projects, and took what one-off jobs he could snare, including an ad for McDonald's and, in his first TV job, a minor guest role on the sitcom "Cybill" (CBS, 1995-98). He picked up a few more sitcom guest shots in ensuing years, the most substantial a recurring tabloid fact-checker on the Tea Leoni-anchored sitcom "The Naked Truth" (ABC/NBC, 1995-98). In 1999, his first cast job proved an oddity, seeing him as a privation-beset denizen of Plymouth Colony on the CBS situation comedy about 17th century Massachusetts Puritans, "Thanks." After that six-episode summer run, Rash popped up almost immediately on The WB's fall line-up as comic support to Park Overall on the short-lived country girl-goes-urban sitcom, "Katie Joplin" (1999).

In the meantime, Rash began taking improv classes at L.A.'s premier comedy theatrical company, the Groundlings, and found his groove at the turn of the century when he was accepted into its ranks, forming a writing tandem with fellow Groundling Nat Faxon. While he honed those skills, he picked up a raft of bit one-off jobs, including TV guest shots, telefilms, indie features and even the occasional major studio jobs, typically colorful, quirky and/or nerdy parts, a la brief turns in the psychological thriller "One Hour Photo" (2002) and the Spielberg sci-fi flick "Minority Report" (2003). In 2002, he landed the first of what would become six episodes on the Fox sitcom "That '70s Show" (1998-2006), and, in 2003, he would begin a recurring role as Andrew on the improv-heavy Comedy Central mockumentary series "Reno 911!" (2003-09). Created by veterans of New York sketch-comedy troupe The State, the show also liberally tapped Groundlings talent to play dysfunctional denizens of Reno, NV, encountered by the Reno Sheriff's Department. Andrew would pop up throughout the show's run, on a first-name basis with the deputies due to his frequent comic sexual mishaps, including finding himself stuck inside a lifelike sex doll.

Rash and Faxon produced one of their scripts for a pilot, "Adopted," in 2005, which starred Bernadette Peters and Christine Baranski as birth and adoptive mothers vying for the affections of their grown son, but ABC passed it as a series. With some limelight falling on his comedic talent, in 2006, Rash found himself in estimable company on the sitcom "Help Me Help You," anchored by Ted Danson as a renowned psychotherapist in need of some help himself. Rash played an insecure, closeted member of Danson's therapy group. The show also featured Jane Kaczmarek, Tim Meadows, Jere Burns and Jane Lynch, but the talent failed to draw audiences and it shuttered after a half season. Rash continued to land small, persistently quirky one-off acting jobs while he and Faxon worked on a screenplay - based on Rash's own childhood - centered on a young boy attempting to establish a meaningful dialogue with a distant mother and a philandering stepfather during a family trip. The process of shopping the script earned them a shot at adapting Kaui Hart Hemmings' novel The Descendants for an upcoming feature film. In 2009, Rash picked up another recurring role on the deliriously funny NBC sitcom "Community." He played Craig Pelton, the irrepressibly peppy dean of Greendale Community College with a proclivity to don ridiculous theme costumes for various campus events.

The show initially followed an eclectic cross-section of students, young and old, who form an ad hoc Spanish study group, which becomes secondary to their weekly capers and social gymnastics. But Pelton's flamboyant attempts to insert himself into their cloister and his serial incompetence (as when the campus is trashed multiple times over in apocalyptic student paintball tournaments) made him more than just an ancillary character. In 2010, producers and NBC even supplemented Rash's episode work by featuring him in a series of "webisodes" on the network website, "Dean Pelton's Office Hours," and officially put him in the opening credits as cast member for the 2011-12 season. Meanwhile, "The Descendants" premiered in late 2011 to nearly universal raves. Directed and co-scripted by director Alexander Payne, it told the tale of a Hawaii landowner (George Clooney) grown apart from his wife and daughters but struggling to bridge the distance and become a real parent upon the death of the former. Made for Fox Searchlight for less than $20 million, the film grossed $170 million globally and drew five Academy Award nominations. In early 2012, Payne, Faxon and Rash won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. The success of the film opened doors for Rash and Faxon, who saw their coming-of-age script, titled "The Way, Way Back," purchased and put into production. Both writers were slated to co-direct an impressive cast reported to include Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Allison Janney and Sam Rockwell.

By Matthew Grimm

Credits

KrapopolisStream

Guest Voice
Dionysus
Series
2023
56%

My Dad the Bounty HunterStream

Voice
The Fixer
Series
2023
100%

BrosStream

Actor
Robert
Movie
2022

Out of OfficeStream

Actor
Movie
2022

Long WeekendStream

Actor
Larry
Movie
2021
67%

The Drew Barrymore ShowStream

Guest
Talk
2020

DownhillStream

Director
Movie
2020
36%

DownhillStream

Screenwriter
Movie
2020
36%

Lazy Susan

Actor
Phil
Movie
2020

Museum of Human History

Voice
Show
2019

Harley QuinnStream

Voice
Riddler
Series
2019
96%

The Kelly Clarkson ShowStream

Guest
Talk
2019

Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarfs

Voice
Prince Average
Movie
2019

Star Wars Resistance Shorts

Voice
Flix
Show
2018

Today 3rd Hour

Guest
Show
2018

Star Wars ResistanceStream

Voice
Flix
Series
2018
92%

Big City GreensStream

Guest Voice
Series
2018

The Joel McHale Show With Joel McHaleStream

Guest Star
Series
2018

Beyond Stranger Things

Host
Show
2017

DuckTalesStream

Guest Voice
Gyro Gearloose
Series
2017

Great NewsStream

Guest Star
Fenton Pelt
Series
2017
84%

NobodiesStream

Guest Star
Jim Rash
Series
2017

Nobodies: Extras

Actor
Show
2017

Superior DonutsStream

Guest Star
Mathers
Series
2017
62%

Thoroughbreds

Producer
Movie
2017

Bernard and Huey

Actor
Bernard
Movie
2017

American HousewifeStream

Guest Star
Walker
Series
2016

Bajillion Dollar Propertie$Stream

Guest Star
Series
2016

LuciferStream

Guest Star
Series
2016
88%

Captain America: Civil WarStream

Actor
M.I.T. Liaison
Movie
2016
90%

SuperMansionStream

Guest Voice
Series
2015

Dr. KenStream

Guest Star
Devon Drake
Series
2015
7%

Lip Sync BattleStream

Contestant
Reality
2015

The Odd CoupleStream

Actor
Series
2015

The Odd CoupleStream

Guest Star
Series
2015

The Late Late Show

Guest
Show
2015

Looney Tunes: Rabbits Run

Voice
Cecil Turtle
Movie
2015

BenchedStream

Guest Star
Hatbrim Tony
Series
2014
69%

Mike Tyson MysteriesStream

Voice
Marquess of Queensbury
Series
2014

Black-ishStream

Guest Star
Series
2014
92%

Late Night With Seth MeyersStream

Guest
Talk
2014

Rick and MortyStream

Guest Voice
Glexo Slimslom
Series
2013
90%

Brooklyn Nine-NineStream

Guest Star
Dr. Jones
Series
2013
95%

The Writers' RoomStream

Host
Reality
2013

The Way, Way BackStream

Actor
Lewis
Movie
2013
84%

The Way, Way BackStream

Director
Movie
2013
84%

The Way, Way BackStream

Executive Producer
Movie
2013
84%

The Way, Way BackStream

Screenwriter
Movie
2013
84%

Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja

Voice
Principal Slimovitz
Show
2012

The Looney Tunes ShowStream

Guest Voice
Cecil Turtle
Series
2011

The DescendantsStream

Screenwriter
Movie
2011
87%

Scooby-Doo: Mystery IncorporatedStream

Guest Voice
J.R. Kipple
Series
2010

CommunityStream

Actor
Dean Pelton
Series
2009
88%

CommunityStream

Director
Series
2009
88%

CommunityStream

Guest Star
Dean Pelton
Series
2009
88%

GleeStream

Guest Star
Lee Paulblatt
Series
2009
70%

Eli StoneStream

Guest Star
Bradley Kitsis
Series
2008
60%

Samantha Who?Stream

Guest Star
Artist
Series
2007
77%

Help Me Help You

Actor
Show
2006

Jake in Progress

Guest Star
Show
2005

American DadStream

Guest Voice
Series
2005

The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson

Guest
Talk
2005

Sky High

Actor
Mr. Grayson/Stitches
Movie
2005

The Soup

Actor
Talk
2004

The Soup

Guest
Talk
2004

It's All Relative

Guest Star
Show
2003

Coupling

Guest Star
Show
2003

NCISStream

Guest Star
Dr. Joel Sanderson
Series
2003

RENO 911!Stream

Guest Star
Series
2003

Baby Bob

Guest Star
Series
2002

Slackers

Actor
Head T.A. Philip
Movie
2002

According to JimStream

Guest Star
Series
2001

The GuardianStream

Guest Star
Series
2001

The Fighting Fitzgeralds

Guest Star
Show
2001

Curb Your EnthusiasmStream

Guest Star
Hotel Day Manager
Series
2000
92%

CSI: Crime Scene InvestigationStream

Guest Star
Todd Benton
Series
2000

Katie Joplin

Actor
Show
1999

Thanks

Actor
Show
1999

Family GuyStream

Guest Voice
Additional Voices
Series
1999

BeckerStream

Guest Star
Series
1998

The Hughleys

Guest Star
Series
1998

That '70s ShowStream

Guest Star
Series
1998

The View

Guest
Talk
1997

The PracticeStream

Guest Star
Series
1997

Clueless

Guest Star
Series
1996

The Naked Truth

Actor
Harris Van Doren
Series
1995
64%

CybillStream

Guest Star
Series
1995

FriendsStream

Guest Star
Nervous Male Passenger
Series
1994
78%

The Tonight Show With Jay Leno

Guest
Talk
1992

Today

Guest
News
1952

News aboutJim Rash