Eugene Levy: The Life Story Behind the American Pie Star
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A Hamilton Boy Who Found Second City
Eugene Levy was born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, on 17 December 1946, to Rebecca and Joseph Levy, and he grew up in a Jewish family in a steel town, where the winters were cold, the summers were short, and the idea of becoming a comedian seemed as distant as Hollywood itself. Hamilton in the 1950s was a working-class city, a place where people worked in factories and mills, and where entertainment meant the radio, the television and the occasional trip to Toronto, yet Eugene was drawn to comedy from a young age, through the radio shows he listened to, through the comedians he admired, and through a sense of humour that was dry, observant and slightly nerdy, which would become his signature. He attended Westdale Secondary School in Hamilton, and then studied at McMaster University, also in Hamilton, where he met other young people who would become important in his life, including the comedian Martin Short, who became one of his closest friends, and the actor and writer Dave Thomas, who would become his collaborator on one of the most important comedy shows in Canadian history. At McMaster, Eugene was not a star student but a young man who was discovering what he loved, and what he loved was making people laugh, not by being loud or outrageous, but by being precise, by noticing the small details of human behaviour and turning them into comedy, which is a skill that takes years to develop, and that Eugene developed early, because he had a natural eye for the absurdities of everyday life. He also discovered, at university, that he was interested in film, and he briefly considered becoming a filmmaker, yet comedy, which was more immediate, more collaborative and more fun, won out, and the decision to pursue it would shape the next fifty years of his life.
After university, Eugene joined The Second City, the improvisational comedy theatre in Toronto, which was, and remains, one of the most important training grounds for comedians in North America, because its performers learn to create scenes from nothing, to work as an ensemble, and to make an audience laugh without a script, which is a discipline that few performers master, and that Eugene mastered. The Second City in Toronto in the early 1970s was a lively, creative place, with performers who would go on to become stars, including John Candy, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner and Catherine O’Hara, who became one of Eugene’s most frequent collaborators, and the atmosphere was one of experimentation, of trying new characters, new voices and new ideas, and of learning from each other, which is the best kind of education a comedian can receive. Eugene’s style at Second City was distinctive, because he did not play the loud, physical comedian but the quiet, neurotic one, the man who was slightly out of his depth, who spoke in a hesitant, earnest voice, and who made the audience laugh by being recognisably human, which is a harder trick than it looks, because the audience must believe the character before they can laugh at him, and Eugene made them believe. He also began writing for Second City, because he understood that comedy is not only performance but writing, and that the best sketches are the ones that are well-constructed, with a beginning, a middle and an end, which is a lesson he carried into his later work, on television and in film, where he would write, direct and perform, often at the same time, which is a rare combination, and one that Eugene has managed for decades.
The Second City led to SCTV, Second City Television, a sketch comedy show that ran from 1976 to 1984, and that became one of the most influential comedy programmes in North American television history, because it was clever, satirical and unlike anything else on television at the time. SCTV was set in the fictional town of Melonville, and its premise was that the audience was watching a small television station, with its own shows, its own personalities and its own absurdities, and the cast, which included Eugene, John Candy, Catherine O’Hara, Martin Short, Dave Thomas, Rick Moranis, Andrea Martin and Joe Flaherty, played dozens of characters, each with a distinct voice, costume and personality, and the show’s humour came from the precision of those characters, from the way they captured the vanities, the pretensions and the small absurdities of television itself. Eugene’s characters on SCTV included Earl Camembert, a hapless news anchor, Bobby Bittman, a smarmy comedian, and many others, and each of them was played with a attention to detail that made the audience laugh, because they recognised the type, the news anchor who is out of his depth, the comedian who is not as funny as he thinks, and the recognition was the joke. SCTV won Emmy Awards, it was praised by critics, and it launched the careers of its cast, many of whom went on to become stars in Hollywood, yet for Eugene, SCTV was not only a launchpad but a school, because it taught him how to write, how to perform, and how to work in an ensemble, which are the skills that would define his career for the next forty years, and that he would return to, again and again, in his films with Christopher Guest and in Schitt’s Creek, which he created with his son.
From SCTV to the Movies
After SCTV, Eugene moved into film, and his early film roles showed the same pattern as his television work, a mixture of comedy and character acting, in which he played men who were earnest, slightly awkward and deeply human, which is a type that he has made his own. In 1984 he appeared in Splash, the romantic comedy starring Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah, in a small role, and in 1986 he appeared in Armed and Dangerous, a comedy starring John Candy, his old SCTV colleague, and the two films, though they were supporting roles, gave Eugene exposure to American audiences, who had not seen SCTV, and who were meeting him for the first time as a film actor. In 1991 he played George Banks’s neighbour in Father of the Bride, a comedy starring Steve Martin, and he returned for the sequel, Father of the Bride Part II, in 1995, playing a character who was funny, warm and slightly neurotic, which is the kind of character that Eugene plays better than anyone, because he understands that the audience loves a man who is trying his best, even when his best is not very good. He also appeared in films like Multiplicity in 1996, and in the 1990s he began working with the director Christopher Guest, a collaboration that would become one of the most important in his career, because Guest’s films, which were improvised, ensemble comedies about eccentric subcultures, were a perfect fit for Eugene’s talents, which were improvisation, character work and ensemble playing, and the films they made together, Waiting for Guffman in 1996, Best in Show in 2000, A Mighty Wind in 2003 and For Your Consideration in 2006, are now regarded as classics of American comedy, because they are funny, humane and unlike anything else in cinema.
Best in Show, released in 2000, is the film that many people consider Eugene’s finest, because he played Gerry Fleck, a man who, with his wife Cookie, played by Catherine O’Hara, enters their terrier in a dog show, and the film followed a group of eccentric dog owners to a prestigious show in Philadelphia, with each character played by a brilliant improvisational actor, including Parker Posey, Michael McKean, Fred Willard and Jennifer Coolidge, and the humour came from the characters’ vanities, their delusions and their love for their dogs, which is a subject that Eugene, who has always loved dogs, understood deeply. Gerry Fleck was a character who was hapless, who had two left feet, literally, because he could not dance, and who was constantly embarrassed by his wife’s past, yet Eugene played him with a sweetness and a dignity that made the audience root for him, because Gerry was not a fool but a good man, trying his best in a world that did not always reward goodness, which is a theme that runs through Eugene’s work, from SCTV to Schitt’s Creek, and that is why his characters are loved, because they are good people, even when they are funny. Best in Show was a critical success, and it showed that Eugene could be a leading man in a film, not only a supporting actor, which is a distinction that matters, because the film’s ensemble was large, yet Gerry and Cookie were its heart, and the audience remembered them long after the film ended. A Mighty Wind, released in 2003, was another Guest film, about a folk music reunion, in which Eugene played Mitch Cohen, a folk singer who has suffered a breakdown, and the role required him to sing, to play the guitar and to be both funny and sad, which he did with a skill that surprised audiences who had only seen him as a comedian, because Mitch was a man who had lost his way, and Eugene played that loss with a honesty that was moving, and the film’s songs, which were written by the cast, became a cult favourite, because they were both funny and beautiful, which is a rare combination.
The role that made Eugene Levy famous to a new generation, and to audiences around the world, came in 1999, when he was cast as Noah Levenstein, known as Jim’s Dad, in American Pie, a teen comedy about a group of high school boys who make a pact to lose their virginity before graduation, and the film became a huge commercial success, spawning sequels and making its young cast into stars. Noah Levenstein was the father of Jim, played by Jason Biggs, and he was a well-meaning, awkward, embarrassingly honest father who tried to talk to his son about sex, using metaphors, advice and a warmth that was both funny and touching, because every teenager has had a parent who tried to have that conversation, and every parent has tried to have it, and Eugene played Noah with a sincerity that made the audience laugh and cringe at the same time, which is the hardest kind of comedy, because it is based on recognition, not on jokes. He returned as Jim’s Dad in American Pie 2 in 2001, American Wedding in 2003, American Reunion in 2012, and in the direct-to-video sequels, and the character became one of the most loved in the series, because Noah was the adult who understood the teenagers, who did not judge them, and who loved his son unconditionally, which is a quality that the audience, young and old, recognised and valued. American Pie also introduced Eugene to a young audience that had never seen SCTV or Best in Show, and that audience, which grew up with the films, followed him to his later work, including Schitt’s Creek, which is a reminder that a career can have many audiences, and that each new role can bring a new one, if the actor is willing to take it.
Schitt’s Creek and the Late-Career Triumph
In 2015 Eugene and his son Dan Levy created Schitt’s Creek, a television comedy about the Rose family, a wealthy family who lose their fortune and are forced to live in a small town called Schitt’s Creek, which they once bought as a joke, and the series, which ran for six seasons until 2020, became one of the most loved comedies in television history, winning awards, breaking records and finding an audience that grew with each season. Eugene played Johnny Rose, the patriarch, a former video store magnate who must learn to live without money, without status and without the life he knew, and Dan played David Rose, his son, a fashion-conscious, sarcastic young man who must also learn to live in a small town, while Catherine O’Hara, Eugene’s old SCTV colleague, played Moira Rose, Johnny’s wife, a former soap opera star with an unforgettable accent and wardrobe, and Sarah Levy, Eugene’s daughter, played Twyla Sands, a waitress at the town’s cafe. The show’s premise, a rich family forced to live among ordinary people, could easily have been cruel, yet Schitt’s Creek was kind, because the Roses, though they were snobbish at first, learned to love the town and its people, and the town, though it was small, taught them what mattered, which is family, community and love, and that kindness, which was unusual for a comedy, is why the audience loved the show, because it made them feel good, not only laugh. Eugene’s Johnny was the heart of the show, a man who was dignified, decent and determined, who tried to rebuild his family’s life with a motel, with a business, and with the help of his family, and the performance was praised as one of the best of Eugene’s career, because Johnny was not a caricature but a real person, a father who loved his family and who was willing to start over, which is a story that many viewers recognised in their own lives.
Schitt’s Creek was initially broadcast in Canada on CBC, and in the United States on Pop TV, a small cable channel, and its audience was modest at first, yet it grew, through word of mouth, through streaming on Netflix, and through the loyalty of its fans, until, by its final season in 2020, it was one of the most talked-about shows on television, and its final season won nine Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for Eugene, Outstanding Lead Actress for Catherine O’Hara, and Outstanding Supporting Actor and Actress for Dan Levy and Annie Murphy, which is a sweep that few shows have achieved, and that confirmed Schitt’s Creek as a classic. The Emmy win for Eugene, at the age of seventy-three, was a late-career triumph, because he had been working for more than fifty years, had been nominated for awards before, yet had never won an Emmy for acting, and the win, which came in the same year as the show’s final season, was a recognition of a lifetime’s work, not only on Schitt’s Creek but on SCTV, on Best in Show and on American Pie, which is a career that few comedians can match. The show’s success also had a cultural impact, because David Rose’s relationship with Patrick Brewer, played by Noah Reid, was one of the first gay relationships on television to be portrayed without homophobia, without tragedy and without a coming-out storyline that defined the character, and the audience, particularly LGBTQ viewers, praised the show for its kindness, its normalisation of love, and its refusal to make David’s sexuality a problem, which is a legacy that Eugene and Dan, as creators, are proud of, and that the show will be remembered for, long after the jokes have faded.
After Schitt’s Creek, Eugene continued to work, and the roles he took showed that he was not ready to retire, because he had found a new audience, a new energy and a new kind of fame, as the star of a beloved show, and he wanted to keep going. In 2023 he began hosting The Reluctant Traveler, a travel series for Apple TV+, in which he, a man who has said he does not like travelling, visits places around the world, from Costa Rica to Finland to South Africa, and discovers, to his surprise, that he enjoys it, and the show, which is gentle, funny and curious, has been praised for its warmth, because Eugene’s reluctance, his dry humour and his willingness to try new things make him a relatable traveller, a person who is not an adventurer but an ordinary man who is learning to enjoy the world. He has also appeared in films and in television, and he has continued to work with his son Dan, who has become a star in his own right, and with his daughter Sarah, who has also built a career, and the Levy family, which began with Eugene and his wife Deborah Divine, whom he married in 1977, has become a dynasty in Canadian entertainment, with three generations of performers, which is a rare thing, and one that Eugene, who has always valued family, is proud of. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of Canada, one of the highest honours in Canada, recognising his contribution to Canadian culture, and the honour, which he received with humility, is a fitting tribute to a career that began in Hamilton, passed through Second City and SCTV, and ended, for now, with a motel in Schitt’s Creek and a travel show that takes him around the world, which is a journey that few comedians have taken, and that Eugene has taken with grace, humour and dignity.
What the Career Adds Up To
Looked at as a whole, Eugene Levy’s career has a shape that is easy to miss if you only remember one role, because it is the shape of a person who began as a young man in Hamilton who loved comedy, joined Second City, created SCTV, made films with Christopher Guest, became Jim’s Dad in American Pie, and then, at the age of sixty-eight, created Schitt’s Creek with his son, and won an Emmy for it at seventy-three, and who did it all with the same dry humour, the same attention to detail and the same decency, which is why he has lasted while other comedians have faded. He has played Earl Camembert, Bobby Bittman, Gerry Fleck, Mitch Cohen, Noah Levenstein and Johnny Rose, and each of those characters was different, yet each of them was played with the same honesty, the same warmth and the same belief that comedy is not about being loud but about being true, which is a philosophy that has guided his career for fifty years. The through-line is not fame but family, because Eugene’s career has always been about family, from the family of Second City to the family of SCTV to the family of Schitt’s Creek, which he created with his son and daughter, and that family, which is both professional and personal, is the foundation of his work, and the reason it has lasted, because a career built on family, on loyalty and on love is a career that does not fade when the applause does, but continues, one joke, one scene and one episode at a time.
The Quiet Comedian
There is one more part of Eugene Levy’s story that deserves attention, and it is the way he has been a quiet comedian in a loud business, because comedy in North America is often loud, physical and outrageous, yet Eugene’s comedy has always been quiet, dry and observant, and that quietness is a form of strength, because it requires the audience to listen, to pay attention, and to notice the small details, which is a harder task than making them laugh with a loud joke. His characters, from Earl Camembert to Johnny Rose, are men who speak softly, who hesitate, who are slightly out of their depth, yet who are dignified, decent and determined, and the audience loves them because they recognise themselves in them, in the hesitation, in the awkwardness, and in the determination to keep going, which is a universal experience. He has never been a tabloid figure, he has never courted controversy, and he has never seemed to need the audience’s love in order to feel valuable, and that steadiness is a form of strength that is easy to miss because it does not make headlines, yet it is the strength that has kept him working for fifty years, while louder comedians have burned out. His story is a reminder that comedy does not need to shout to be heard, and that the quiet comedian, who listens, who observes and who tells the truth, is often the funniest of all, because the truth, when it is told well, is always funny, and Eugene Levy has been telling it for fifty years, one character at a time.
A Career Built With His Children
Eugene Levy’s decision to create Schitt’s Creek with his son Dan was one of the most important in his career, because it was not only a professional collaboration but a personal one, a father and son working together to tell a story about a family, which is a story they knew from the inside, and the result was a show that felt authentic, because the family on screen was played by a real family, or by actors who had become a family, and the audience could feel that authenticity. Dan Levy, who co-created the show, wrote it, and played David Rose, has become a star in his own right, and Sarah Levy, who played Twyla, has also built a career, and the fact that Eugene’s children have followed him into entertainment, and have succeeded, is a testament to his influence as a father, because he did not push them into the business but supported them when they chose it, and he worked with them when they were ready, which is a generosity that many famous parents lack, because they either push their children or hold them back, while Eugene did neither, he simply worked with them, as equals, which is the highest compliment a father can pay. The Levy family, which began in Hamilton, is now a dynasty in Canadian entertainment, and its story, like Schitt’s Creek itself, is a story about family, about love and about starting over, which is a story worth telling, because it shows that the best work is often done with the people you love, and that the family you build is the career you keep.
My Take:
When I look at Eugene Levy’s career, the first thing that strikes me is the longevity, because he has been working for more than fifty years, from Second City in the early 1970s to Schitt’s Creek in 2020, and he has done it without a scandal, without a reinvention and without ever seeming to chase the spotlight, which is a rare achievement in comedy, where the stories that get told are usually about explosions, breakdowns and comebacks, and Eugene’s story is none of those things, which is precisely why it is worth telling, because it shows a different way to have a career, one built on showing up, doing the work well and going home. I think his most important decision was the decision to create Schitt’s Creek with his son Dan, because it was a show that could easily have been a vanity project, a father giving his son a job, yet it became one of the most loved comedies in television history, winning nine Emmy Awards in its final season, including Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Lead Actor for Eugene, at the age of seventy-three, which is a late-career triumph that few comedians achieve, and it happened because the show was good, not because of who made it, but because of what it was, a kind, funny, humane story about a family that loses everything and finds what matters. Johnny Rose is the heart of that show, a man who is dignified, decent and determined, who tries to rebuild his family’s life with a motel, and Eugene played him with a warmth and a restraint that made the character feel real, because Johnny was not a caricature but a father, and the audience, many of whom are fathers, recognised him immediately.
The SCTV years deserve a closer look, because they are the foundation of Eugene Levy’s career, and the show, which ran from 1976 to 1984, was one of the most influential comedies in North American television, because it was clever, satirical and unlike anything else at the time, and Eugene’s characters on it, Earl Camembert, Bobby Bittman and many others, were played with a precision that made the audience laugh, because they recognised the type, and the recognition was the joke. I notice that SCTV’s humour came from observation, from noticing the small absurdities of television, of news anchors, of comedians, of the people who appear on screen, and Eugene’s eye for those absurdities, which he developed at Second City, was the foundation of his later work, in Best in Show, in A Mighty Wind and in Schitt’s Creek, where the humour also comes from observation, from watching people and understanding them, rather than from jokes told at them. Best in Show is the film that best shows that skill, because Gerry Fleck, the man who enters his terrier in a dog show, is a character who is hapless, who has two left feet, and who is constantly embarrassed, yet Eugene played him with a sweetness and a dignity that made the audience root for him, because Gerry was not a fool but a good man, trying his best, and that goodness, which is the theme of Eugene’s work, is why his characters are loved, because they are good people, even when they are funny, and the audience can tell the difference between a comedian who mocks his characters and one who loves them, and Eugene loves his.
What I admire most about Eugene Levy is the decency, because he has always played decent men, and he has always been, by all accounts, a decent man himself, kind to colleagues, loyal to friends, generous to his family, and that decency is a form of strength in an industry that often rewards the opposite. His work with Christopher Guest, in Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind and For Your Consideration, is a good example, because those films were improvised, ensemble comedies, and they required the actors to listen to each other, to support each other, and to make room for each other, which is a generosity that Eugene has in abundance, and that the films show, because the ensemble works as a family, not as a collection of stars. His role as Jim’s Dad in American Pie is another example, because Noah Levenstein was a father who tried to talk to his son about sex with honesty, warmth and a complete lack of embarrassment, and the audience laughed, but they also recognised the love, because every teenager has had a parent who tried, and every parent has tried, and Eugene played that trying with a sincerity that made it both funny and touching. There are limits to what he has done, and I should name them, because he has never been a leading man in a major Hollywood film, and his film career, though it includes Best in Show and American Pie, has been a series of supporting and ensemble roles rather than leading roles in blockbusters, yet the fact that he won an Emmy at seventy-three for Schitt’s Creek suggests that the leading role he was waiting for was on television, not in film, and that the wait was worth it, because Johnny Rose is a leading man in the truest sense, a man who leads his family, and who leads the show.
For young comedians, Eugene Levy’s career is a useful map, because it shows that the way to survive is to be versatile, to work in improvisation and in scripted comedy, in television and in film, in ensembles and as a leading man, and to do each of them well, because versatility is insurance against the changes in the industry. His path, from Hamilton to McMaster to Second City to SCTV to Hollywood to Schitt’s Creek, is a path that many comedians have taken, and the lesson of it is that the training matters, the ensemble matters, and the willingness to work with your children matters, because each of those steps adds a skill and a connection that the next step depends on. My honest view is that Eugene Levy is one of the finest comedians of his generation, and that his career, taken as a whole, is stronger than any single show or film in it, because it is the story of a boy from Hamilton who became a quiet comedian, a writer, an actor and a father, and who did it all without losing himself, which is a story worth remembering. The work continues, and the next chapter, whether it is The Reluctant Traveler, a new film or a new collaboration with Dan, will probably be as surprising as the last one, because Eugene Levy has never done the expected thing twice, and he is still, in his late seventies, learning, growing and making audiences laugh, one character at a time.
One more thing about Eugene Levy deserves to be said, and it is the way he has handled fame, because he became famous slowly, one role at a time, and slow fame is healthier than sudden fame, because it gives the comedian time to learn who he is before the world tells him who he should be. He has never been a tabloid figure, he has never courted controversy, and he has never seemed to need the audience’s love in order to feel valuable, and that steadiness is a form of strength that is easy to miss because it does not make headlines. I think his family life matters too, because he has been married to Deborah Divine since 1977, a marriage that has lasted for nearly fifty years, which is a rare achievement in Hollywood, and his children, Dan and Sarah, have become stars in their own right, which is a testament to his influence as a father, because he supported them without pushing them, and worked with them when they were ready. The story of Eugene Levy is, in the end, a story about a quiet comedian who became a star by being decent, by being observant, and by being funny, and that is a story worth telling, because it shows that comedy does not need to shout to be heard, and that the quiet voice, when it is true, is often the funniest of all.
Finally, I want to say something about The Reluctant Traveler, because it is the most recent chapter in his career and it shows where he is now, as a man in his late seventies who is still curious, still willing to try new things, and still making audiences laugh, not by being loud but by being himself, a reluctant traveller who discovers, to his surprise, that he enjoys the world. The show’s premise, that Eugene does not like travelling, is a joke, because the audience knows that he will end up liking it, and the pleasure of the show is watching a man who is set in his ways learn to be open, which is a story that many older viewers recognise in their own lives, because they too have been reluctant to try new things, and have been surprised by how much they enjoyed them. My honest view is that his career is not finished, and that the best of it may still be ahead, because the roles for men in their late seventies, the fathers, the grandfathers, the men with pasts, are the roles he was born to play, and the warmth and decency he brings to them will make them memorable, long after the shows themselves have ended. When those roles come, the story will change again, and the quiet comedian from Hamilton will become something else, and that is a story worth waiting for.
I also want to reflect on his friendship with Catherine O’Hara, because the two have worked together since SCTV, through Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, For Your Consideration and Schitt’s Creek, which is a partnership that has lasted for more than forty years, and that is a rare thing in comedy, where partnerships often break under pressure. O’Hara played Cookie Fleck to Eugene’s Gerry, and Moira Rose to his Johnny, and in both cases the chemistry between them, which comes from decades of working together, made the characters feel like a real couple, because the actors knew each other so well that they could improvise, react and support each other without thinking, which is the highest form of ensemble acting. I think that partnership is one of the reasons Eugene’s career has lasted, because he has always worked with people he trusts, and that trust, which is built over years, is the foundation of good comedy, because comedy requires the actors to take risks, and risks are only possible when you trust the people you are working with. The Levy-O’Hara partnership is a model for any young comedian, because it shows that the best work is done with the people you know, the people you trust, and the people who make you better, which is exactly what Catherine O’Hara has done for Eugene Levy, for forty years.
One last thought on Eugene Levy concerns the Order of Canada, because being appointed a Companion of the Order of Canada is one of the highest honours in his country, and it recognises not only his work as a comedian but his contribution to Canadian culture, which is significant, because Eugene has always been Canadian, has always worked in Canada, and has always represented Canada with pride, even while working in Hollywood. The honour matters, because it says that comedy is a serious art, that a comedian who makes people laugh for fifty years has done something that matters, and that the country recognises it, which is a validation that few comedians receive, and that Eugene deserves. I believe his legacy will be as a Canadian icon, as a comedian who proved that quiet, observant humour could succeed in a loud world, and that a boy from Hamilton could become a star without leaving his values behind, which is a story that should encourage any young person from a small place who dreams of a bigger life.
Finally, I think Eugene Levy’s story offers a lesson about family, because his career has always been about family, from the family of Second City to the family of Schitt’s Creek, which he created with his son, and that family, which is both professional and personal, is the foundation of his work, and the reason it has lasted. The decision to work with Dan and Sarah was not only a professional one but a personal one, a father who trusted his children, who worked with them as equals, and who let them shine, which is a generosity that many famous parents lack, because they either overshadow their children or hold them back, while Eugene did neither, he simply worked with them, and the result was a show that the whole family could be proud of, and that the audience loved, because it felt like a family, not a cast. My honest view is that his career is a triumph of family, of a man who built his work around the people he loved, and who loved the people he worked with, and that is a story worth telling, because it shows that the best careers are not built alone, but with others, one joke, one scene and one episode at a time, for fifty years, and counting.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where was Eugene Levy born?
Eugene Levy was born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, on 17 December 1946. He studied at McMaster University in Hamilton, where he met Martin Short and Dave Thomas.
Which characters did Eugene Levy play on SCTV?
Eugene Levy was one of the original cast members of SCTV, or Second City Television, the Canadian sketch show that ran from 1976 to 1984 and was set in the fictional town of Melonville. Levy played characters including Earl Camembert and Bobby Bittman, alongside John Candy, Catherine O’Hara, Martin Short and others.
Who did Eugene Levy play in American Pie?
He played Noah Levenstein, known as Jim’s Dad, the well-meaning, awkward father of Jim (Jason Biggs), in American Pie (1999) and its sequels, including American Pie 2, American Wedding and American Reunion.
What is Schitt’s Creek?
Schitt’s Creek (2015-2020) is a comedy series co-created by Eugene Levy and his son Dan Levy, about the wealthy Rose family who lose their fortune and must live in a small town. Eugene played Johnny Rose, the patriarch, opposite Catherine O’Hara as Moira Rose.
How many Emmy Awards did Schitt’s Creek win in 2020?
Schitt’s Creek won nine Emmy Awards for its final season in 2020, including Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for Eugene Levy.
Who did Eugene Levy play in Best in Show?
He played Gerry Fleck, a man who enters his terrier in a dog show with his wife Cookie (Catherine O’Hara), in Best in Show (2000), directed by Christopher Guest.
What is The Reluctant Traveler?
The Reluctant Traveler is a travel series for Apple TV+, begun in 2023, in which Eugene Levy, who says he does not like travelling, visits places around the world, from Costa Rica to Finland to South Africa.
Who are Eugene Levy’s children?
His son Dan Levy co-created Schitt’s Creek and played David Rose, and his daughter Sarah Levy played Twyla Sands in the series. He has been married to Deborah Divine since 1977.
