Eugene Levy CM born December 17, 1946 is a Canadian actor, comedian, producer, director, and writer. From 1976 until 1984, he appeared in the Canadian television sketch comedy series SCTV. He is also well known for works such as the American Pie series of movies and the Canadian sitcom Schitt’s Creek. He often plays flustered and unconventional figures. He is a regular collaborator of actor-director Christopher Guest, appearing in and co-writing four of his films, commencing with Waiting for Guffman (1996).
In 2004, Levy won a Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media for “A Mighty Wind” from the movie of the same name that he co-wrote. Levy received the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award, Canada’s highest honour in the performing arts, in 2008. He was appointed to the Order of Canada on June 30, 2011. From 2015 to 2020, he starred as Johnny Rose in Schitt’s Creek, a comedy series that he co-created with his son and co-star Dan Levy. In 2019 and 2020, he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, which he won in 2020. Levy has won multiple accolades throughout his career including four Primetime Emmy Awards and a Grammy Award.
Early life
Levy was born to a Jewish family in downtown Hamilton, Ontario. His mother, Rebecca (Kudlatz), was a homemaker, and his father was a foreman at an automobile plant. He has a brother, Fred. His mother was born in Glasgow, Scotland, to an Ashkenazi Jewish (Polish Jewish) family, later moving to Canada.
Levy attended Westdale Secondary School where he was student council president. He subsequently attended McMaster University. He was vice-president of the McMaster Film Board, a student film group, where he met moviemaker Ivan Reitman.
Career
Levy at the American Reunion film premiere in 2012
The 1972–1973 Toronto production of the hit musical Godspell opened at the Royal Alexandra Theatre and was intended to be a run of a few dozen performances for a subscription audience. The cast was drawn entirely from local performers, instead of a touring cast. The Toronto production launched the careers of many actors, including Levy, Victor Garber, Andrea Martin, Gilda Radner, Dave Thomas, and Martin Short, as well as the show’s musical director, Paul Shaffer. Howard Shore played saxophone for this production. After an enthusiastic response from the audience, the scheduled run at the Royal Alexandra ended and the show moved uptown to the Bayview Playhouse in Leaside. The Bayview Playhouse production ran until August 1973, with a then-record run of 488 performances.
An alumnus of both the Second City, Toronto and the sketch comedy series Second City Television, Levy often plays unusual supporting characters with nerdish streaks. Perhaps his best-known role on SCTV is the dimwitted Earl Camembert, a news anchor for the “SCTV News” and a parody of real-life Canadian newsman Earl Cameron. Celebrities impersonated by Levy on SCTV include Perry Como, Ricardo Montalbán, Alex Trebek, Sean Connery, Howard Cosell, Henry Kissinger, Menachem Begin, Bud Abbott, Milton Berle, John Charles Daly, Gene Shalit, Judd Hirsch, Jack Carter, Muammar al-Gaddafi, Tony Dow, James Caan, Lorne Greene, Rex Reed, Ralph Young (of Sandler and Young), F. Lee Bailey, Ernest Borgnine, former Ontario chief coroner and talk show host Dr. Morton Shulman, Norman Mailer, Neil Sedaka and Howard McNear as Floyd the Barber.
Original Levy characterizations on SCTV are comic Bobby Bittman, scandal sheet entrepreneur Dr. Raoul Withers, “report on business” naïf Brian Johns, 3-D horror auteur Woody Tobias Jr., cheerful Leutonian accordionist Stan Schmenge, lecherous dream interpreter Raoul Wilson, hammer-voiced sports broadcaster Lou Jaffe, diminutive union patriarch Sid Dithers (“San Francisckie! Did you drove or did you flew?”), fey current-events commentator Joel Weiss, buttoned-down panel show moderator Dougal Currie, smarmy Just for Fun emcee Stan Kanter, energetic used car salesman Al Peck, guileless security guard Gus Gustofferson, Phil the Garment King (also of Phil’s Nails), and the inept teen dance show host Rockin’ Mel Slirrup.
Though he has been the “above the title” star in only two films, Armed and Dangerous (1986) and The Man (2005), he has featured prominently in many films. He is the co-writer and frequent cast member of Christopher Guest’s mockumentary features, particularly A Mighty Wind, where his sympathetic performance as emotionally unstable folksinger Mitch Cohen won kudos; his accolades included a Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Musical or Comedy and the prestigious New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor. In the 1980s and 1990s, he appeared in Splash, National Lampoon’s Vacation, Club Paradise, Stay Tuned, Multiplicity, Serendipity and other comedies. Levy was the creator of Maniac Mansion, a television sitcom based on the LucasArts video game of the same name. He was also seriously considered for the role of Toby Ziegler on The West Wing, a role that went to actor Richard Schiff.
Levy, along with his son Dan Levy, is co-creator of the CBC/Pop TV sitcom Schitt’s Creek. He also stars in the show alongside his son as head of the Rose family, Johnny Rose. His daughter, Sarah Levy, portrays Twyla Sands, the waitress at the Schitt‘s Creek diner. Eugene Levy’s brother Fred is also a producer on the show.
Personal life
Levy married Deborah Divine in 1977. Divine’s career has been in TV production. The couple has two children whom they raised in Toronto: actors Dan and Sarah, both of whom star alongside their father on Schitt’s Creek.
Levy is an advocate for autism awareness and treatment. He was a close friend of actor John Candy. Levy is a member of the Canadian charity Artists Against Racism.