Jody Hill (born October 15, 1976) is an American director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. In 2006, he directed, co-wrote, co-produced and co-starred in his first film,The Foot Fist Way, which he based on his experience as aTaekwondoblack belt and instructor. His follow-up film,Observe and Report, starsSeth Rogen and was released on April 10, 2009.^[1] Hill is also co-creator, director and executive producer of theHBO seriesEastbound & Down,Vice Principals, andThe Righteous Gemstones.^[2]

Hill's first film,The Foot Fist Way, was seen byWill Ferrell andAdam McKay who bought the distributing rights to the film. Subsequently, Hill was invited to the set ofKnocked Up where he met future collaborator,Seth Rogen. Hill was asked to do a cameo appearance with writing partnerBen Best in Rogen's next film,Superbad, as Tut Long John Silver. Hill later cast Rogen as the leading man in his film,Observe and Report, which opened at number 4 at the box office. The role of Ronnie was written specifically for Rogen.

In 2009, Hill directedThe Avett Brothers music video "Slight Figure of Speech," which featured Wolfe andAndy Daly.^{[citation needed]} The following year he directed the parody music videoSwagger Wagon as part of ad agencySaatchi & Saatchi's campaign for the Sienna SE minivan fromToyota.^[3][4]

In 2009, Hill co-created the HBO showEastbound & Down, on which he acted as Executive Producer and directed a total of 16 episodes. The show finished its fourth and final season in 2013.^[2]

Hill's next film,L.A.P.I.,^[5] was announced as an action comedy about a hardboiled private investigator, played by friend and frequent collaboratorDanny McBride. It is the first film Hill would direct but not write. It is also the first film produced by Hill's, McBride's andDavid Gordon Green's production company,Rough House Pictures. In 2014, Hill and McBride created and began preparing the comedy seriesVice Principals for HBO.

Since 2019, Hill has directed 8 episodes ofThe Righteous Gemstones. He also acts in the series as Levi.

Hill is a graduate of theUniversity of North Carolina School of the Arts.^[6] Hill was in a long-term relationship with actressCollette Wolfe, who appeared in his moviesObserve and Report andThe Foot Fist Way.^[7] The couple eventually married in 2012 inCabo San Lucas,^[8] but have since divorced.^{[citation needed]}

Acting credits

• Jody Hill atIMDb
• Vice on Jody Hill, Danny McBride andEastbound and Down

• 1976 births
• American comedy film directors
• Film producers from North Carolina
• American male screenwriters
• American male taekwondo practitioners
• American male television writers
• American showrunners
• American television writers
• Film directors from North Carolina
• Living people
• People from Concord, North Carolina
• Screenwriters from North Carolina
• University of North Carolina School of the Arts alumni

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• Articles with unsourced statements from April 2013
• Articles with unsourced statements from January 2025