Josh Gad

Josh Gad

He voicedOlaf in the 2013 Disney animated filmFrozen.^[3]

Early life[]

Josh Gad was born in Hollywood, Florida on February 23, 1981. He was raised Jewish. While in high school, he won two Original Oratories in 1998 and 1999. Then he attended Carnegie Mellon College of Fine Arts, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drama. During this time, he also was in a semester long exchange at the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney, Australia.

Career[]

In 2007, Gad portrayed the news director Ryan Church on the Fox sitcomBack to You, which lasted until the next year. In 2008, he played a supporting role in the film21, and a leading role inThe Rocker.

The next year, on May 5, 2009, he appeared as a correspondent onThe Daily Show, and became a regular correspondent in less than a month later, on June 2. That same year, in November, he appeared onThe Daily Show again in a segment titled "Crash for Clunkers" about the effect the Cash for Clunkers program had on demolition derbies.

In 2010, Gad had a role inLove & Other Drugs, and a guest role as Warren on theBored to Death episode entitled, "Make it Quick, Fitzgerald!" Gad was cast in the American version of the British sitcomNo Heroics. In the pilot, he played their former classmate from Superhero College, Horse Force. The show wasn't picked up.

The Broadway musicalThe Book of Mormon is what Gad is best known for, which opened on March 24, 2011. He played Elder Cunningham until his last performance on June 6, 2012. He was nominated for the 2011 Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical, but lost.

Besides Gad's success inThe Book of Mormon, Gad made a cameo appearance in ABC'sModern Family, in Season 3's Thanksgiving episode in 2011. He also voices "Mondo" in the MTV animated seriesGood Vibes.

In 2012, Gad made an appearance as "Bump" inMardi Gras: Spring Break, and played the role of "Bear Claw" on an episode ofNew Girl. He also starred in the independent romantic comedy,She Wants Me.

Gad played Andrew in the filmThe Internship in 2013. He also starred as Steve Wozniak in the filmJobs. In May, it was announced that Gad will star as the main character's brother in the upcoming filmWish I Was Here.

With Disney, he voicedOlaf in the Walt Disney Animation Studios filmFrozen, and will guest as a voice on Phineas and Ferb this year.

In August 2013, there was an announcement that Gad will play Sam Kinison in a biopic, a biographical film. Also in August, Gad wrote an article for USA Today, which appeared on page 2D, titled: "Technology pundit (for a day)".^[4] In December of that same year, Gad will star and co-write the film version ofGilligan's Island.

Personal life[]

Gad married actress Ida Darvish in 2008. They have two daughters: Ava, born in 2011, and Isabelle, born in 2014.^[5] Gad is also the godfather of Bryce Dallas Howard and Seth Gabel's son, Theo. Although he loves the traditional aspects of Judaism, he considers himself spiritual, but not religious.

Trivia[]

• Even though Gad didn't tell his daughter, Ava, that he was voicingOlaf, she recognized his laugh in the teaser trailer where only his laugh was audible^[6]
• Most of Gad's lines inFrozen were improvised around the script.^{[citation needed]}
• Until the writers found Josh Gad, Olaf was not really going to be a main character; they thought Gad was perfect for the part in addition to adding humor to the movie.^{[citation needed]}
• Josh Gad based his performance as Olaf on his college roommate and fellowBook of Mormon star Rory O'Malley.

References[]