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Adam Brody

Born in San Diego on December 15, 1979, Adam Brody grew up in suburban San Diego and spent much of his time surfing before leaving community college at 19 and moving to Hollywood to pursue acting. After training and auditioning, he played Barry Williams in the 2000 television film Growing Up Brady and began building a career across television and film. Brody first found a substantial television role as Dave Rygalski on Gilmore Girls, playing Lane’s bandmate and love interest. His breakout arrived in 2003 with Seth Cohen on The O.C. Brody reportedly improvised some of Seth’s comedic dialogue, helping shape a character whose wit and unabashed nerdiness stood apart from the usual teen-drama template. The series ran for four seasons and made him a teen idol, but it also established the relaxed comic presence that would follow him into later work. His film roles have moved comfortably between studio productions, independent comedy, romance and horror. He appeared in Mr. & Mrs. Smith and played a Hollywood studio assistant in Thank You for Smoking, then took the lead in In the Land of Women as a writer returning to his mother’s Michigan hometown. Supporting parts in Smiley Face and The Ten were followed by appearances in Jennifer’s Body, Cop Out, The Romantics, Scream 4, The Oranges, Life Partners and Sleeping with Other People. Brody returned to longer-form television with the drama series StartUp and later appeared as Max Larssen in Curfew. In 2019, he played the adult version of Jack Dylan Grazer’s character in Shazam! and appeared in the thriller Ready or Not. Both films received positive reviews. In 2024, Brody co-starred opposite Kristen Bell in Netflix’s Nobody Wants This, playing Rabbi Noah Roklov. The performance earned him Golden Globe and Primetime Emmy nominations. Across comedy, drama and genre films, Brody has built a varied screen career without losing the understated, conversational quality that first made Seth Cohen such a distinctive television character.