Comedian Profile

B.J. Novak is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. He has received five Primetime Emmy Award nominations and won two Screen Actors Guild Awards. Novak is known for starring as Ryan Howard in the NBC sitcom The Office (2005–2013), for which he was also a writer and executive producer. He appeared in the films Inglourious Basterds (2009), Saving Mr. Banks (2013) and The Founder (2016). He made his directorial debut in 2022 with the dark comedy thriller Vengeance, which he also wrote and starred in. Novak also appeared in The Mindy Project (2013–2016) and The Newsroom (2014), and was the creator and executive producer of Hulu anthology series The Premise (2021). He portrays Alistair Smythe in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014). In addition to his film career, Novak authored the books One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories (2014) and The Book with No Pictures (2014).