Jeremy Piven

Though he made his breakthrough as a neurotic comedy writer on "The Larry Sanders Show" (HBO, 1992-98), actor Jeremy Piven will forever be associated with the foul-mouthed, high-strung and fiercely loyal über-agent Ari Gold on the popular cable series, "Entourage" (HBO, 2004-2011). Piven so epitomized the manic agent that people often mistook him for Gold in real life, while some even took verbatim one of his more memorable lines and asked him to "hug it out, b---h!" in public. Prior to playing the role that made him a star, Piven cut his teeth on the stage, then racked up a long résumé full of television and film roles with "Say Anything" (1989) opposite childhood friend John Cusack, and "Judgment Night" (1993). He had a starring role in the college comedy "PCU" (1995) before turning to television sitcoms as Ellen DeGeneres' cousin on the hit sitcom "Ellen" (ABC, 1994-98). Though he continued to appear in movies like "Old School" (2003), "Runaway Jury" (2003), "Smokin' Aces" (2006), and "RocknRolla" (2008), Piven made his biggest waves for playing Gold on "Entourage," whose acerbic wit often translated off the screen as well. Despite the long road to stardom, Piven nonetheless relished his success once he achieved it, particularly when he began a string of Emmy and Golden Globe wins that confirmed the enormity of his talent and popularity in series such as "Mr. Selfridges" (ITV/PBS 2013-16). Beginning in November 2017, several women accused Piven of sexual misconduct, some of which happened when they were underage; as a result, CBS canceled his new crime procedural series "Wisdom of the Crowd" (CBS 2017).