Jeremy Piven

Jeremy Piven was born in New York, New York, and grew up in Evanston, Illinois, in north suburban Chicago. He graduated from Evanston Township High School, and attended Harand Theater Camp in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, as a teenager. He played the part of "Bernardo" in West Side Story, there. In Illinois, he trained at Piven Theatre Workshop, founded by his parents Byrne Piven and Joyce (née Hiller), both of whom were actors and drama teachers. He has a sister, Shira, and attended Camp Chi, a Jewish Community Center summer camp in Lake Delton, Wisconsin, in the 1970s. He also attended Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. While at Drake he became a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. He spent a semester at the National Theater Institute in Waterford, CT. He has appeared in a number of films with John Cusack, who is also from Evanston and is a fellow alumnus of the Piven Theatre Workshop (as are Cusack's sisters Joan and Ann). Piven and Cusack once shared an apartment and have been friends since high school.

Piven is Jewish, and also shares beliefs of many Eastern Religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism. Piven starred in the Travel Channel special Jeremy Piven's Journey of a Lifetime detailing his journey across India. Former Saturday Night Live writer and comedy director Adam McKay is his brother-in-law. Piven is uncle to Pearl from The Landlord. Piven is also close friends with Common (rapper).

Piven has identified himself as political liberal, and supports Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election.