Justin Bartha

Early life

Bartha was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and moved to West Bloomfield, Michigan when he was eight. His father, Stephen, is a commercial real estate agent while his mother, Betty, is a school teacher. He has one older brother, Jeffrey. Bartha was raised in a Reform Jewish family.{{cite web |access-date=June 26, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716051245/http://www.shalomlife.com/culture/12937/justin-bartha-talks-holy-rollers-hangover-2/ |archive-date=July 16, 2011 After he graduated from West Bloomfield High School in 1996, he moved to New York City and studied filmmaking and theatre at New York University's Tisch School of Arts.

Career

Bartha began his film career behind the camera as a production assistant on the film Analyze This. His acting debut came with his first film, 54, as a clubgoer. He wrote and directed a short film, Highs and Lows, which was shown at the South by Southwest Film Festival in 2003. Additionally, he wrote, produced, and starred in an MTV pilot called The Dustin and Justin Show.

Bartha co-starred opposite Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez, Christopher Walken and Al Pacino in the critically bashed Gigli in 2003, before his co-starring role in the National Treasure franchise (2004; 2007) as Riley Poole. He reprised the role in the series continuation for Disney+.

In 2006, Bartha co-starred in the film Failure to Launch and NBC's sitcom Teachers which only aired six episodes.

In November 2007, Bartha was cast in an indie drama, Holy Rollers. His character lures a young Hasidic Jew (Jesse Eisenberg) into becoming an ecstasy dealer. Filming began in New York in the spring of 2008, and the film was released in 2010.{{cite news | access-date=April 6, 2022

Bartha starred as Max in the Broadway revival of the play Lend Me a Tenor by Ken Ludwig. He performed alongside Tony Shalhoub, Anthony LaPaglia, Brooke Adams, and Jan Maxwell. A farcical comedy, it was directed by Stanley Tucci and started previews at the Music Box Theatre on March 11, 2010, with the official opening date on April 4, 2010. It was nominated for a Tony award for best revival of a play. In 2011, Bartha signed on to star in the premiere of Zach Braff's play All New People at Second Stage Theatre. All New People began June 28 and ran through mid-August. Anna Camp, David Wilson Barnes and Krysten Ritter co-starred in this production under the direction of Peter DuBois. In February 2012, Bartha signed on to co-star on the NBC comedy pilot The New Normal. On May 7, 2012, NBC ordered the project to series. The show was centered around a gay couple (played by Bartha and Andrew Rannells) and the surrogate mother (Georgia King) they selected to bear their child. It premiered on September 11, 2012, but was officially canceled the next year on May 10, 2013.

In 2014, Bartha starred in another of Jesse Eisenberg's plays, A Little Part of All Of Us, alongside Eisenberg, for Playing On Air, a non-profit organization that "records short plays [for public radio and podcast] written by top playwrights and performed by outstanding actors."

Bartha has worked with the Matrix Theatre Company, guest directing their Teen Company in Are You Passing?, a play on the state of education in Detroit.

In 2018, Bartha co-starred as Colin Morrello in the first two seasons of the critically acclaimed CBS all-access drama, The Good Fight. In 2021, Bartha signed on to play Robert Morgenthau in the second season of the critically acclaimed EPIX hit drama, Godfather of Harlem and co-starred opposite Jason Momoa in the Netflix movie Sweet Girl. In 2022, Bartha starred in the controversial and critically acclaimed standalone episode in the third season of Atlanta called, The Big Payback. Bartha plays a man named Marshall Johnson who finds out he must pay slavery reparations.

Personal life

Bartha married Pilates instructor and creator of B The Method Lia Smith in Oahu, Hawaii, on January 4, 2014. On April 13, 2014, she gave birth to their daughter. On April 16, 2016, she gave birth to their second daughter.

Acting credits

Film

Television

Music videos

Theatre

Awards and nominations

References

References

1. "Double Take".
2. Applebaum, Stephen. (July 22, 2010). "Interview: Justin Bartha". The Jewish Chronicle.
3. (September 11, 2013). "Jews Making News: Bartha and Segel". Atlanta Jewish Times.
4. (May 21, 2010). "Exclusive: Jesse Eisenberg and Justin Bartha Take Flight in Holy Rollers". MovieWeb.
5. (May 20, 2010). "Justin Bartha Interview for Holy Rollers". The Cinema Source.
6. Wigney, James. (March 13, 2010). "The Rebound Ace". Sunday Herald Sun.
7. "Justin Bartha Biography".
8. "Justin Bartha Interview, National Treasure 2". MoviesOnline.
9. (April 11, 2022). "Justin Bartha to Reprise 'National Treasure' Role in Disney+ Series".
10. Dey, Tom. (2006-03-10). "Failure to Launch". Paramount Pictures, Scott Rudin Productions, Failure to Launch Productions.
11. "Teachers. (TV Series 2006) - IMDb".
12. (October 12, 2011). "Asuncion, With Jesse Eisenberg and Justin Bartha, Begins Off-Broadway Run Oct. 12".
13. "Justin Bartha, Anna Camp Sign On for Zach Braff's Off-Broadway Play". Broadway.me.
14. Ausiello, Michael. (February 22, 2012). "Scoop: Hangover's Justin Bartha Joins Ryan Murphy's NBC Comedy Pilot The New Normal". [[TVLine]].
15. (May 7, 2012). "'The New Normal': NBC Orders Ryan Murphy Comedy And J.J. Abrams Drama To Series". [[HuffPost]].
16. Goldman, Eric. (June 14, 2012). "NBC Sets Fall Premiere Dates: Community, The Office and More". [[IGN]].
17. Heredia, Gustavo. (May 13, 2013). "'The New Normal' Star Justin Bartha Talks About The Show's Cancellation". [[HuffPost]].
18. Mogol, Allen. (2015-02-23). "Broadway Direct".
19. (2015-09-14). "New Podcast! A LITTLE PART OF ALL OF US by Jesse Eisenberg".
20. Krueger, Alyson. (2021-12-17). "She Became a Fitness Guru During the Pandemic". The New York Times.
21. Barbuti, Angela. (January 5, 2014). "Justin Bartha's New Wife, Lia Smith: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know".
22. (January 5, 2014). "Justin Bartha Marries Lia Smith". [[People (magazine).
23. Monde, Chiderah. (April 21, 2014). "Justin Bartha, wife Lia Smith welcome first child together: report". NEW YORK DAILY NEWS.
24. (April 16, 2019). "Lia Bartha в Instagram: "It's my second born spunky nuggets 3rd birthday today! We have two kids with almost identical birthdays. This hunky dudes birthday is 7/21.…"".
25. "Nuked {{!}} 2024 Tribeca Festival".
26. Grobar, Matt. (July 10, 2024). "Jill Kargman, David Krumholtz, Justin Bartha & Christine Taylor To Topline Comedy ‘Miracle On 74th Street’".
27. Rowles, Dustin. (2014-11-21). "'Imagine' Gets the Star-Studded 'We Are The World' Treatment for UNICEF".
28. "THE AWARDS CIRCUIT BLOG: The winners of the 2009 ACCA's are announced!".