Benjamin Joseph Manaly Novak (born July 31, 1979) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, author, and producer. He gained traction as a comedian during the early 2000s before becoming a field agent for the MTV reality prank show Punk’d (2003).
Novak had his breakout with a leading role as Ryan Howard on seasons 1–8 of the NBC mockumentary sitcom The Office (2005–2013). His acting, writing and producing for the show earned him two Screen Actors Guild Awards and a Writers Guild of America Award, alongside five nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series.
In the late 2000s, Novak had supporting roles in the films Reign Over Me (2007) and Inglourious Basterds (2009). In the 2010s, he portrayed musician Robert B. Sherman in Saving Mr. Banks (2013) and Marvel Comics character Alistair Smythe in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014). He had a starring role as Harry J. Sonneborn in the biographical film The Founder (2016) and voiced Baker Smurf in The Smurfs (2011) and The Smurfs 2 (2013). In television, he had a recurring role as Lucas Pruit on the HBO series The Newsroom (2014).
In the 2020s, Novak made his film directorial debut with Vengeance (2022), which he also produced and starred in. He created and wrote the FX on Hulu anthology series The Premise (2021). In addition to his film and television career, Novak authored the books One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories (2014) and The Book with No Pictures (2014).
Description above from the Wikipedia article B.J. Novak, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
2009 • TV
2005 • TV
2015 • TV
2014 • TV
2009 • Movie
2026 • Movie
as PFC. Smithson Utivich
as Allistar Smythe
as (uncredited)
as Baker Smurf (voice)
as Baker Smurf (voice)
as Harry J. Sonneborn
as Young Doctor
as Mr. Fallon
as Robert Sherman
as Ben Manalowitz
as Self
as Desk Attendant
as Self
as Self
as Male Interviewer
as Ryan Howard
as Self - Coach
Executive Producer
Writer
Director
as Self - Guest
6 episodes
as Ryan Howard
165 episodes
as Self - Guest
1 episodes
as Self
1 episodes
as Self
1 episodes
as Self - Guest
1 episodes
as Mr. Egypt
1 episodes
as Self
1 episodes
as Self - Guest
2 episodes
as Self
1 episodes
as Field Agent
5 episodes
as Self
2 episodes
as B.J. Novak
1 episodes
as Hiram Lubinski
1 episodes
as Jamie
5 episodes
as Lucas Pruit
4 episodes
as Self
2 episodes
as Count Rugen
1 episodes
as Six-Thirty (voice)
1 episodes
as Self
1 episodes
Writer
Director
Executive Producer
Writer
Director
Executive Producer
Writer
Director
Executive Producer
Writer
