Lawrence Jay Duplass is an American director, producer, actor and writer. He is best known for his films Jeff, Who Lives at Home; The Puffy Chair and Cyrus and Amazon series Transparent. In this biography, Duplass tells his story in his own words.

Jay Duplass Bio: Age, Early Life, Family, Education

Duplass was born on March 7, 1973 in New Orleans, Louisiana (Jay Duplass current age: 48). His parents, Cynthia and Lawrence Duplass, raised him and his younger brother Mark in the Catholic tradition and placed them in New Orleans’ Jesuit High School. Duplass graduated with an MFA in film from the University of Texas at Austin.

Jay Duplass Bio: Exclusive Interview on His Beginnings in Acting

In May 2019, Jay Duplass sat down with uInterview exclusively to discuss how he originally entered the acting industry. He described how strongly the members of his high school theatre had turned him against acting. Duplass revealed that he graduated “hell-bent on never being an actor,” especially given his laid-back character.

Duplass’ foray into acting was more serendipitous than most. He told uInterview, “You know, I think later in life I accidentally slid in sideways to roles of my friends who were making things.” He went on to detail how the role allowed him to sit comfortably with his quiet nature in such an animated business. “Transparent, the TV show, was the big one where I realized, ‘Oh, I can be shy and still be an actor,’” Duplass explained. “I actually don’t want attention; I don’t wanna be looked at.”

See the full autobiographical interview at the top of this page.

Jay Duplass Bio: Career

Duplass’ career has proven diverse over the years, with 39 producing, 12 writing, 22 acting and 12 directing credits to his name. Though many are for television, most of Duplass’ most famous works involve film.

He first garnered public attention with the romantic comedy The Puffy Chair, which he directed with his brother Mark. The Puffy Chair premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival and won the Audience Award at the South by Southwest Film Festival later that year, with Netflix acquiring distribution rights in between. The movie received generally positive reviews upon its limited release in 2006 and currently holds a 77% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

The Duplass brothers collaborated on two more movies between 2010 and 2011; Cyrus and Jeff, Who Lives at Home. The former, a romantic comedy featuring Jonah Hill and Marisa Tomei, earned both Duplass brothers nominations for the Grand Special Prize at the 2010 Deauville Film Festival. Jeff, Who Lives at Home stars Ed Helms, Jason Segel and Judy Greer and also boasts a 77% Rotten Tomatoes rating.

Aside from directing films, Duplass has accomplished a good deal in the television department. His breakthrough role came in 2014 with the Amazon Prime show Transparent, which boasts cast members like Jeffrey Tambor and Gaby Hoffman as well as 11 Primetime Emmy nominations.

Duplass had never acted in a major role prior to that of Josh Pfefferman and only secured it after chatting with Jill Soloway, the show’s director, at a dinner party. After Duplass’ character achieved greater prominence in Transparent’s second season, he was nominated for the Critics’ Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. At the same time, Duplass was becoming co-creator of the show Togetherness, which aired on HBO from 2015 to 2016.

Jay Duplass Bio: Recent Projects

Duplass has acted, directed, produced and written a good deal in the years since Transparent first aired. He appeared in 13 episodes of Mindy Kaling’s The Mindy Project between 2012 and 2017, plus the movies Paper Towns and Manson Family Vacation (which he also produced) in 2015. Duplass additionally served as executive producer for TV series such as Animals between 2016 and 2018, Co-Ed in 2018 and Room 104 from 2017 to 2019.

One of Duplass’ most recent works is Pink Wall, a romantic drama directed by Tom Cullen. Duplass acts as the male lead, Leon, opposite Tatiana Maslany’s character Jenna in this 2019 film

Duplass discussed Pink Wall at length with Maslany and uInterview in an exclusive interview. He explained how he was able to leverage his real-world relationships to improve his performance as Leon. “I’ve been with my wife for seventeen years,” he said, then acknowledged the longstanding ties between Cullen and Maslany. As a result of their commitment, he explained, the cast “all sort of inherently [understood] the rigor of a relationship, the reality and the rigor that it takes to maintain a relationship and what you have to struggle through to be connected.” 

The actor has high hopes for the impact of Pink Wall on audiences and their own relationships. “I think the movie is a bit of an empathy engine in a lot of ways in terms of what it takes to be in a relationship,” he told uInterview. “I mean, we’ve already had a lot of people say, ‘I feel less alone when I watch the movie.’”

An esteemed director himself, Duplass had nothing but compliments for Cullen in his directorship of the project. “Tom is a dream director,” Duplass stated. “He’s going to have a very healthy career. He created the safest space possible and also managed to inject some really profound cinematic style into a shoot that was only nine days long.” In conclusion, Duplass said, “It was a perfect experience for me.”

Jay Duplass Bio: Personal Life and Quotes

Duplass married his current wife, Jennifer Tracy Duplass, in 2001. Another notable family member is Duplass’ brother Mark; see the above sections for his contributions to the film world.

“I loved movies. They inspired me more than anything growing up, and I wanted to do for others what those movies have done for me. I do a lot of other creative stuff but am not very good at it.”

“Everyone I know who is having success in film right now is there because of persistence.”

“I guess I need a hobby. Currently, my primary hobby is complaining.”

“Filmmaking is a very complex form – you know, acting, lighting, screenwriting, storytelling, music, editing. All these things have to come together.”

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