Jon Favreau

Jon Favreau (born October 19, 1966, Queens, New York, U.S.) is an American filmmaker who first found success with the semi-autobiographical Swingers (1996), which he wrote and starred in. He has been variously a director, a producer, and an actor for a string of high-profile film series from the Walt Disney Company, including Iron Man and the Avengers as well as numerous Star Wars projects.

Early life and education

Favreau was born in the Forest Hills section of Queens in New York City and was the only child of Madeleine (née Balkoff) and Charles Favreau. His mother, who was of Russian Jewish ancestry, taught elementary school, while his father, of French Canadian as well as Italian and German origins, was a special education teacher. When Favreau was 12 his mother died of leukemia. Favreau has said that his father, a cinephile, often took him to the theater so they could watch films together, which encouraged his own passion for storytelling.

Favreau’s grandparents kept kosher, he attended Hebrew school, and he became a bar mitzvah at age 13 in keeping with Jewish custom. “I’ve definitely played the schlimazel,” Favreau told The Forward in 2011. “I think there is a self-deprecating aspect of my persona that owes a lot to its Jewish roots.”

Favreau attended the Bronx High School of Science and has described himself as a class clown. He acted in school plays but did not envision acting as a viable career path at the time.

Favreau continued his education at Queens College of the City University of New York (CUNY), his father’s alma mater. He focused more on extracurricular activities than on his studies, and he credited his involvement in college clubs with providing skills that would help him later in his career. In 1987 he took a leave from school to work at Bear Stearns, a Wall Street investment bank. By chance, he quit that job just before Black Monday, that year’s big market crash, and went back to school. Only a few credits shy of earning a degree, he dropped out, though Queens College would grant him an honorary doctorate in fine arts in 2023.

In the summer of 1988 Favreau went on a cross-country motorcycle trip, and, on his way back east, he stopped in Chicago to visit a friend who was working in improvisational comedy. He saw a live show at the Second City comedy club, where Chris Farley—the future Saturday Night Live star—was performing. Looking at Second City’s wall of alumni, Favreau recognized many of his favorite acts. Enamored with the comedy scene, he decided to stay in the city and pursue an acting career, working in improv as well as cartoons and commercials.

The Swingers breakthrough

Favreau landed a role in the movie Rudy (1993), on the set of which he met fellow actor Vince Vaughn. That marked the beginning of a friendship that led to their collaboration on a number of projects. In addition, Favreau played small roles in popular sitcoms, such as Seinfeld and Friends.

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After a few years in Chicago, Favreau moved to Los Angeles to further pursue his acting career, but he struggled to get traction. Swingers (1996), which Favreau wrote, is based on those challenging times. He starred as Mike, who lives in Los Angeles and is trying to get over his ex-girlfriend, while Vaughn played one of Mike’s buddies, Trent. This low-budget movie was not popular in theaters, but it became a big hit on DVD. Swingers opened doors for Favreau, helping move him from an outsider to an insider in Hollywood.

Favreau became firmly established as a filmmaker when he directed the 2003 movie Elf, starring Will Ferrell. Other hits followed, sometimes including his friend and collaborator Vaughn. Favreau acted alongside Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston in The Break-Up (2006). Favreau and Vaughn also wrote (with Dana Fox) and starred in Couples Retreat (2009).

Marvel blockbusters and Disney movies

Favreau directed two blockbuster Iron Man movies, Iron Man (2008) and Iron Man 2 (2010), and he was executive producer of the final installment, Iron Man 3 (2013). He played the character Happy Hogan in all three films, alongside star Robert Downey, Jr. He was also executive producer of The Avengers (2012) and three sequels, and he played Hogan in one of them, Avengers: Endgame (2019).

Favreau also directed Cowboys & Aliens (2011) and wrote and directed Chef (2014), in which he also starred, alongside Downey and Scarlett Johansson. He directed and served as a voice actor in The Jungle Book (2016)—which took home an Oscar for visual effects—and directed another animated Disney movie, The Lion King (2019).

A new era of Star Wars

In 2019 Favreau created the Star Wars TV series The Mandalorian, starring Pedro Pascal, for Disney+. The show was an instant success for the freshly launched video streaming service and the Star Wars brand. He went on to serve as executive producer for two spin-off series, The Book of Boba Fett (2021−22) and Ahsoka (2023). Favreau—alongside writer, director, and producer Dave Filoni—established himself as a leading storyteller for a new era of Star Wars, a franchise started in the 1970s, that introduced that multimedia universe to a new generation of fans.

In 2022 Favreau was executive producer of the Apple TV+ series Prehistoric Planet, narrated by David Attenborough.

Although he has continued to appear as an actor in some of his projects, Favreau has said he likes directing best. “I have big hits,” he told Sunday Today in 2022, “but I also have big flops. And I think it’s been a good balance, because you need to trip over your feet sometimes to learn. You don’t learn on the hits.”