Nepo Baby? Nope.
Although he is best known for his acting in “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,” “Superbad,” “Barbie” and more, Michael Cera also has had a musical past, with a solo career and his band, The Long Goodbye.
Formed in Los Angeles, Michael Cera, Clark Duke and Christian Buenaventura made up The Long Goodbye, an indie band with “silly, confessional, and off-the-cuff rag-tag ditties,” based on “simple structures” and “adolescent-in-love lyrics.” Cera and Duke played bass and sang vocals, while Buenaventura played drums. Citing Weezer, David Bowie, Sufjan Stevens, Death Cab for Cutie and The Decemberists as influential to developing their music style, the band never signed with an agency, but released a few songs on their MySpace page, including “Can I Call You Mine,” “Leading Man” and “Pilgrim.”
Born and raised in Ontario, Canada, Cera was the son of two Xerox employees, and discovered his love of acting after seeing the original Ghostbusters movie. He began acting in commercials and small roles at a young age, going on to play young Chuck Barris in the George Clooney-directed film “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind” in 2002. After this, he was cast as George Michael Bluth in “Arrested Development,” which was very successful.
He went on to be nominated for a Tony Award for “This Is Our Youth” in 2014 and perform in various stage performances in the 2010s.
Cera released a solo debut album in 2014 called “True That” and toured with indie group Mister Heavenly, as well as playing bass and singing back up during songs for “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” and “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist.” He also performed one of the songs in “Juno” with Elliot Page, which was included on the soundtrack.
Essential Songs: “Clay Pigeons,” “Anyone Else but You,” “Ruth,” “Gershy’s Kiss”
