1999–2008: Child acting and breakthrough His first role was an unpaid appearance in a
Tim Hortons summer camp commercial. That appearance eventually landed him a position in a Pillsbury commercial, in which he poked the
Pillsbury Doughboy and had his first role with lines. In 1999, Cera was cast as Larrabe Hicks in the Canadian children's show
I Was a Sixth Grade Alien, which ran for two seasons. That year, he also appeared in the television films
What Katy Did and
Switching Goals, starring the
Olsen twins. The next year Cera made his theatrical film debut in the science fiction film
Frequency (2000) as the son of
Noah Emmerich's character. Cera appeared in several television films in 2001, including
My Louisiana Sky and
The Familiar Stranger. He also began voicing Josh Spitz in the animated series
Braceface, which he continued until 2004. He provided the voice for Brother Bear – an
anthropomorphic bear – in the 2003
The Berenstain Bears animated series, which aired for three seasons. After three seasons, Fox canceled the series in 2006 due to low viewership, although it had received critical acclaim. In 2006, Cera created and starred in a parody of
Impossible is Nothing, a video résumé created by Aleksey Vayner. Cera and his
Arrested Development co-star
Alia Shawkat guest-starred as a pair of college students in the teen noir drama
Veronica Mars, in the episode "
The Rapes of Graff" in 2006. Along with best friend
Clark Duke, Cera wrote and starred in a series of short videos released on their website. In 2007, the pair signed a deal with
CBS Television to write, produce, direct, and act in a short-form comedy series entitled
Clark and Michael. The show featured guest stars such as
David Cross,
Andy Richter and
Patton Oswalt, and was distributed via CBS's internet channel,
CBS Innertube. In May 2007, Cera appeared in a staged comedy video that shows him being fired from the lead role of the film
Knocked Up, after belittling and arguing with its director
Judd Apatow, in a scene that mocks the
David O. Russell blow up on the set of
I Heart Huckabees.
Superbad was released in cinemas in August 2007, topping the US box office for two weeks in a row. Cera's performance was critically acclaimed:
The Atlantic reviewer said that the film "belongs to Michael Cera" for capturing "teenage sexual abashment as indelibly as he did in the role of George Michael [on
Arrested Development]."
The New York Times said that he was "excellent" and
CNN praised Cera and Hill for playing "off each other beautifully". In November 2007, Cera hosted a live, staged version of
Saturday Night Live; it was not broadcast due to the ongoing
2007 Writers Guild of America Strike. For
Superbad and
Juno, Cera won Breakthrough Artist in the
Austin Film Critics Association Awards 2007, and was included in ''
Entertainment Weekly's'' "30 Under 30" list in February 2008. Cera starred alongside
Kat Dennings in the romantic comedy-drama ''
Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist (2008), in which they played two strangers who bond over their shared love of a band and try to find their secret show. He starred in the comedy Extreme Movie (2008), which was composed of vignettes focusing on teen sex. Cera held a recurring role on the comedy series Childrens Hospital'' from 2008 to 2016 as Sal Viscuso, a hospital staffer who is known only by his voice through an
intercom.
2009–2013: Varied success and stage debut to promote
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World at the 2010
San Diego Comic-Con Cera played a fictionalized version of himself in the independent romantic comedy
Paper Heart (2009). It explored the fictional relationship between Cera and the film's writer
Charlyne Yi, also playing herself. Cera and Yi composed the film's score together. That year Cera starred opposite
Jack Black in the comedy
Year One, set during the
Stone Age. The film, directed by
Harold Ramis, was poorly received, although
Time magazine critic Mary Pols said that Cera's performance saved the film from being a "catastrophe". In his final film of 2009, Cera starred in
Youth in Revolt, an adaptation of the
eponymous novel. He played a shy teenager named Nick Twisp who creates a destructive
alter ego, François Dillinger, after becoming smitten with a girl, played by
Portia Doubleday. Cera had also begun to write. His first published short story, "Pinecone", appeared in ''
McSweeney's Quarterly'' thirtieth issue in 2009. Cera was cast as
Scott Pilgrim in the film adaptation of the
graphic novel series by
Bryan Lee O'Malley. The film's director,
Edgar Wright, had seen his work in
Arrested Development and believed that Cera was an actor "audiences will still follow even when the character is being a bit of an ass." The film,
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, follows Pilgrim, a musician who must battle the seven evil exes of his girlfriend
Ramona (played by
Mary Elizabeth Winstead). It was released in cinemas in August 2010. It did poorly at the box office, grossing $47.7 million against a production budget of $85–90 million. Cera made a guest appearance in "
The Daughter Also Rises", a 2012 episode of the animated sitcom
The Simpsons, as the voice of Nick, a love interest to
Lisa Simpson. Cera made his theater debut in a production of
Kenneth Lonergan's play
This Is Our Youth in a two-week run during March 2012 at the
Sydney Opera House. The play also featured his
Scott Pilgrim co-star
Kieran Culkin and actress
Tavi Gevinson. A
Broadway production at the
Cort Theater opened in September 2014 and closed in January 2015.
The New York Times theater critic
Ben Brantley praised Cera for achieving "something remarkable": "the sense of an amorphous being assuming and losing shape in the course of roughly 12 hours". Also in 2012, Cera played a supporting role in the drama
The End of Love and appeared in the short film
The Immigrant.
Arrested Development was revived for a fourth season in 2012 by
Netflix, with Cera reprising his role as George Michael Bluth. Cera also worked in the writers' room and served as a consulting producer during its production. The season was released in May 2013. Cera collaborated with Chilean filmmaker
Sebastián Silva on two films in 2013 –
Magic Magic and
Crystal Fairy & the Magical Cactus – both of which were filmed in Chile and premiered at the
2013 Sundance Film Festival. He spent "five hours a day learning Spanish" for
Magic Magic. Cera was featured most prominently in
Crystal Fairy, in which he starred as a self-absorbed man travelling Chile with a woman named "Crystal Fairy" (played by
Gaby Hoffmann) while bearing a
cactus. These films include the comedy-drama
Gregory Go Boom (2013), in which Cera played a
paraplegic man, and his directorial debut
Brazzaville Teen-Ager (2013), co-starring
Charles Grodin as his sick father. He played an exaggerated version of himself in the apocalyptic comedy film
This Is the End, which was released in summer of 2013 and featured his
Superbad co-stars Jonah Hill and Seth Rogen. Throughout 2013, Cera also appeared on
Burning Love, a web spoof of
reality dating competition shows, and on an episode of
Drunk History as
John Endecott. Cera had previously played
Alexander Hamilton in a comedic retelling of
Hamilton's duel with
Aaron Burr on the show's first episode as a web series in 2008 before it was adapted into a television show.
2014–present Cera appeared in his
Arrested Development co-star
David Cross' 2014 film
Hits, playing a
marijuana dealer. He also co-starred alongside
John Hawkes and
Sally Hawkins in
Charlie Kaufman's
television pilot How & Why, which was rejected by
FX. After a brief, "menacing" appearance in the drama
Entertainment (2015), Cera appeared in the
prequel to the 2001 comedy film
Wet Hot American Summer, the comedy series
Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp and in the Christmas musical comedy film
A Very Murray Christmas as
Bill Murray's fictional talent agent. Cera then voiced a
hot dog trying to escape his fate in a supermarket in the animated comedy
Sausage Party (2016). In 2015, Cera made a cameo on
Louis C.K.'s
Louie on
FX, in the season five episode "Sleepover" alongside
Glenn Close,
John Lithgow, and
Matthew Broderick. Cera had five film releases in 2017, the first of which was the animated superhero comedy
The Lego Batman Movie, in which he voiced the
Batman's sidekick
Robin. Cera starred opposite
Abbi Jacobson in the drama
Person to Person, focusing on the struggles of different people over the course of one day in
New York City. Cera and Jacobson are featured as a pair of crime reporters investigating a possible murder. In his final film of the year,
Aaron Sorkin's crime drama ''
Molly's Game'', Cera played a celebrity known only as Player X who participates in a high-stakes, underground poker empire run by
Molly Bloom (played by
Jessica Chastain). Cera's fictional character in the film was said to be a
composite character of celebrity poker players and actors
Leonardo DiCaprio,
Tobey Maguire and
Ben Affleck. A "giant fan" of director
David Lynch, The appearance contained several references to the work of actor
Marlon Brando: Wally shares the same birthday and is nicknamed after Brando. Cera and Henry were both nominated for
Best Featured Actor in a Play at the
72nd Tony Awards. Cera return to Broadway in October 2018, starring in a third Kenneth Lonergan production, a revival of
The Waverly Gallery at the
John Golden Theatre on Broadway. Cera took a supporting role as a painter acting alongside
Elaine May,
Lucas Hedges, and
Joan Allen. Cera co-starred in the 2018 film drama
Gloria Bell, with
Julianne Moore as the title character. Cera returned to his role as George Michael Bluth in the fifth season of
Arrested Development in 2018. In 2021, Cera lent his voice to the adult animated film
Cryptozoo. Cera appeared in the 2022 animated comedy
Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank about a dog who wishes to become a samurai. In 2023, he starred opposite
Margot Robbie and
Ryan Gosling in the fantasy comedy film
Barbie as
Allan. In August 2023, he said in an interview he was working on getting financing to direct his first movie, naming an adaptation of
Masters of Atlantis by
Charles Portis as one of two possible
directorial debuts, having narrowly beaten out Clark Duke when first securing the adaptation rights. In 2025, Cera garnered critical acclaim for his performance as Norwegian entomologist Björn Lund in the
Wes Anderson film
The Phoenician Scheme, which critic Brian Tallerico deemed "his best work to date".
Music In 2010, Cera contributed mandolin and backing vocals to the
Weezer song "Hang On" from their album
Hurley. Cera has also established himself as the touring bass player in
Mister Heavenly, an indie rock band originating in the American northwest, and is a member of the band
The Long Goodbye, along with
Clark Duke. Cera also played bass and sang back up during songs in both
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and ''Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
. He released his full-length debut album True That'' on August 8, 2014, through his official
Bandcamp page. The album features 19 original tracks, a cover of
Roderick Falconer's "Play It Again" as well as a cover of
Blaze Foley's "Clay Pigeons." In early 2015, Canadian musician
Alden Penner released "Meditate", a track from his upcoming
EP Canada in Space, which features Cera. Penner subsequently announced that the EP would be released on June 29, 2015, on
City Slang records, as well as a European tour of the UK, Netherlands, France, and Germany, which featured Cera as both co-headliner and member of Penner's backing band. The song "Best I Can" from the film
Dina, written and performed by Cera and featuring
Sharon Van Etten, was nominated for 'Best Song in a Documentary' at the 2017 Critics' Choice Documentary Awards. ==Personal life==