Osborne's first film role was a small part in
School Ties (1992) with
Brendan Fraser,
Matt Damon,
Ben Affleck, and
Chris O'Donnell. His character Emile in
School Ties inspired Osborne to write the screenplay for the film
Dropping Out, in which he starred alongside
David Koechner,
Adam Arkin,
John Stamos,
Katey Sagal, and
Fred Willard. Osborne served as writing partner for the comedian
Rob Schneider. After recurring appearances on the
TBS show
Dinner and a Movie, he hosted a spinoff TBS program,
Movie Lounge, beginning in 1998–2001. From 2002 to 2005, Osborne was a writer and a storyboard director for
SpongeBob SquarePants on
Nickelodeon. He received two
Emmy Award nominations for his writing on the show, in 2003 and 2004. He was also one of the writers for the theatrical film,
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (2004). He also contributed to
Behind Closed Doors. Osborne went on to write for other animated series appearing on the
Cartoon Network, including
Camp Lazlo (Emmy nomination in 2006),
The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack (Emmy nomination in 2010), and
Adventure Time (Emmy nominations in 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2016, with wins in 2015 and 2017). He also wrote and storyboarded several episodes of the
first season of
Disney Channel's
Phineas and Ferb in 2008. Osborne has been a screenwriter and actor in a number of films associated with the
mumblecore movement, including several directed by
Joe Swanberg. He co-wrote and acted in
Hannah Takes the Stairs (2007) and had a supporting role in
Nights and Weekends (2008). For
Uncle Kent, which debuted at the
2011 Sundance Film Festival, Osborne served as co-writer and co-producer, as well as playing the title role, loosely based on his own life. He returned to the semi-autobiographical role for the sequel
Uncle Kent 2, which premiered at the 2015
SXSW Film Festival. In 2011, he starred in writer/director
Amber Sealey's film
How to Cheat. Osborne and his castmates won the award for Best Performance in the Narrative Competition of the 2011
Los Angeles Film Festival. In 2013, he created the internet series
Cat Agent with Rug Burn (founded by staff members of
Titmouse, Inc. and
Six Point Harness). Osborne also worked as a voice director for
The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack,
Bee and PuppyCat,
Adventure Time and
Steven Universe and a story consultant for
Cartoon Network Development Studio Europe's very first show ever created
The Amazing World of Gumball. ==Filmography==