Park studied aesthetics at Tokyo Imperial University and became a professional dancer before moving to Germany. However, his grandfather – Ehara Masami ( Japanese: 江原正美, Hepburn: Ehara Masami), better known by his professional pseudonym Masami Kuni ( Japanese: 邦正美, Hepburn: Kuni Masami, or marked as Korean: 방정미 RR: Bang Jeongmi MR: Pang Chŏngmi) or birth name Park Yeong-in ( Korean: 박영인 Hanja: 朴永仁 RR: Bak Yeongin MR: Pak Yŏngin), – was actually born in Ulsan, Korea, and had adopted a Japanese name and persona after the massacre of Koreans in 1923 when he was a high school student.
įor much of his life, Armisen thought his paternal grandfather was Japanese.
His father, Fereydun Herbert "Fred" Armisen, who worked for IBM, was born in Soltau, Lower Saxony, Germany, to a German mother and a Korean-born father. His mother, schoolteacher Hildegardt Mirabal Level, was born in San Fernando de Apure, Venezuela, and he has family from both San Rafael de Atamaica and from Apure. He has mentioned excitement from watching the bands The Clash and Devo perform on television and wanting to be a performer since he was a child. Armisen attended the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan before dropping out to begin a career as a rock drummer. He was raised on Long Island in Valley Stream, New York, where he was a high school classmate of fellow SNL alumnus Jim Breuer. He moved with his family to New York as a baby and briefly lived in Brazil in his youth.
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Since 2019, he co-stars and acts as writer and executive producer on the Spanish-language series Los Espookys, which he co-created. He has also won two Peabody Awards, one in 2008 as part of the Saturday Night Live political satire cast and one in 2011 for Portlandia. He received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Comedy Album for Standup for Drummers in 2019. He is also notable for his guest starring appearances in television shows such as 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, New Girl, Broad City, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Difficult People, The Last Man on Earth, and Curb Your Enthusiasm.įor his work on Portlandia, Armisen was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series in 2012, 2013, and 2014 and for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 2014. Armisen founded, a website that features the comedy sketches created with Brownstein, and is the bandleader and frequent drummer for the Late Night with Seth Meyers house band, The 8G Band.Īrmisen has acted in comedy films including Melvin Goes to Dinner (2003), Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo (2005), The Ex (2006), and The Dictator (2012). He voiced Speedy Gonzales on The Looney Tunes Show (2011–2013).
He also co-created and stars in the mockumentary IFC series Documentary Now! (2015–present) alongside Bill Hader and Seth Meyers as well as the Showtime comedy series Moonbase 8 (2020–present) alongside John C. With his comedy partner Carrie Brownstein, Armisen was the co-creator and co-star of the IFC sketch comedy series Portlandia. Fereydun Robert Armisen (born Decem) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and musician.