Leslie Mann - Career

Career

Leslie Mann began her career at 17 appearing in a number of television commercials. In a 2012 interview with Elle magazine, she recalled that one was for a nail polish brand called Nouvage, in which she had to dance to Prince's "Kiss" on roller skates for the audition. In 1995, Mann was chosen from an open audition of 500 candidates for her first big movie role in The Cable Guy (1996). Mann followed with performances including guest-starring in Freaks & Geeks, as well as appearing in Sam Weisman's George of The Jungle alongside Brendan Fraser, Big Daddy with Adam Sandler, Orange County opposite Jack Black, and The 40 Year Old Virgin with Steve Carell.

In 2009, Mann reunited with her Big Daddy co-star Adam Sandler and Knocked Up co-star Seth Rogen for Apatow's Funny People. This film was named to many of the year's top ten lists including The New Yorker and The New York Times. ELLE writer Mickey Rapkin said that " owns the second half of 2009's Funny People, where her character does the most unlikely thing a woman can do in a major studio picture: has an affair with an ex-boyfriend on a whim." That same year, Mann also starred in Burr Steers' successful comedy 17 Again opposite Zac Efron and Matthew Perry, which grossed over $125 million worldwide. She was also seen in the indie hit I Love You Phillip Morris alongside Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor. The film premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and upon release was met with critical acclaim including a nomination for a 2011 Broadcast Film Critics Association Award in the category of "Best Comedy". Mann also starred alongside Elizabeth Banks in the film What Was I Thinking? based upon the book by Barbara Davilman and Liz Dubelman which was filmed in 2009 but never released.

In 2011, Mann starred opposite Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman in David Dobkin’s comedy The Change-Up. In addition, she lent her voice to ‘Linda,’ the main human character in Carlos Saldanha’s animated film Rio, which garnered over $484 million worldwide and also featured vocal performances by Jaime Foxx and Anne Hathaway, as well as to Jonah Hill’s animated FOX television series Allen Gregory, as the title character's second-grade teacher.

Mann continued her recent voice performance work in 2012 with her role in ParaNorman, an animated 3D, stop-motion film from the team behind 2009’s Oscar-nominated Coraline, including writer/director Chris Butler, Focus Features and LAIKA.

In December 2012, Mann will star opposite Paul Rudd in Judd Apatow’s This is 40, the 2012 sequel to Knocked up. The movie reunites the trio from the film, with Mann and Rudd reprising their characters. The film is written and directed by Judd Apatow and includes their two daughters in the cast list. In contrast to Knocked Up, This is 40 centers squarely on Mann’s character and her family. An early response on Mann's performance from Elle Magazine states that “ doesn’t just walk off with scenes—she steals the show.”

In 2013 Mann will be seen in Sofia Coppola’s The Bling Ring with Emma Watson. Inspired by actual events, the film follows a group of fame-obsessed L.A. teenagers who burglarized celebrity homes by tracking their whereabouts on the internet.