Ike Barinholtz

He co-wrote the action comedy film Central Intelligence (2016), and directed, wrote, produced, and starred in the comedy film The Oath (2018). On February 2, 2023, he won the inaugural primetime season of Celebrity Jeopardy!, winning $1,000,000 for charity, Pacific Clinics, and placed as a semifinalist in the 2024 Tournament of Champions. On August 14, 2024, he and his father, Alan, became the first duo and the second celebrities overall to win the $1,000,000 top prize for their charity, the ASL Program at Los Encinos School, and the fifteenth overall million dollar winners on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. He also previously won $125,000 for his charity, Uplift Family Services, on April 22, 2020. To date, Barinholtz is the eleventh highest-earning game show contestant of all time, having accumulated $1,835,000 on his game show appearances.

• Name — Ike Barinholtz • Born — 18 February 1977 • Birthplace — Chicago, Illinois, U.S. • Occupation — * Actor • comedian • Years Active — 2001–present • Father — Alan Barinholtz • Relatives — Jon Barinholtz (brother) • Children — 3

Barinholtz grew up in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood, the son of Peggy and Alan Barinholtz, an attorney and actor. His brother Jon Barinholtz is also an actor. Barinholtz has described his parents as "liberal people with great senses of humor", and said that he was raised in a "very funny home". Barinholtz is Jewish. He attended Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School and then The Latin School of Chicago for high school, where he played on the school's Scholastic Bowl team when it won the state championship in 1994; he also competed in the 1994 Texaco Star National Academic Championship, held at Rice University. He worked at a telemarketing company and as a busboy before starting a career in comedy. Barinholtz attended Boston University. After dropping out of college, he worked for the Chicago Transit Authority before starting his comedy career. In a 2013 interview, he said he dropped out of school because he hated it and was doing poorly. In a 2012 phone interview, Barinholtz said he was inspired to pursue a career in comedy after attending a comedy show at The Vic Theatre. Thereafter, he took comedy classes at The Second City, ImprovOlympic and Annoyance Theatre. He had planned on becoming a politician but instead decided to move to Los Angeles to be an actor.

• Illustration — Barinholtz at PaleyFest 2013 Barinholtz spent two years in Amsterdam with the famed comedy troupe Boom Chicago along with Jordan Peele, Josh Meyers, and Nicole Parker. Barinholtz hosted the 'Worst of Boom Night' during the troupe's 10-year anniversary show, in which they performed their worst material from previous shows. In 2009, he performed at the Chicago Improv Festival alongside former MADtv cast member Jordan Peele. In 2012, Barinholtz performed at another Chicago Improv Festival event with his brother, Jon. He is a founding member of The Lindbergh Babies, an improv group directed by Del Close, who worked with John Belushi, Bill Murray, Mike Myers, and Chris Farley. In 2012, Barinholtz joined the cast of the third season of the HBO series Eastbound & Down, playing the role of Ivan Dochenko, Kenny Powers' Russian rival. He starred alongside Seth Rogen in the 2014 comedy Neighbors, as well as its 2016 sequel. Also in 2016, Barinholtz played prison guard Griggs in the DC Comics film Suicide Squad. He has frequently worked with comedian Dave Stassen, with whom he attended high school. They co-wrote a SPIKE pilot in which Barinholtz also starred, Mega Winner, and the 2016 film Central Intelligence. Barinholtz appeared in a regular role as nurse Morgan Tookers on the comedy series The Mindy Project. He was also a writer and story editor on the series. He also has a role in Friends from College, a Netflix original. In 2022, Barinholtz was in the main cast of the Apple TV+ mystery comedy series The Afterparty. Competing on the first season of Celebrity Jeopardy! on ABC in 2022–23, Barinholtz defeated Patton Oswalt and Wil Wheaton in the finals to win the championship. He earned $1,000,000 for his charity, Pacific Clinics, and, due to rule changes, became the first celebrity champion to receive a berth to the Tournament of Champions. Competing in 2024, Barinholtz won his quarterfinal match against 13-game winner Ray Lalonde and 3-game winner Melissa Klapper, before losing in the semifinals. An article in Slate described Barinholtz as the "chaos agent Jeopardy! needed". Since 2025, Barinholtz has been starring in the critically acclaimed Apple TV+ comedy series The Studio as Sal Saperstein, a role which earned him the Critics' Choice Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. After the show's first season, Barinholtz also received nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award and an Actor Award. In July 2025, he was officially confirmed to portray Elon Musk in Luca Guadagnino's upcoming AI‑themed film Artificial, a comedic drama centered on the internal turmoil at OpenAI. He is expected to star in CoComelon: The Movie, which will be released in 2027.

Barinholtz officially joined the cast of MADtv in 2002 as a featured performer for the eighth season. He was later promoted to a repertory performer status the following season. Barinholtz often paired up with fellow cast member Josh Meyers in various sketches for the eighth and ninth seasons similar to the Mike Myers/Dana Carvey and Jimmy Fallon/Horatio Sanz duos on Saturday Night Live. Barinholtz also paired up with fellow cast member Bobby Lee in some of his sketches in the later seasons. Some of his famous characters included Abercrombie & Fitch model Dutch and Principal Lankenstein from the Coach Hines sketches. Barinholtz's celebrity impressions included Abraham Lincoln, Alex Trebek, Andy Dick, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ashton Kutcher, Bo Bice, Cris Judd, Dane Cook, Felicity Huffman, Fidel Castro, George Michael, Howard Dean, Howie Long, Jack Osbourne, Kevin Federline, Mark Wahlberg, Clay Aiken, Matt Damon, Nick Lachey, Nick Nolte, Orlando Bloom, Pat Sajak, Ralph Nader, Rafael Palmeiro, Tom Hanks, and Vin Diesel. In 2007, he decided not to renew his contract for the 13th season of MADtv. Barinholtz has commented that he started getting "restless" and did not see eye to eye with some of the MADtv bosses about how decisions were being made.

• Character — Sketch — Notes • Adam Bice — QVC: Quacker Factory • Eli — The B.S. • Astroman • Duncan Kruskal — The Silver Fox • Dutch — Abercrombie & Fitch • Jeffrey "Jeff" DeShazer — Coach Hines • Marty — Knobs • Mitchel "Mitch" Ruffin • Principal Lankenstein — Coach Hines — He is the principal of St. Francis High and Coach Hines' nemesis. • Roy Schenk — Feuding Parents • Steven "Steve" Wellington

Barinholtz is married and has three daughters. While shooting the film Blockers, he suffered an accident doing a stunt involving a fall. He suffered two fractured cervical vertebrae in his neck.

• Year — Title — Role — Notes • 2002–2007, 2016 — MADtv — Various characters — 116 episodes; also writer • 2005 — E! Hollywood Hold'em — Himself — Episode: "Laura Prepon" • 2008 — Family Guy — Dane Cook — Voice, episode: "I Dream of Jesus" • 2008–2009 — Rita Rocks — Fly — 6 episodes • 2010 — Weeds — Daryl — Episode: "Fran Tarkenton" • 2010–2015 — The League — Frank "The Body" Gibiatti — 4 episodes • 2011 — Childrens Hospital — Peter Principato — Episode: "Newsreaders" • 2012 — Eastbound & Down — Ivan Dochenko — 6 episodes • NTSF:SD:SUV: — Maitre'D — Episode: "Sabbath-tage" • Megawinner — Cliff Planker — Television film; also writer and executive producer • 2012–2017 — The Mindy Project — Morgan Tookers — 115 episodes; also writer and executive story editor • 2013 — Drunk History — August Spies — Episode: "Chicago" • High School USA! — Cyber Bully — Voice, episode: "Bullies" • The Soup — Himself — Episode dated October 23 • The Pete Holmes Show — Episode: "Ike Barinholtz" • 2013–2015 — The Awesomes — Muscleman — Voice, 30 episodes • 2014 — Kroll Show — Zach Sword — Episode: "Oh Armond" • Chozen — Hunter — Voice, 4 episodes • Married — Bruce — Episode: "The Old Date" • Garfunkel and Oates — First Door on the Right Director — Episode: "Hair Swap" • @midnight — Himself — Episode dated January 8 • American Dad! — DJ Iron Monkey — Voice, episode: "Blonde Ambition" • 2016 — Animals. — Alan — Voice, episode: "Pigeons." • 2017 — Friends from College — Degrasso — 2 episodes • Neo Yokio — Jeffrey — Voice, episode: "Hamptons Water Magic" • 2019 — Brooklyn Nine-Nine — Gintars Irbe — Episode: "Gintars" • The Twilight Zone — Mike — Episode: "Not All Men" • What Just Happened??! with Fred Savage — Himself — Episode: "Elevator" • Live in Front of a Studio Audience — Michael Stivic — Episode: "Norman Lear's All in the Family and The Jeffersons" • 2019–2021 — Bless the Harts — Wayne Edwards — Voice, 34 episodes • 2020, 2024 — Who Wants to Be a Millionaire — Himself — 2 episodes • 2020 — Mapleworth Murders — Richard Belt — 3 episodes • 2021–2022 — Chicago Party Aunt — Mark — Voice, 15 episodes; also writer and executive producer • 2022 — The Afterparty — Brett — 8 episodes • Central Park — Voice, episode: "A Hot Dog to Remember" • 2022–2023 — American Auto — Landon Payne — 2 episodes • 2022–2026 — Celebrity Jeopardy! — Himself — 5 episodes • 2023 — History of the World, Part II — Various — 8 episodes; also writer and executive producer • White House Plumbers — Jeb Stuart Magruder — 3 episodes • 2024 — Jeopardy Tournament of Champions — Himself — 2 episodes • Curb Your Enthusiasm — Shimon — Episode: "The Gettysburg Address" • 2024–2025 — The Simpsons — Wayne the Grip — Voice, 2 episodes • 2025 — Bob's Burgers — Breckin — Voice, episode: "Mr. Safebody" • Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles — Todd — Voice, 2 episodes • 2025–present — Running Point — Benny Bradzackis — 2 episodes; also co-creator, writer, executive producer • The Studio — Sal Saperstein — Main cast • 2026 — Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness — Henry Ford — Episode: "Deepthroat"

• Year — Title — Voice role — Notes • 2016 — Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare — A.J.

• Year — Title — Role — Author — Production company • 2021 — Batman: The Audio Adventures — Two-Face/Harvey Dent — Dennis McNicholas — Blue Ribbon Content • 2023 — White House Plumbers Podcast — Himself

Ike Barinholtz is recorded as actor, screenwriter, comedian, film producer and film director.