Long before Jeremy Piven was a well-known, hilarious, Emmy-winning actor... he was still a hilarious actor. All of us at T.H. Gossip are big fans, so we thought it would be fitting for the Entourage star to join our Classic Celebrity Pictures gallery. It's a pretty exclusive club, you know. Christie Brinkley is in it!
Anyway, here's Piven, circa 1994, as Droz in the frat-boy classic PCU.
Last night, Jeremy Piven won the Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy.
He has now also earned The Gossip's award for Best Line of Insult Hurled Against Billy Bush.
During the red-carpet prelude to the Emmys, the Access Hollywood VJ corralled Piven questioned him about a slew of celebrity babies.
Because Piven had just flown in from Arizona, where he was shooting a movie with Jennifer Garner, Bush asked him about Garner's and Ben Affleck's baby, Violet.
From there, the kid questions flew. Seeing as the Entourage star lives in Malibu, Bush inquired about whether or not he had laid eyes on Brangelina's baby, Shiloh. Piven said he hadn't, explaining that he had: "116 other things to do ... I don't go hunting for celebrity babies, thank you, Billy."
Of course, this didn't deter the undeterable Bush. He continued to press the issue, asking Piven if he'd seen Suri Cruise. The soon-to-be Emmy winner lost his patience on that one.
"You need another job. You have potential as a human being ... This may not be right for you. Seriously - can you focus on other things?"
Well said, quasi Ari Gold. We'd encourage you to say the same thing to Lindsay Lohan ... but she has no potential as a human being.
Ok, ok, so Grey's Anatomy didn't win any Emmy Awards last night. We'll get over that shortly.
Helping us to do so would be how striking Katherine Heigl looked in her dress. She's certainly in the running for Best Dressed from the ceremony. Here she is, along with a pair of other hotties that looked dashing walking across the red carpet:
Meanwhile, Heather Locklear was on hand to honor Aaron Spelling. If the former Melrose Place star was still smarting from the deception of ex-best friend, Denise Richards, she didn't show it here:
Finally, Jeremy Piven is allowed to be as silly as he wants now. The actor won the Emmy many believed he should have taken home a year ago for his role in Entourage:
Ari Gold isn't so menacing when he's playing with his puppy.
As the man behind that character, Jeremy Piven doesn't seem too stressed out about his Emmy Award nomination. Maybe his best friend is providing him with some last-minute fashion tips in this shot.
We're sure of one thing, however: unlike Paris Hilton and her supposed furry friend, there was no biting going on here.
We love Jeremy Piven. He makes us laugh. He loves his mom. But his taste in party guests sucks more than one of those featured on the list.
Naturally, we're talking about Lindsay Lohan. When Piven celebrated his 41st birthday over the weekend at the Polaroid Beach House in Malibu, the only celebs anywhere to be found were Molly Sims and Lohan.
Lohan, who has a cameo on Entourage this season - hopefully as the young, spoiled Hollywood starlet that is run over by a mac truck - entertained the host in two different flesh-colored bikinis and heels. What else would she have worn, right?
"I'm going to be on your show!" Lohan told Piven.
"Really! Any scenes with me?" the actor joked in a pseudo-sexual way as Lohan giggled and The Gossip threw up a little bit.
Later, boy toy du jour, Harry Morton, showed up and Lohan greeted the Hard Rock heir with a hug and kiss. "I'm so happy right now!" she said. "He's such a great person and influence on me."
Yeah. An alcoholic, drug-laden influence.
The rest of the day was spent with Lohan playing records in the DJ booth, while the birthday boy spent the afternoon drinking beer, mingling with women and playing the drums. Piven also responded to the absurd notion that a reality TV show was in his future.
"I don't need to do a reality show, I'm on a successful TV show," he said.
No wonder Jeremy Piven has been such a success as mega agent, Ari Gold, on the HBO hit, Entourage. He follows the story lines in real life!
Just like the show's main character, Vince, did with the premiere of his latest movie, Piven plans to take his mom, Joyce, to the Emmy Awards next month. And it's not out of duty or pity, but if he wins ...
"It means I may get a chance to talk about my mother in public. That would be unbelievably exciting," he says. "You know, she put me onstage when I was 8 years old and I was doing Chekhov."
Eventually, Piven settled into a series of supporting gigs in movies such as "Say Anything," "Singles," "PCU," "Grosse Pointe Blank," and "Old School." None produced the sort of fame, attention or acclaim, however, as Ari; simply put, the funniest ass on TV.
"I've been kicking around for a while. I'm a 40-year-old guy, you know? And I feel lik
e I'm just coming into my own," he says. "I've been apprenticing this job for 20 years with Garry Shandling and Morgan Freeman and Dustin Hoffman and every person I've been lucky to be around."
Piven believes his age makes the growing celebrity status more manageable.
"When [actors] become famous before they grow into themselves as an actor and a human being, it can be dangerous territory. I've seen it," he says. "I'm just incredibly lucky I've been so unpopular and so uninteresting for so long."
Not anymore. In a recently completed film, Smokin' Aces, Piven has the lead - ahead of such actors Ben Affleck, Ray Liotta and Andy Garcia.
"That was an incredibly thrilling moment, and the best role I've ever played in my life, and the most tragic. It is a twisted dark comedy in which I play a tragic character," a mob snitch.
The irony is his career transformation is that Piven's alter-ego would never even give him the time of day.
"I'm a stage actor from Chicago. An agent like Ari wouldn't have patience for a stage actor like Jeremy Piven."
