Christopher Mintz
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American actor (born 1989)

Christopher Charles Mintz-Plasse ( ;[1] born June 20, 1989[2]) is an American actor. Primarily known for his work in comedy films, he has performed roles such as Fogell (McLovin) in Superbad (2007), Augie Farcques in Role Models (2008), and Chris D'Amico in Kick-Ass (2010) and its sequel Kick-Ass 2 (2013).

Mintz-Plasse provided voice acting for Fishlegs Ingerman in the How to Train Your Dragon franchise (2010–2019) and King Gristle Jr. in the Trolls franchise (2016–2023).

Mintz-Plasse was born in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, where he attended El Camino Real High School, performing on its improv comedy team.[2] He is the son of Ellen Mintz, a school counselor, and Ray Plasse, a postal worker.[2][3] He is Jewish on his mother's side, whereas his father is from a Catholic family.[4][5] His father was born in Worcester, Massachusetts and raised in Webster, Massachusetts, making Mintz-Plasse a life-long Boston sports fan.[6]

When auditioning for the part of Fogell in his film debut Superbad, he had no professional head shots and instead took one with his camera phone.[7] Because he was 17 at the time and still a minor, his mother was required by law to be on set while he filmed his sex scene in the movie.[2] Upon release, the film earned critical and commercial success, with many critics citing Mintz-Plasse's performance as a highlight; he received a nomination for the MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance.[8][9]

In 2008, Mintz-Plasse next appeared with Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott in David Wain's film Role Models as Augie Farques, a nerdy teenager obsessed with medieval live-action role-playing games. He also made a small guest appearance on an episode of David Wain's internet series, Wainy Days. He then starred in Harold Ramis's film Year One, as a comedic version of the biblical figure Isaac. He also appeared in a short film The Tale of RJ which became the basis for the television series The Hard Times of RJ Berger.[10]

The next year, he voiced Fishlegs in the animated film How to Train Your Dragon. In April 2010, he appeared in Kick-Ass as the superhero Red Mist, a.k.a. Chris D'Amico, which was planned to be a minor role until director Matthew Vaughn saw Mintz-Plasse audition and his capabilities. Mintz-Plasse originally auditioned for the role of Kick-Ass, but when the producers believed that his acting was too loud and obnoxious, they granted him the role of Red Mist instead.[11][12]

In May 2010, he guest-starred in an episode of Party Down as Kent, a friend of the character Roman. He performed his second voice-over that month in the film Marmaduke, as the stylized dog Giuseppe. The same year he was featured in two music videos, Kid Cudi's "Erase Me", featuring Kanye West, and the indie rock band The Soft Pack's "Answer to Yourself".[13][14]

In 2011, Mintz-Plasse appeared in Fright Night—a remake of the 1985 film—as Edward Lee, former best friend of Charley Brewster, played by Anton Yelchin.[15] At first he was reluctant to accept the role as it was a remake, but he accepted after reading the script and seeing the talent involved.[16]

In 2012, he voiced the bullying student Alvin in the animated film, ParaNorman.[17] The same year he also had a small role in the film Pitch Perfect as Tommy, the university's audition launcher. He then starred in a short film, "Would You", written by his Fright Night co-star Dave Franco and premiered at the SXSW Film Festival.[18][19] Mintz-Plasse was supposed to play the lead role in the CBS sitcom Friend Me and even filmed several episodes, but before the series could air, it was cancelled after series creator Alan Kirschenbaum died by suicide.[20] As a promotion for the video game Far Cry 3, he starred in The Far Cry Experience, a series of online videos, as a fictional version of himself trapped on an island controlled by a psychopathic pirate named Vaas.[21]

He reprised his role of Chris D'Amico in the sequel Kick-Ass 2, which was released in August 2013.[17] Mintz-Plasse found the role to be darker than any other he had portrayed to date, and hired an acting coach to help him with the more intense scenes.[22] He made his third music video appearance in the Unknown Mortal Orchestra's music video "So Good at Being in Trouble".[23]

He and his Kick-Ass co-star Chloë Grace Moretz starred in a short segment, "Middle School Date", in the film Movie 43. He also had small roles in Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg's This Is the End, playing a fictional version of himself, and in the romantic comedy film The To Do List, with Aubrey Plaza.[24][25]

In September 2013, Mintz-Plasse and Dave Franco set out on a week-long road trip across America to promote the technology company LG's "It's All Possible" campaign for its flagship smartphone, the LG G2. The actors documented their process and broadcast it on Funny or Die.[26] Mintz-Plasse had a supporting role as college fraternity student Scoonie in the 2014 hit comedy film Neighbors and reprised his role as Fishlegs in the animated sequel How to Train Your Dragon 2.[27][28] He reprises his role of Fishlegs in the DreamWorks Dragons television series, which aired on Cartoon Network and Netflix.[29]

Mintz-Plasse played drums for the rock band The Young Rapscallions,[30] which split after eight years in 2015. He then founded the band Bear on Fire, in which he plays bass guitar.[31] He has also played bass guitar for Ben Kweller.[32]

Year Title Role Notes 2007 Superbad Fogell 2008 Role Models Augie Farcques 2009 Year One Isaac The Tale of RJ RJ Short film 2010 Kick-Ass Chris D'Amico/Red Mist How to Train Your Dragon Fishlegs Ingerman Voice Marmaduke Giuseppe Legend of the Boneknapper Dragon Fishlegs Ingerman Voice, short film 2011 Fright Night "Evil" Ed Lee Gift of the Night Fury Fishlegs Ingerman Voice, short film Book of Dragons 2012 ParaNorman Alvin Voice Would You Himself Short film Pitch Perfect Tommy 2013 Movie 43 Mikey Segment: "Middleschool Date" This Is the End Himself The To Do List Duffy Kick-Ass 2 Chris D'Amico/The Motherfucker 2014 Neighbors Scoonie Schofield How to Train Your Dragon 2 Fishlegs Ingerman Voice 2015 Tag Jacob 2016 Get a Job Ethan Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising Scoonie Schofield Trolls King Gristle Jr. Voice 2017 The Disaster Artist Sid Scene deleted 2019 How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World Fishlegs Ingerman Voice 2020 Promising Young Woman Neil Trolls World Tour King Gristle Jr. Voice 2022 Honor Society[33] Mr. Calvin 2023 Trolls Band Together King Gristle Jr. Voice

Year Title Role Notes 2007 Wainy Days Sketchy laborer #2 Episode: "Tough Guy" 2010 Party Down Kent Episode: "Steve Guttenberg's Birthday" 2012 Friend Me Evan Unaired series The Far Cry Experience Himself Web shorts 2012–2018 DreamWorks Dragons Fishlegs Ingerman Voice, 102 episodes 2015 Sharing Grant Pilot 2016 Sanjay and Craig Randy Noodman Voice, episode: "Dude Snake Nood" Flaked Topher 3 episodes 2016–2017 The Great Indoors Clark 22 episodes 2017 Trolls Holiday King Gristle Voice, television special 2018 The Joel McHale Show with Joel McHale Various roles 3 episodes Stan Against Evil Zach Episode: "Vampire Creek" 2019 How to Train Your Dragon: Homecoming Fishlegs Ingerman Voice, television special 2020 Home Movie: The Princess Bride Westley Episode: "Chapter Seven: The Pit of Despair" 2021 When Nature Calls with Helen Mirren Additional voices 3 episodes 2023 Stars on Mars Himself 1 episode 2024 Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Pigeon Pete Voice

Year Song Artist Notes 2010 "Erase Me" Kid Cudi featuring Kanye West "Answer to Yourself" The Soft Pack 2013 "So Good At Being In Trouble" Unknown Mortal Orchestra 2015 "U Don't Know" Alison Wonderland featuring Wayne Coyne "Ready" Kodaline 2020 "CVS" Winnetka Bowling League featuring Hilary Duff

Year Association Category Nominated work Result 2008 MTV Movie Award Best Breakthrough Performance Superbad Nominated Young Artist Awards Best Performance in a Feature Film – Supporting Young Actor Nominated 2010 Teen Choice Awards Choice Movie Villain Kick-Ass Nominated Scream Awards Best Supporting Actor Nominated 2014 Golden Raspberry Awards Worst Screen Combo (with the entire cast) Movie 43 Nominated Young Hollywood Awards Best Cast Chemistry (with the entire cast) Neighbors Nominated Best Threesome (with Zac Efron and Dave Franco) Nominated Teen Choice Awards Choice Movie Fight (shared with Aaron Taylor-Johnson) Kick-Ass 2 Nominated