J.B. Smoove

The audition that didn't exist

Jerry Angelo Brooks auditioned for Curb Your Enthusiasm in 2007 without having seen a single episode of the show. He walked into the room with the energy of someone with nothing to lose. He tossed Larry David a few improvised lines about his supposed relationship and landed a role that was originally meant for just one episode.

That day, Leon Black was born.

Before that moment, his career moved on the margins of the industry. In 1995, he appeared on Def Comedy Jam and for years worked the New York comedy clubs with a physical, loud style. But the system never quite made room for his rhythm. Between 2003 and 2006, he worked as a writer on Saturday Night Live and barely got any time in front of the camera.

And the gamble paid off.

On the set of Larry David's show, he discovered that his lack of a filter was a million-dollar asset. His character moved into the main character's house and stayed there until the series finale in 2024. The key was absolute freedom to tear up the script and build dialogue based on pure absurdity.

The supporting star who steals every scene

The film industry called him for projects that needed comic relief that wouldn't eat up too much screen time but would still land. In 2010, he took part in Date Night, and in 2011 he joined the cast of Hall Pass. He never went after the lead role because he quickly understood that the real money was in recurring work and in surgical scene-stealing.

Nobody saw it coming.

But his breakthrough into mainstream film came thanks to Marvel. In 2019, he played Professor Julius Dell in Spider-Man: Far From Home. He reprised the same character in 2021 with Spider-Man: No Way Home. In both productions, his work consisted of channeling that urban neurosis that always makes him seem on the verge of a nervous breakdown or a burst of laughter.

Because his voice has its own commercial value.

Since 2019, he has voiced Frank the Plant in the animated series Harley Quinn. It's a studio job, comfortable and well paid, that lets him keep his public profile without the grind of location shoots. In 2020, he published his book The Book of Leon, riding the momentum of his most famous character.

In 2022, he signed an advertising deal with Caesars Sportsbook to play Caesar in a series of national TV spots in the United States. The campaign brought in a seven-figure payday for just a few days of work in front of the green screen. During the filming of the final season of his main series in 2024, the actor already had more than fifty credits in television productions.

His salary per episode in the final seasons of cable television topped 150,000 dollars.