Nat Faxon

The Oscar That Was Born From a Notebook

Nat Faxon won an Oscar in 2012 for the screenplay of The Descendants. He did it by sticking his tongue out at the cameras, a gesture that broke the protocol of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He shared that award with Alexander Payne and Jim Rash, his creative partner of many years.

Born in Boston in 1975, he trained at the improv school The Groundlings. There he learned that comedy requires surgical precision. His early years in Los Angeles were a string of brief roles in shows that barely lasted a season on the air.

But his career changed when he decided that if he wasn't offered the roles he wanted, he would have to write them himself.

In 2013, he made his directing debut with Rash on The Way, Way Back. The film cost five million dollars and became one of the major milestones of independent cinema that year. Faxon proved he could capture teenage anguish without relying on the easy tools of the genre.

And the gamble paid off.

The Tyranny of the Funny Supporting Role

Despite his success as a screenwriter, Faxon never gave up acting. His everyday look allowed him to land roles in TV comedies such as Ben and Kate in 2012 and Married in 2014. He often plays characters who seem on the verge of a nervous breakdown but keep their composure.

In 2017, he joined the cast of Friends from College for Netflix. The series explored the toxicity of college friendships in adulthood. Faxon brought a necessary balance between pathos and tenderness to a group of characters who were hard for viewers to like.

The industry doesn't always reward subtlety.

That's because Faxon prefers to work on the margins of the commercial industry. In 2020 he directed Downhill, the American remake of the Swedish film Force Majeure. The film did not receive the reception critics had hoped for. The shoot in the Alps was complicated, and its dark comedy tone never quite clicked with the mass audience of that time.

Remakes and Tight Budgets

His work as a voice actor is one of the least discussed pillars of his career. Since 2018, he has voiced Elf in the animated series Disenchantment. This role lets him explore a far more exaggerated style than his live-action appearances.

In 2022, he joined the cast of the series Loot as Arthur, a methodical accountant who must deal with an eccentric billionaire. His performance relies on silences and awkward glances. He is a specialist in sitcom humor who doesn't need grand gestures to work on screen.

So he keeps alternating between big-budget projects and small productions where he retains full creative control.

In 2024, he appeared in several episodes of the seventh season of The Conners as Neville. The production of this series keeps a shooting schedule of three weeks for every block of four episodes.