Edward Mitchell "Mitch" Rouse (born August 6, 1964) is an American film and television actor, director and screenwriter.

Rouse was born in Knoxville

Knoxville, Tennessee

Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...

, Tennessee

Tennessee

Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

, and raised in Oak Ridge, Tennessee

Oak Ridge, Tennessee

Oak Ridge is a city in Anderson and Roane counties in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Tennessee, about west of Knoxville. Oak Ridge's population was 27,387 at the 2000 census...

, where he played football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 at Oak Ridge High School

Oak Ridge High School (Oak Ridge, Tennessee)

Oak Ridge High School is the public high school for Oak Ridge, Tennessee, enrolling grades 9 through 12. It was established in 1943 to educate the children of Manhattan Project workers. It currently has about 1500 students.-Founding and first location:...

. He attended the University of Tennessee

University of Tennessee

The University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...

 before developing an interest in acting. He studied acting in Atlanta and later, improvisation in Chicago, where he became involved with improv guru Del Close

Del Close

Del Close was an actor, improviser, writer, and teacher. Considered one of the premier influences on modern improvisational theater, Close had a prolific career, appearing in a number of films and television shows...

 and Chicago's legendary Second City Theatre

The Second City

The Second City is a improvisational comedy enterprise which originated in Chicago's Old Town neighborhood.The Second City Theatre opened on December 16, 1959 and has since expanded its presence to several other cities, including Toronto and Los Angeles...

 where he met long time friend David Pasquesi

David Pasquesi

-Career:Some of his screen credits include Groundhog Day, Strangers with Candy, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Return to Me, and The Ice Harvest. He starred in the Steve Delahoyde short film that premiered in , and co-starred with Jeff Garlin in Garlin's I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With; In addition, he...

. After writing and performing in a number of Second City productions, Rouse moved to New York where along with Amy Sedaris

Amy Sedaris

Amy Louise Sedaris is an American actress, author, and comedian. She is known for playing the character Jerri Blank in the Comedy Central television series Strangers with Candy. Sedaris regularly collaborates with her older brother, humorist and author David Sedaris...

, Paul Dinello

Paul Dinello

Paul Dinello is an American actor, comedian, writer, director, and an alumnus of Chicago-based The Second City, Improv Institute, and Annoyance Theatre...

, and Stephen Colbert

Stephen Colbert

Stephen Tyrone Colbert is an American political satirist, writer, comedian, television host, and actor. He is the host of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, a satirical news show in which Colbert portrays a caricatured version of conservative political pundits.Colbert originally studied to be an...

 he co-created and starred in two television series for the cable television channel Comedy Central

Comedy Central

Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....

: Exit 57

Exit 57

Exit 57 was a 30-minute sketch comedy series that aired on the American television channel Comedy Central from 1995 to 1996; its cast was composed of comedians Amy Sedaris, Paul Dinello, Stephen Colbert, Jodi Lennon, and Mitch Rouse, all of whom had previously studied improv at The Second City in...

and Strangers with Candy

Strangers with Candy

Strangers with Candy is a television series produced by Comedy Central. It first aired on April 7, 1999, and concluded its third and final season on October 2, 2000. Its timeslot was Sundays at 10 p.m....

.

Rouse has appeared on episodes of Reno 911!

Reno 911!

Reno 911! is an American comedy television series on Comedy Central that ran from 2003 to 2009. It is a mockumentary-style parody of law enforcement documentary shows, specifically COPS, with comic actors playing the police officers. Most of the material is improvised, using a broad outline, and...

, Home Improvement, Exit 57

Exit 57

Exit 57 was a 30-minute sketch comedy series that aired on the American television channel Comedy Central from 1995 to 1996; its cast was composed of comedians Amy Sedaris, Paul Dinello, Stephen Colbert, Jodi Lennon, and Mitch Rouse, all of whom had previously studied improv at The Second City in...

, According to Jim

According to Jim

According to Jim is an American sitcom television series starring Jim Belushi in the title role as a suburban father of three children. It originally ran on ABC from October 3, 2001 to June 2, 2009.-Synopsis:Jim is an abrasive but lovable suburban father...

, Lost at Home

Lost at Home

Lost at Home is the name of a short-lived sitcom aired on ABC from April 1 to April 22, 2003. The show starred Mitch Rouse, Connie Britton, Gregory Hines, Stark Sands, Leah Pipes, Gavin Fink and Aaron Hill. This show was cancelled after only four episodes, due to the death of Gregory Hines from...

and Strangers with Candy

Strangers with Candy

Strangers with Candy is a television series produced by Comedy Central. It first aired on April 7, 1999, and concluded its third and final season on October 2, 2000. Its timeslot was Sundays at 10 p.m....

. Rouse has also appeared in several feature films including Austin Powers

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery is a 1997 American science fiction/action-comedy film and the first film of the Austin Powers series. It was directed by Jay Roach and written by Mike Myers who also stars in the title role. Myers also plays Dr. Evil, Austin Powers' arch-enemy...

, Friends With Money

Friends with Money

Friends with Money is a 2006 film written and directed by Nicole Holofcener. It opened the 2006 Sundance Film Festival on January 19, 2006 and went into limited release in North America on April 7, 2006.-Plot:...

, Rudy

Rudy (film)

Rudy is a 1993 American sports film directed by David Anspaugh. It is an account of the life of Daniel "Rudy" Ruettiger, who harbored dreams of playing football at the University of Notre Dame despite significant obstacles...

, Sweethearts

Sweethearts

Sweethearts may be:*Sweethearts :*Sweethearts , a two-act comedy by W.S. Gilbert*Sweethearts , a 1938 MGM film starring Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy*Sweethearts , a book...

, and The Heartbreak Kid

The Heartbreak Kid (2007 film)

The Heartbreak Kid is a 2007 romantic comedy film directed by Bobby and Peter Farrelly. Starring Ben Stiller and Malin Åkerman, The Heartbreak Kid is a remake of the italian film Luna di miele in tre and a version of the 1972 film of the same name. Also starring are Michelle Monaghan, Jerry...

. Rouse also created and stars in Spike's comedy Factory

Factory (TV series)

Factory was a comedy television series. It premiered on Sunday, 29 June 2008 at 10:00 p.m. Eastern/9:00 p.m. Central on Spike. The series, produced by 3 Arts Entertainment, is directed by and stars Mitch Rouse and fellow comedians Michael Coleman, Jay Leggett and David Pasquesi.The pilot...

.

Mitch Rouse directed and wrote the movie Employee of the Month

Employee of the Month (2004 film)

Employee of the Month is a 2004 American black comedy starring Matt Dillon and Christina Applegate.-Plot:David Walsh is a bank employee whose day begins badly when he gets fired from his dream job and dumped by his fiancée Sara Goodwin the day after their engagement party is crashed by his best...

starring Matt Dillon

Matt Dillon

Matthew Raymond "Matt" Dillon is an American actor and film director. He began acting in the late 1970s, gaining fame as a teenage idol during the 1980s.- Early life :...

, Steve Zahn

Steve Zahn

-Early life:Zahn was born in Marshall, Minnesota, the son of Zelda, who worked for the YMCA, and Carleton E. Zahn, a retired Missouri Synod Lutheran pastor. Zahn spent part of his childhood in Mankato, Minnesota, attending Kennedy Elementary School...

, Christina Applegate

Christina Applegate

Christina Applegate is an American actress. She is best known for playing Kelly Bundy on the Fox sitcom Married... with Children. Since then, she has established a film and television career, winning a Primetime Emmy and earning Tony and Golden Globe nominations...

, and Andrea Bendewald

Andrea Bendewald

Andrea R. Bendewald is an American actress best known for her role as Maddy Piper on Suddenly Susan.-Personal life:Andrea is the daughter of Judith Bendewald and Mervin Bendewald, both of New York, and the sister of Mason Bendewald....

. He wrote the Paramount Pictures

Paramount Pictures

Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...

 film Without A Paddle

Without A Paddle

Without a Paddle is a 2004 comedy film about three reunited childhood friends going on a trip up a remote river in order to search for the body of a long lost thief and his loot...

starring Seth Green

Seth Green

Seth Benjamin Green is an American actor, comedian, voice actor, and television producer. He is well known for his role as Daniel "Oz" Osbourne in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as Dr. Evil's son Scott in the Austin Powers series of comedy films, Mitch Miller in That '70s Show, and the voice of Chris...

 and Dax Shepard

Dax Shepard

Dax Randall Shepard is an American actor.- Early life :Shepard was born in Milford, Michigan and attended Muir Junior High and Walled Lake Central High School, before enrolling in The Groundlings school. He later received a degree in anthropology at UCLA...

.

Personal life

In 2001, he married actress Andrea Bendewald

Andrea Bendewald

Andrea R. Bendewald is an American actress best known for her role as Maddy Piper on Suddenly Susan.-Personal life:Andrea is the daughter of Judith Bendewald and Mervin Bendewald, both of New York, and the sister of Mason Bendewald....

 in Malibu. The couple met while performing in the ABC Television

ABC Television

ABC Television is a service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation launched in 1956. As a public broadcasting broadcaster, the ABC provides four non-commercial channels within Australia, and a partially advertising-funded satellite channel overseas....

 sitcom Secret Lives of Men.

External links

• Mitch Rouse, Spike.com