Ed Helms

Ed Helms
Helms in March 2007
Born	Edward Helms

Edward "Ed" Helms (born January 24, 1974) is an American actor and comedian perhaps most notable for his work as a correspondent on Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and more recently as Andrew "Andy" Bernard on the American version of The Office.

Biography

Personal life

Edward Helms was born in Atlanta, Georgia, graduating from The Westminster Schools in 1992 before attending Oberlin College in Ohio, graduating in 1996. He is a cousin of the professional baseball player Wes Helms, currently an infielder on the Florida Marlins. At the age of 14, Helms was diagnosed with a heart murmur and required open-heart surgery.

Helms attended the same high school as future Office co-star, Brian Baumgartner, who graduated one year earlier. They were invited back to the school in 2007 for a ceremony honoring their success in Hollywood. Helms, whose character Andy Bernard on The Office frequently sings a cappella, stated during the DVD commentary for season three that in college he was in the Oberlin College a cappella group The Obertones.

Career

Helms has had roles in shows like Tanner on Tanner and various Comedy Central specials, as well as movies like Blackballed: The Bobby Dukes Story (alongside his fellow TDS correspondent Rob Corddry).

He has also made guest appearances in a number of television shows, including Arrested Development and Cheap Seats. He also voices "Angel," a character on Cartoon Network's Weighty Decisions series (again alongside Corddry), and has done prolific commercial voiceover work, including campaigns for Burger King, Doritos, Sharp Aquos, and Advair asthma medication.

Helms was hired for small roles as a newsreporter Ed Carson, in Steve Carell's Evan Almighty and with Office co-star Jenna Fischer in Walk Hard. He will also be seen in small roles opposite Daily Show co-stars Rob Corddry in Harold & Kumar 2, Mo Rocca in I'll Believe You, and in Eddie Murphy's Starship Dave. It has been reported that Walk Hard producer/co-writer Judd Apatow will produce Helms' first starring vehicle, A Whole New Hugh, for Universal Pictures. In an article about Whole New Hugh, Apatow stated Helms is a national treasure but "the nation does not know it yet."

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

In his tenure on The Daily Show, from April of 2002 to mid 2006, Helms has contributed field reports in addition to hosting various sections of the show, such as "Digital Watch," "Ad Nauseam," and "Mark Your Calendar." He has also contributed to the "This Week in God" segment.

He occasionally narrates the "Prescott Group educational films" on The Colbert Report. On April 29, 2006 Helms attended the Washington Correspondents Dinner as the guest of The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.

The Office

In late July 2006, NBC announced that Helms would join the cast of The Office, a show in which former Daily Show correspondent Steve Carell also stars, in a recurring role as Jim Halpert's smarmy colleague, Andy Bernard, at Dunder-Mifflin's Stamford branch for at least ten episodes of the third season. Helms returned to The Daily Show on December 5, 2006, stating he had been gone because he was "undercover at a paper company in Scranton," an allusion to his stint on The Office. In February 2007, NBC announced that Helms had been promoted to series regular.

In Variety's Comedy Impact '06 article, it was reported that Helms has a deal with NBC/Universal to write and star in his own series. In a Hollywood Reporter article on Helms being promoted as a permanent cast member of The Office, it was reported that Helms shot a pilot for NBC in 2005 entitled Lies and the Wives We Tell Them To.

External links

• Plum TV Telluride video of Ed Helms, Rob Corddry and Aziz Ansari at Comedy Fest 2008
• Ed Helms at IMDb
• IGN Interview
• Video Tribute to Ed Helms
• Ed Helms in "Zombie American" short
• Archive of Ed's Work from 2002-2005
• Ed Helms Fansite