Isaac “Ike” Barinholtz (born February 18, 1977) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his starring roles in the comedy series MADtv (2002–2007), Eastbound & Down (2012), The Mindy Project (2012–2017), Bless the Harts (2019–2021), The Afterparty (2022), History of the World, Part II (2023), and The Studio (2025–present), the last having earned him a Critics' Choice Award and an Actor Award, along with a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award.
His films include Disaster Movie (2008), Neighbors (2014), Sisters (2015), Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising (2016), Suicide Squad (2016), Snatched (2017), Blockers (2018), Late Night (2019), The Hunt (2020), and The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022). He co-wrote the action comedy film Central Intelligence (2016), and directed, wrote, produced, and starred in the comedy film The Oath (2018).
On February 2, 2023, he won the inaugural primetime season of Celebrity Jeopardy!, winning $1,000,000 for charity, Pacific Clinics, and placed as a semifinalist in the 2024 Tournament of Champions. On August 14, 2024, he and his father, Alan, became the first duo and the second celebrities overall to win the $1,000,000 top prize for their charity, the ASL Program at Los Encinos School, and the fifteenth overall million dollar winners on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. He also previously won $125,000 for his charity, Uplift Family Services, on April 22, 2020. To date, Barinholtz is the eleventh highest-earning game show contestant of all time, having accumulated $1,835,000 on his game show appearances.
Early life, family, and education Barinholtz grew up in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood, the son of Peggy and Alan Barinholtz, an attorney and actor. His brother Jon Barinholtz is also an actor. Barinholtz has described his parents as "liberal people with great senses of humor", and said that he was raised in a "very funny home". Barinholtz is Jewish.
He attended Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School and then The Latin School of Chicago for high school, where he played on the school's Scholastic Bowl team when it won the state championship in 1994; he also competed in the 1994 Texaco Star National Academic Championship, held at Rice University. He worked at a telemarketing company and as a busboy before starting a career in comedy.
Barinholtz attended Boston University. After dropping out of college, he worked for the Chicago Transit Authority before starting his comedy career. In a 2013 interview, he said he dropped out of school because he hated it and was doing poorly. In a 2012 phone interview, Barinholtz said he was inspired to pursue a career in comedy after attending a comedy show at The Vic Theatre. Thereafter, he took comedy classes at The Second City, ImprovOlympic and Annoyance Theatre. He had planned on becoming a politician but instead decided to move to Los Angeles to be an actor.
Career
Barinholtz spent two years in Amsterdam with the famed comedy troupe Boom Chicago along with Jordan Peele, Josh Meyers, and Nicole Parker. Barinholtz hosted the 'Worst of Boom Night' during the troupe's 10-year anniversary show, in which they performed their worst material from previous shows.
In 2009, he performed at the Chicago Improv Festival alongside former MADtv cast member Jordan Peele. In 2012, Barinholtz performed at another Chicago Improv Festival event with his brother, Jon.
He is a founding member of The Lindbergh Babies, an improv group directed by Del Close, who worked with John Belushi, Bill Murray, Mike Myers, and Chris Farley. In 2012, Barinholtz joined the cast of the third season of the HBO series Eastbound & Down, playing the role of Ivan Dochenko, Kenny Powers' Russian rival. He starred alongside Seth Rogen in the 2014 comedy Neighbors, as well as its 2016 sequel. Also in 2016, Barinholtz played prison guard Griggs in the DC Comics film Suicide Squad.
He has frequently worked with comedian Dave Stassen, with whom he attended high school. They co-wrote a SPIKE pilot in which Barinholtz also starred, Mega Winner, and the 2016 film Central Intelligence.
Barinholtz appeared in a regular role as nurse Morgan Tookers on the comedy series The Mindy Project. He was also a writer and story editor on the series. He also has a role in Friends from College, a Netflix original. In 2022, Barinholtz was in the main cast of the Apple TV+ mystery comedy series The Afterparty.
Competing on the first season of Celebrity Jeopardy! on ABC in 2022–23, Barinholtz defeated Patton Oswalt and Wil Wheaton in the finals to win the championship. He earned $1,000,000 for his charity, Pacific Clinics, and, due to rule changes, became the first celebrity champion to receive a berth to the Tournament of Champions. Competing in 2024, Barinholtz won his quarterfinal match against 13-game winner Ray Lalonde and 3-game winner Melissa Klapper, before losing in the semifinals. An article in Slate described Barinholtz as the "chaos agent Jeopardy! needed".
Since 2025, Barinholtz has been starring in the critically acclaimed Apple TV+ comedy series The Studio as Sal Saperstein, a role which earned him the Critics' Choice Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. After the show's first season, Barinholtz also received nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award and an Actor Award.
In July 2025, he was officially confirmed to portray Elon Musk in Luca Guadagnino's upcoming AI‑themed film Artificial, a comedic drama centered on the internal turmoil at OpenAI.
He is expected to star in CoComelon: The Movie, which will be released in 2027.
MADtv Barinholtz officially joined the cast of MADtv in 2002 as a featured performer for the eighth season. He was later promoted to a repertory performer status the following season. Barinholtz often paired up with fellow cast member Josh Meyers in various sketches for the eighth and ninth seasons similar to the Mike Myers/Dana Carvey and Jimmy Fallon/Horatio Sanz duos on Saturday Night Live. Barinholtz also paired up with fellow cast member Bobby Lee in some of his sketches in the later seasons. Some of his famous characters included Abercrombie & Fitch model Dutch and Principal Lankenstein from the Coach Hines sketches.
Barinholtz's celebrity impressions included Abraham Lincoln, Alex Trebek, Andy Dick, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ashton Kutcher, Bo Bice, Cris Judd, Dane Cook, Felicity Huffman, Fidel Castro, George Michael, Howard Dean, Howie Long, Jack Osbourne, Kevin Federline, Mark Wahlberg, Clay Aiken, Matt Damon, Nick Lachey, Nick Nolte, Orlando Bloom, Pat Sajak, Ralph Nader, Rafael Palmeiro, Tom Hanks, and Vin Diesel.
In 2007, he decided not to renew his contract for the 13th season of MADtv. Barinholtz has commented that he started getting "restless" and did not see eye to eye with some of the MADtv bosses about how decisions were being made.
Characters Character Sketch Notes Adam Bice QVC: Quacker Factory Eli The B.S. Astroman Duncan Kruskal The Silver Fox Dutch Abercrombie & Fitch Jeffrey "Jeff" DeShazer Coach Hines Marty Knobs Mitchel "Mitch" Ruffin Principal Lankenstein Coach Hines He is the principal of St. Francis High and Coach Hines' nemesis. Roy Schenk Feuding Parents Steven "Steve" Wellington
Personal life Barinholtz is married and has three daughters. While shooting the film Blockers, he suffered an accident doing a stunt involving a fall. He suffered two fractured cervical vertebrae in his neck.
Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes 2001 Down Assistant Milligan/Niles Benson 2007 Bunny Whipped Joe 2008 Meet the Spartans Various Disaster Movie Various 2009 Shrink Steve Uncredited2010 How to Make Love to a Woman David Vampires Suck Bobby White Uncredited For Christ's Sake Buster Chery 2014 Neighbors Jimmy Blevins 2015 Sisters James 2016 Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising Jimmy Blevins The Angry Birds Movie Tiny Voice A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information. Central Intelligence Writer Suicide Squad Griggs Storks Miscellaneous Storks Voice2017 Snatched Jeffrey Middleton Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House Angelo Lano The Disaster Artist Himself Cameo Bright Pollard2018 Blockers Hunter Lockwood Song of Back and Neck Nurse The Oath Chris Montana Also writer, producer, and director 2019 Late Night Daniel Tennant The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part Lex Luthor Voice 2020 The Hunt Moses / Staten Island 2021 Moxie Mr. Davies 2022 The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent Martin Etten 2024 Orion and the Dark Light Voice 2026 Elon Musk Post-production 2027 Voice; post-production TBA Lenny Post-production
Television Year Title Role Notes 2002–2007, 2016 MADtv Various characters 116 episodes; also writer 2005 E! Hollywood Hold'em Himself Episode: "Laura Prepon" 2008 Family Guy Dane Cook Voice, episode: "I Dream of Jesus" 2008–2009 Rita Rocks Fly 6 episodes 2010 Weeds Daryl Episode: "Fran Tarkenton" 2010–2015 The League Frank "The Body" Gibiatti 4 episodes 2011 Childrens Hospital Peter Principato Episode: "Newsreaders"2012 Eastbound & Down Ivan Dochenko 6 episodes NTSF:SD:SUV:: Maitre'D Episode: "Sabbath-tage" Megawinner Cliff Planker Television film; also writer and executive producer 2012–2017 The Mindy Project Morgan Tookers 115 episodes; also writer and executive story editor2013 Drunk History August Spies Episode: "Chicago" High School USA! Cyber Bully Voice, episode: "Bullies" The Soup Himself Episode dated October 23 The Pete Holmes Show Episode: "Ike Barinholtz" 2013–2015 The Awesomes Muscleman Voice, 30 episodes2014 Kroll Show Zach Sword Episode: "Oh Armond" Chozen Hunter Voice, 4 episodes Married Bruce Episode: "The Old Date" Garfunkel and Oates First Door on the Right Director Episode: "Hair Swap" @midnight Himself Episode dated January 8 American Dad! DJ Iron Monkey Voice, episode: "Blonde Ambition" 2016 Animals. Alan Voice, episode: "Pigeons."2017 Friends from College Degrasso 2 episodes Neo Yokio Jeffrey Voice, episode: "Hamptons Water Magic"2019 Brooklyn Nine-Nine Gintars Irbe Episode: "Gintars" The Twilight Zone Mike Episode: "Not All Men" What Just Happened??! with Fred Savage Himself Episode: "Elevator" Live in Front of a Studio Audience Michael Stivic Episode: "Norman Lear's All in the Family and The Jeffersons" 2019–2021 Bless the Harts Wayne Edwards Voice, 34 episodes 2020, 2024 Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Himself 2 episodes 2020 Mapleworth Murders Richard Belt 3 episodes 2021–2022 Chicago Party Aunt Mark Voice, 15 episodes; also writer and executive producer 2022 The Afterparty Brett 8 episodes Central Park Voice, episode: "A Hot Dog to Remember" 2022–2023 American Auto Landon Payne 2 episodes2022–2026 Celebrity Jeopardy! Himself 5 episodes 2023 History of the World, Part II Various 8 episodes; also writer and executive producer White House Plumbers Jeb Stuart Magruder 3 episodes 2024 Jeopardy Tournament of Champions Himself 2 episodes Curb Your Enthusiasm Shimon Episode: "The Gettysburg Address" 2024–2025 The Simpsons Wayne the Grip Voice, 2 episodes 2025 Bob's Burgers BreckinVoice, episode: "Mr. Safebody" Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ToddVoice, 2 episodes 2025–present Running Point Benny Bradzackis 2 episodes; also co-creator, writer, executive producerThe Studio Sal Saperstein Main cast 2026 Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness Henry Ford Episode: "Deepthroat"
Video games Year Title Voice role Notes 2016 Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare A.J.
Audio +YearTitleRoleAuthorProduction company2021Batman: The Audio AdventuresTwo-Face/Harvey DentDennis McNicholasBlue Ribbon Content 2023White House Plumbers PodcastHimself
Awards and nominations