Background and career
Nathaniel Wales Faxon (born October 11, 1975) is an American actor and comedian. A frequent presence on comedic films and TV series, he won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for co-writing The Descendants (2011). He starred in the Fox comedy series Ben and Kate (2012–2013) and the FX comedy series Married (2014–2015), and voices Elfo in the Netflix adult animated television series Disenchantment (2018–2023). He co-wrote The Descendants (2011) alongside writing partners Alexander Payne and Jim Rash, for which they received the Academy Award, Independent Spirit Award and Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. They were also nominated for the BAFTA Award, Golden Globe Award, and Critics' Choice Movie Award. Faxon has since, with Rash, written and directed the comedy films The Way, Way Back (2013), and Downhill (2020).
Faxon was born Nathaniel Wales Faxon on October 11, 1975, in Boston, Massachusetts to Monica (née Kersten) and David Faxon. Faxon's early years were spent in the seaside community of Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts, where he attended the Brookwood School. He later graduated from the Holderness School near Plymouth, New Hampshire, and then Hamilton College in 1997.
Faxon is an alumnus of the Los Angeles-based improvisational and sketch comedy troupe The Groundlings, where he began performing in 2001. He may be best known for his appearances in comedic films such as Orange County (2002), Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007), Bad Teacher (2011), and several Broken Lizard films including Beerfest (2006). He co-starred in Darren Star's semi-autobiographical satire Grosse Pointe and had recurring roles in several television series, including The Cleveland Show, Joey, Up All Night and Reno 911!. He has also appeared on the Roseanne spin-off The Conners since 2020 as Neville Goldufski. Faxon has been featured in a series of prominent Holiday Inn commercials featuring Joe Buck, as well as an ad by Blockbuster. In 2012, he was cast as Ben Fox on the Fox sitcom Ben and Kate. He starred with Judy Greer in the FX comedy series Married, which ran for two seasons.
Faxon and writing partner Jim Rash, whom he met while performing with The Groundlings, co-wrote the screenplay for the film The Descendants, starring George Clooney and directed by Alexander Payne. On February 26, 2012, the screenplay for The Descendants won an Oscar, with Faxon, Rash, and Payne sharing the award. The duo made their directorial debut with The Way, Way Back (2013), based on their original screenplay, and starring Steve Carell, Toni Collette and Sam Rockwell. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where Fox Searchlight Pictures acquired it for $10 million; it was released domestically to positive reviews that July.
Faxon is married to Meaghan Gadd. They have three children.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
