He’s worked with some of Hollywood’s biggest stars and appeared in hit films like Tropic Thunder, This Is The End, Goon and Million Dollar Baby. Yet Jay Baruchel, who turns 33 on April 9, maintains a shockingly low profile for a star of his caliber, residing in a modest house in Montreal and mostly avoiding the glitz and glamour of Tinseltown.
“ If it was up to me I would never leave Canada to make movies,” he tells Hello! Canada. “[Montreal] is the best city in the world, in my opinion, and there’s no better place for me to spend my time. If I don’t have to be anywhere else, I’ll always be there.”
After lending his voice to the animated How to Train Your Dragon franchise, the star recently returned to his small-screen roots with Man Seeking Woman, a 10-episode FX series comedy that follows the surrealist dating mishaps of a young, single man.
Here, to celebrate Jay on his 33rd birthday, Hello! rounds up 10 facts about one of Canada’s most beloved exports.
10 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT JAY
- He’s a self-proclaimed mamas boy. “She was the first person to ever read what I wrote. She reads everything I write before anyone else,” he says.
- He has a maple leaf tattoo in honour of his favourite hockey team – the Montreal Canadiens. “A red one, not a blue one,” he explains. “It’s as close to a religion as I have, hockey. There are 82 Habs games a year and I probably watch about 76 of them, regardless of where I am.”
- He’s still best friends with his This Is The End costar (and fellow Canuck!) Seth Rogen. “We live in different cities in different countries, but we’ve known each other since we were both 18,” says Jay. “Believe it or not, I’m five days older than him, [even though] everyone thinks he’s a decade older than me. It’s amazing.”
- He’s a cat person and has two cats of his own – Mary Minew and Rocky Montana. “They’re my life,” he tells .” I go to the cat show when it’s in Montreal. I used to have a subscription to Cat Fancy.”
- He’s a homebody. “For me my vacations are being home. I don’t have the traveler’s bug. I have no interest in packing my bag and heading to the airport to go on vacation. For me, I equate airports with work.
- He’s a huge film buff, and watches one to three movies every day.
- He may have played shy, nerdy types in Tropic Thunder and She’s Out of My League, but in real life, Jay is supremely confident. “I was raised my whole life to believe I was a catch. Warranted or not, that was the mentality I went in with,” he told Askmen.com. “And I think that [if] you go in with pure intention and confidence, that’s all that matters. I think there is no such thing as leagues…. Aim high, man. Aim high.”
- When asked which celebrity he would choose to have a drink with, Jay tells Hello!, “If I could ever chill with Val Kilmer or Gary Oldman, I’d die a very happy man.”
- He’s been quoted saying that Monica Bellucci is “by far, the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”
- He’s single, ladies! The star was previously engaged to Newsroom star Alison Pill, but the couple split in 2013.
