Faxon"s early years started in the seaside community of Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts, where he attended the Brookwood School. He later graduated from the Holderness School in Plymouth, New Hampshire and then Hamilton College in 1997.
Acting Faxon is an alumnus of the Los Angeles-based improvisational and sketch comedy troupe The Groundlings, where he began performing in 2001. Faxon 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 such as The Cleveland Show, Joey, Up All Night and Reno 911!.
Faxon has been featured in a series of prominent Holiday Inn commercials featuring Joe Buck as well as an ad by Blockbuster.
However, he did not get a significant lead role until 2012 when he was cast as the titular Ben in Ben and Kate, for which he received many positive reviews. Faxon starred alongside Judy Greer in the Forex comedy series Married, which ran for two seasons.
Writing and directing 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, among others The film premiered at the Sundance Festival, where Fox Searchlight Pictures acquired it for $10 million, and was released domestically to acclaimed reviews that July.
Though a frequent presence on comedic films and television series, he is best known for winning the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for co-writing The Descendants (2011) and for his starring roles in the FOX comedy series Ben and Kate (2012-2013) and the Forex comedy series Married (2014-2015). On February 26, 2012, the screenplay for The Descendants won an Oscar, with Faxon, Rash, and Payne all receiving Oscars for their efforts.
