Background
Starr was born in Santa Monica, California, the son of Jean Saint James (née Pflieger), an actress, and Jim Schienle, an instructor at Pasco-Hernando Community College. His father is from Wisconsin and his mother is from Kansas.
Starr was born in Santa Monica, California, the son of Jean Saint James (née Pflieger), an actress, and Jim Schienle, an instructor at Pasco-Hernando Community College. His father is from Wisconsin and his mother is from Kansas.
Starr is a vocal lover of the Los Angeles Clippers. His ancestry includes German, English, Scots-Irish (Northern Irish), Bohemian (Czechoslovakian), Polish, Austrian, and Hungarian. Starr was cast as Bill Haverchuck in the National Broadcasting Company sitcom Freaks and Geeks.
The series received positive reviews from critics, but it suffered from low ratings and was canceled after only one season.
After cancellation, the series gained a strong cult following. After Freaks and Geeks, Starr had a number of guest appearances and one-time roles on shows such as Editor, Mysterious Ways, Providence, King of the Hill, and Normal, Ohio.
He had a small recurring role during the third season of Roswell as the character Monk. In 2002, Starr appeared in the films Stealing Harvard and Cheats.
He also reunited with both Freaks and Geeks producer Judd Apatow and Freaks and Geeks co-star Seth Rogen when he made a guest appearance on Apatow"s situational comedy Undeclared in the episode "The Perfect Date".
Starr co-starred in the 2007 comedy film Knocked Up, which was directed by Judd Apatow. The same year, he had small appearances in Superbad and Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, both of which were produced by Apatow. Knocked Up was critically praised and was a smash at the box office.
The success of Knocked Up led to Starr having larger roles in films, such as Good Dick and Adventureland.
Starr also appears in many well received short films that premiere at film festivals, such as the Sundance Festival. From 2009 to 2010, Starr was a series regular on the Starz sitcom, Party Down, portraying Roman DeBeers.
The series was cancelled after two seasons and there was discussions of adapting the series into film, but it never came to fruition. Since 2011, he has co-starred on the Adult Swim television series NTSF:South Dakota:SUV::, in which he plays Sam Stern.
In 2011, Starr had a major role in the film A Good Old Fashioned Orgy and also had guest appearances on television series such as Mad Love, Community and Childrens Hospital.
In the latter he reprised his role of Roman DeBeers from Party Down. Starr reunited with Freaks and Geeks and Party Down cast member Lizzy Caplan in the 2012 film Save the Date, which premiered at the Sundance Festival. The same year he had a supporting role in the thriller film Deep Dark Canyon, as well as guest starring on sitcoms Parks and Recreation and New Girl.
In 2013, he had a small role playing himself in This Is the End, which was directed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg and had a starring role in the Kristen Bell film The Lifeguard, later working with her again (alongside Party Down star Ryan Hansen and creator Rob Thomas) in the film Veronica Mars.
He also guest starred in The Aquabats! Super Show!, Franklin & Bash, and Drunk History. In 2014 he was casted to play Bertram Gilfoyle in the Home Box Office comedy Silicon Valley.
The show has since received widespread critical acclaim and has garnered several Emmy award nominations for its first two seasons. Starr will reprise his role as Gilfoyle in season 3 which will premiere in spring of 2016.