Broken Lizard

Background:

Jay Chandrasekhar is recognized as a member of the Broken Lizard comedy troupe, with Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter and Erik Stolhanske. Formed while he was in college, the comedy group played various clubs in New York City before appearing on film. Besides writing and acting, Chandrasekhar also directed the Broken Lizard films “Puddle Cruiser” (1996), “Super Troopers” (2001), “Club Dread” (2004) and “Beerfest” (2006). He won a Golden Starfish Award from the 1996 Hamptons International Film Festival and the Audience Award from the 2001 SXSW Film Festival for his work in “Puddle Cruiser” and “Super Troopers,” respectively. An installment of “Super Troopers,” “Super Troopers 2” is set to be released in 2011 with Chandrasekhar again sitting in the director's chair. Outside of the Broken Lizard, Chandrasekhar is perhaps best known for directing the ill-fated big screen adaptation of “The Duke of Hazzard” (2005), where each of the members of Broken Lizard appeared. He has also launched a career as a television director and helmed episodes of the TV series “Undeclared,” “Arrested Development,” “The Loop,” “Human Giant” and “Knight Rider” and two episodes of “Psych,” including “Bollywood Homicide” (2009), where he also guest starred.

Raised in Chicago, Illinois, Jay Chandrasekhar currently lives in Mahopac, New York, with his actress wife Susan Clarke (married in 2005) and their child.

Charred Goosebeak

Childhood and Family:

Jay Chandrasekhar was born Jayanth Jambulingam Chandrasekhar on April 9, 1968, in Chicago, Illinois, to physicians. His parents are of Tamil Indian descent and originate from Tamil Nadu. He was educated at Lake Forest Academy in Lake Forest, Illinois, and Colgate University, a private liberal arts college located in Hamilton, New York. While at college, he became a member of the Beta Theta Pi Fraternity and joined the comedy troupe Charred Goosebeak, along with the other Broken Lizard members.

Jay married Susan Clarke on September 18, 2005. They have one child together. Jay is the cousin of actor Sendhil Ramamurthy of “Heroes” fame.

The Dukes of Hazzard

Career:

While still in college, Jay Chandrasekhar helped form a sketch comedy team called Charred Goosebeak in 1990 after a student theater director asked him to put together a comedy show. Along with collegians that included future Broken Lizard members Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter and Erik Stolhanske, the group performed in live stage skits and on short videos. After graduating from college, Chandrasekhar and members of Charred Goosebeak were reunited in New York City and began performing in various clubs, including The Duplex, and college campuses under the name Broken Lizard. After a few years, their memberships decreased to five performers and by the mid 1990s, their interests had transformed from live appearances to filmed content.

In 1996, Chandrasekhar made his feature film directorial debut with “Puddle Cruiser,” the Lizard's first 35mm full length feature that he also co-wrote, co-produced and co-starred in. He also edited the film with Heffernan. Shot at their former campus, Coburn University, the comedy performed well at the Sundance Film Festival and won a Golden Starfish Award for Best American Independent Film at the 1996 Hamptons International Film Festival. On his own, he landed a bit part in the “NYPD Blue” episode “As Flies to Careless Boys...” and served in the camera and electric department for the Kevin Smith acclaimed comedy “Chasing Amy” (both 1997). He then received a small role in the Brian Lynch independent comedy “Big Helium Dog” (1999), but his part ended up on the cutting room floor. Using the name Jumbulingham Chandrasekhar, he worked as an editor on the independent film “Two Ninas” (1999), which won an Audience Award for Best Feature at the 1999 Gen Art Film Festival.

Chandrasekhar rejoined Broken Lizard when he directed and starred as Lieutenant Arcot “Thorny” Ramathorn, a veteran of the Vermont State Police, in the 2001 comedy film “Super Troopers,” which was written by the Lizards and starred the comedy group alongside Marisa Coughlan, Daniel von Bargen and Brian Cox. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 19, 2001, and was released theatrically on February 15, 2002. With a budget of $1.2 million, the picture grossed $18.5 million at the box office. For his directing effort, Chandrasekhar nabbed an Audience Award for Midnight Films at the 2001 SXSW Film Festival.

Also in 2001, Chandrasekhar made his television directing debut with the episode “Rush and Pledge” of the Judd Apatow series “Undeclared” (Fox, 2001-2002). He returned to the show to direct the episodes “Hell Week” (2001) and “Hal and Hillary” (2002). From 2003 to 2004, Chandrasekhar directed episodes of “Andy Richter Controls the Universe,” “Arrested Development” (4 episodes), “Cracking Up” and “Oliver Beene.”

Back to feature films, Chandrasekhar helmed and co-wrote the comedy film “Club Dread” (2004), which also starred Bill Paxton, Brittany Daniel, Jordan Ladd, Greg Cipes and M.C. Gainey. The comedy earned mixed reviews from critics. In the film, Chandrasekhar portrayed Putman, a British tennis coach. The following year, he directed Johnny Knoxville, Seann William Scott, Jessica Simpson, Burt Reynolds, Willie Nelson and Kevin Heffernan in the comedy film “The Dukes of Hazzard,” which was loosely adapted from the popular CBS television series of the same name. The film was panned by critics and nominated for seven Razzie Awards, including Worst Picture, Worst Remake or Sequel, and Worst Director. At the box office, it debuted at No. 1 with over $30 million gross during the opening weekend and went on to collect over $110 million worldwide. Although the earnings surpassed its $50 million budget, the film was considered less successful commercially in the U.S. Chandrasekhar also made a cameo appearance in the film.

In 2006, Chandrasekhar directed “Beerfest,” a comedy he wrote and starred in with his comedy team. Other actors who appeared in the film included Will Forte, Ralf Moeller, Eric Christian Olsen, Nat Faxon, Mo'Nique, Donald Sutherland, Jürgen Prochnow and Cloris Leachman. The film grossed over $20 million at the box office against its budget of $17.5 million. The same year, he also appeared in director Jeff Tremaine's comedy “Jackass Number Two,” a sequel to “Jackass: The Movie,” and returned to television directing when he helmed the “The Loop” episodes “The Tiger Express” and “The Rusty Trombone.” He went on to direct two additional episodes of the series called “CSI: Donut Idol Bowl” and “The Dutch” (both 2007) and three episodes of “Human Giant” named “Let's Go,” “Lil 9-11” and “Ta Da” (all also 2007).

After directing the TV film “Held Up” (2008), Chandrasekhar directed episodes of “Lipstick Jungle” (2 episodes, 2008), “Knight Rider” (2 episodes, 2008-2009), “Chuck” (2 episodes, 2008-2009), “Psych” (2 episodes, 2008-2009) and “Royal Pains” (1 episode, 2009). In the episode “Bollywood Homicide” (2009) of “Psych,” which he also directed, he played Jawaharlal 'Jay' Singh, opposite his real life cousin Sendhil Ramamurthy as Rajesh 'Raj' Singh. 2009 also saw him play roles in the films “The 2 Bobs” (as Spam King), “I Love You, Man” (as Barry's Buddy #1) and “The Slammin' Salmon” (as Nuts/Zongo), a Broken Lizard film that was directed by Kevin Heffeman.

Recently, Chandrasekhar appeared in an episode of “Blue Mountain State” named “Marathon Monday.” He will appear in the Dan Rosen film “Freeloaders” (2010), along side the other Lizards. His upcoming directing credits include “Shotgun Wedding” (2010), which he also co-wrote with David Gilcreast and served as a producer, and “Broken Lizard's Super Troopers 2” (2011), in which he will reprise his role of Arcot 'Thorny' Ramathorn.

Awards:

• SXSW Film Festival: Audience Award, Midnight Films, “Super Troopers,” 2001

• Hamptons International Film Festival: Golden Starfish Award, Best American Independent Film, “Puddle Cruiser,” 1996