Greg Poehler Biography, Age, Education, Net Worth, Sister, Family, Wife

Greg Poehler Biography

Greg Poehler (Gregory Milmore Poehler) is an American actor, comedian, producer, writer, and lawyer. He is the creator of the Swedish sitcom Welcome to Sweden. He also stars in the film.

He left his day job as a lawyer to pursue comedy as a stand up comedian. His decision was largely influenced by his older sister, Amy Poehler. He had practised law for twelve years.

After quiting his career, Greg Poehler began writing the script for what became his first TV series, Welcome to Sweden. In the series, he plays the lead part. His sister, Amy Poehler, decided to produce the show after proofreading the script.

Currently, he stars in You Me Her, a TV series about a three-way romantic relationship.

Greg Poehler Age

Greg Poehler was born in Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America. He was born on 11th October, 1974. His current age is 44 years old as of 2019.

Greg Poehler Education

Greg Poehler is an educated man. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Boston College in 1996. Later on, he attended the Fordham University School of Law, where he earned a Juris Doctor.

He was admitted to the New York and Massachusetts bar associations and the United States Federal Courts for the Southern District of New York and the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. In 2006, he graduated from Stockholm University with a masters in European intellectual property law.

After graduating from law school, Poehler moved to the West Village of Manhattan. While there, he worked as a lawyer in New York City and Sweden. There he specialized in intellectual property law.

Greg Poehler Net Worth

Greg Poehler has accumulated a sizable fortune from his career. He practiced law for twelve years before finally deciding to become a stand- up comedian.

After quiting his career, he began writing the script for what became his first TV series, Welcome to Sweden. In the series, he plays the lead part. His sister, Amy Poehler, decided to produce the show after proofreading the script.

He is the creator of the Swedish sitcom Welcome to Sweden. He also stars in the film. Currently, he stars in You Me Her, a TV series about a three-way romantic relationship. Greg Poehler’s net worth is however currently under review. We will update you immediately we get any information about his net worth.

Greg Poehler Family | Greg Poehler Sister

Born in Boston, Massachusetts and raised in Burlington Greg Poehler is the son of Eileen Frances and William Grinstead Poehler. Both his parents are high school teachers. His sister, Amy Poehler is an actress and comedian.

There are no other details about his family or sister. However, it is his sister who largely influenced his decision to leave his legal career and become a comedian.

Greg Poehler Charlotta | Charlotta Poehler | Greg Poehler Wife

Greg Poehler has been married to his wife Charlotta Meder since July 7, 2006. The couple dated for a while before they finally decided to tie the knot. Before the two got married, Poehler moved to Stockholm with Charlotta. Charlotta is Swedish. They have three children.

Greg Poehler Interview

Q: What was it like to watch the reaction, when this show aired in Sweden?

Greg Poehler: The first night that it aired, I went on Twitter, right when the show ended, and there was so much positivity that it made me cry. We aired on Fridays there, and the ratings in Sweden on Fridays don’t come out until Monday, so without Twitter, we would have had no idea, if people were even watching it. It’s great to get such an immediate reaction, and such a positive reaction, too.

Q: Were you consciously interested in telling this as an ongoing story?

Greg Poehler: I had no interest in writing a show that’s self-contained. I’d like to think that there’s at least some continuing storyline that’s worth the investment. I think you can watch the episodes stand-alone and appreciate them, but it’s really a 1 through 10 arc of a relationship.

Q: What’s it like to be so involved with pretty much every aspect of this show?

Greg Poehler: The whole thing was just a whirlwind for me, but I didn’t know anything different. Now that it’s over, for Season 2, I want to do so much less. With Season 1, I was so appreciative of the opportunity and I knew that, if I screwed it up, I wouldn’t get another one. I felt like I had so much more at stake than everyone else. Everyone else on the show – the writers, directors, actors and producers – had a past and a future in the industry, regardless of how the show did.

Q: Did that inexperience make this a hard show to sell?

Greg Poehler: No. People either had to trust me or not. I think it was a struggle, internally, to get the respect of some of the people that I was working with, who had been career-long players in the industry.

Q: And people didn’t try to push against the subtitles?

Greg Poehler: The subtitles almost work to our advantage. There’s not a lot of it until Episodes 9 and 10. I think it makes it even that much more unique and different. I don’t know if it’s going to work for the American public, but I think it will be an interesting experiment. Hats off to NBC for taking the chance on it because I don’t think it’s ever been done before, with subtitles to this extent. It’s interesting because Swedes subtitle everything, so they’re so used to it.

Q: Did you immediately start thinking about the possibility of a second season?

Greg Poehler: Yeah, I had a loose three-year plan, from the beginning, in terms of the arc. And then, when we met with NBC, they wanted a longer plan ‘cause they want syndication. So, we had to quickly shift that to a seven-year plan. But for me, I think it’s a three-year story.

Q: Have you stuck to the plan so far?

Greg Poehler: Yeah, we’re right on schedule. Season 1 was more about whether he would stay and whether the relationship would survive. Season 2 will be more of, with him staying, now what? He’ll have to integrate more. If you take my own life, the longer you stay in a country, you almost lose your former self and become this third-party person who is caught in between two worlds. That’s where I’m at now.

Q: Did you ever think you’d have Patrick Duffy and Illeana Douglas playing your parents?

Greg Poehler: No, especially because Illeana Douglas is seven years older than I am. It’s funny, she wanted to go to Sweden ‘cause she had always wanted to go to Sweden. She did this web series for IKEA, called Easy to Assemble. We were talking with her about a smaller role that actually ended up getting cut. And then, as a last resort, I said, “I haven’t cast the mother yet, but is it offensive to you that I’m asking about that?” There’s something weird about being the person asking. I was like, “I know you’re only seven years old than me, but do you want to do it?”

Q: How did you put together the Swedish cast for this?

Greg Poehler: We auditioned them, actually. The father, Claes Månsson, is a comedy legend in Sweden. He’s been around for a long time, doing a lot of great stuff. Josephine [Bornebusch], who plays Emma, is also one of the biggest actresses in comedy in Sweden. I actually didn’t want her, in the beginning, because she’s so well known from other roles, and one role in particular. So, I resisted her. But once I met her, it was so obvious that she was right for the role. The English aspect was tricky.

Q: Had you been thinking about doing a show for awhile before doing this one?

Greg Poehler: I had thought about the idea since I moved there, so it was a six or seven year idea in my head. But, it seemed similar to becoming an astronaut. It didn’t seem like it could happen. And then, I finally decided to write the script and see what could happen from there. And everything happened. It’s a crazy story! When I wrote the script, I thought we would have an American actor play the part. And then, one of my friends was like, “You should do it.” And I was like, “All right. I thought so too, but now that you think so, I will.”

Q: Were you always going to do this with your sister, Amy?

Greg Poehler: I wrote the script, and then we set it up for Swedish TV. I sent the script to her to look at, just to see if the font and the size was correct, ‘cause I wanted to make sure it looked like a script. And I would never have asked her to do it ‘cause that’s not something you do. Well, some people do, and they get a quick no. So, I wasn’t asking for her to be involved, at all. When she read the script and liked it and wanted to produce it, that’s something you say yes to. But there was also a small part of me that was like, “Now this is going to be viewed as her show that she got me a role in.”

Q: Was it weird to have her playing a version of herself while you weren’t playing a version of yourself?

Greg Poehler: That was good. It enabled me to make her look really bad. No. I like the fact that I wrote her as a horrible version of herself, who’s really mean. I think almost all of the American actors on the show don’t come off looking too good. Bruce is pretty close to me. He’s a little bit more naive and lame, and maybe a bit more American and unaware, but his heart is in the right place. I think we have a lot in common.

Q: Did it take you as long to acclimate to living in Sweden, as it seems to for Bruce, or was it easier?

Greg Poehler: It was much easier for me. Anytime you’re an immigrant in a new country, it’s difficult, and it’s often a lonely existence, by nature. We didn’t want to shy away from that. We wanted to show it, warts and all. My wife’s family was very supportive and welcoming, and very unlike my TV girlfriend’s family, but there’s nothing really interesting about a show where a guy moves and everything is great, and he gets along great, right away.

Q: Did you know the language any better than your character does?

Greg Poehler: Not at first. I knew nothing, actually. We lived together in New York before we moved, so there was no need for Swedish. My wife and I still have an English relationship. My Swedish is coming along, but just because of my kids, so that I can speak to their friends. It’s a shit show. I’m coaching my son’s basketball team, and it’s a disaster. It’s an uncontrolled atmosphere. I get no respect for those kids.

Q: How is the experience of doing stand-up different, in America and in Sweden?

Greg Poehler: It’s very different. If the jokes are funny, that’s step one. But Swedish audiences are very laid-back and passive, and they’re not interactive, at all. With American audiences, people who are in the front row of a comedy club think that they’re a part of the show. They go there to interact. It’s a totally different experience. It’s fun, in both ways, but totally different.

Q: Where was the worst stand-up experience you’ve had?

Greg Poehler: I’ve never had a bad American experience. I had one horrible Swedish experience. In Stockholm, Fred Armisen came to visit and I got too drunk with him, before I went up on stage. So, I told my first joke, and then I forgot my second joke, and all of my jokes flow from my second joke. I was just telling jokes that I was thinking of on the way over. It was a disaster. I started doing an Obama impression, and this was when he was doing Obama on SNL. It was my worst performance, by far.

Q: Has the success of this show inspired you to want to try writing other shows, or even a movie?

Greg Poehler: Yeah, I’m writing a movie now. I feel like it’s opened up a creative door that I don’t want to close anytime soon. I know that, in this business, that door can close pretty quick, so I’m trying to do as much as possible, both in Sweden and here. I want to strike while the iron’s hot. I’m at a stage where I think there’s nothing I can’t do.

Q: Is the movie you’re writing something you’re looking to do in Sweden or in America?

Greg Poehler: Both. It’s a cross-border thing about a Swedish actress who moves to the U.S. I think there’s something interesting about that dynamic of someone who’s hugely famous in Sweden, and then has to do pilot season in the U.S. and is a total no one.

SOURCE: http://collider.com