Jonah Hill's rise from a comedic actor to a Hollywood mainstay has been a wild ride, to say the least. He's a comedy legend of his generation, but while he's best known for his hilarious roles in 21 Jump Street, and Superbad, Jonah is always up for the task when it comes to dramatic performances. The Wolf of Wall Street, Moneyball, Don't Look Up, and True Story are some of the most notable dramatic titles in his filmography.
During that time, the 38-year-old star has made quite a lot of famous friends in Hollywood, from acting legends to bona fide pop stars. Here are some of Jonah Hill's closest friends in Hollywood and the brief history of their relationships.
6 Leonardo DiCaprio Is Friends With Jonah Hill
Jonah Hill and Leonardo DiCaprio are some of the purest Hollywood best friends, on and off the screen. While the pair is best known for working together in the Oscar-nominated picture The Wolf of Wall Street, they've also starred in a couple of other movies together including the 2012 film Django Unchained where Leo played the main antagonist and Jonah came on set to perform a small cameo. They were seen plenty of times partying, attending award ceremonies, and grabbing lunch together.
In fact, it was Leo who stood up for Jonah for him to land his Wolf of Wall Street role. He once sat down and talked to director Martin Scorsese to convince him to hire Jonah for the role, and the rest is history.
DiCaprio and Hill even lived together while working on the movie Don't Look Up. Clearly, the two are very close.
5 Channing Tatum Is Also Friends With Jonah Hill
Jonah and Channing Tatum's on-screen chemistry was put to test in 21 Jump Street in 2012 and its follow-up, 22 Jump Street, two years later. During an interview, Jonah said that he reached out to Channing first to ask him to be his co-star. At first unsure, Channing ended up taking the role under one condition, "Okay, but if I suck I’m going to kill you. Seriously." A friendship made in heaven, indeed.
"People ask if we would have been friends in high school because in the movie our characters weren’t friends, but I think we would have been best friends in high school," Jonah explained. "We are from very different places, but we have very similar morals on friendship."
4 Emma Stone Is Friends With Jonah Hill Too
For years, Emma Stone and Jonah Hill have shared quite a unique friendship. It all started when they co-starred in the 2007 comedy Superbad, and they've been friends for more than a decade since then. The two linked up again in 2018 for the Netflix series Maniac. Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, Jonah had some high words to say about his friendship with The Amazing Spider-Man star.
"She's so good, so brilliant," he said. "I get to be friends with artists I really admire, that's pretty amazing. And watching someone I've been friends with for so long become so gifted and so recognized is special."
"I think Jonah's incredible and I was just so excited to get to work with him again," Emma quickly added.
3 And Adam Levine Is Friends With Jonah Hill
Unlike most celebs on this list who met Jonah on a set of a movie, Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine and Jonah Hill actually go way, way back. Speaking to Howard Stern in 2014, Jonah Hill explained that they were childhood friends back in junior high. They met through their fathers. Decades later, Hill officiated Levine's wedding to Behati Prinsloo. The two have also been seen going to NBA games together.
"Our dads met in the principal’s office in junior high," Hill said. "We were in carpool. We lived at each other’s houses."
2 James Franco Was Another Famous Friend To Jonah Hill
Jonah and James Franco are two comedic heavyweights in Hollywood, so their friendship should come as no surprise to most movie fans. They met while filming the 2013 apocalyptic comedy flick This Is the End alongside Jay Baruchel, Danny McBride, Emma Watson, and more. In 2015, they put their chemistry to test again in True Story, a crime drama about one of the FBI's most-wanted criminals (played by James Franco) hiding in Mexico using the identity of a journalist (played by Jonah Hill).
1 Director Judd Apatow Is Friends With Jonah Hill, After Having Cast Him In Several Projects
Director Judd Apatow loves to cast Jonah. In fact, the pair have made several films together, including The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Funny People, Knocked Up, and Superbad. The latter film is a beloved coming-of-age teen comedy, and one of the instant classics of its time.
Funnily enough, Aptow once admitted to walking off the set when Jonah wouldn't stop swearing in front of his daughter, then-9-year-old Maude. At the time, he and the rest of the Superbad cast were together to record some commentary for a special feature on the Superbad DVD, and it's safe to say it didn't go well.