Inside Jonah Hill's Dramatic Weight Loss
Jonah Hill burst onto the Hollywood scene in the 2000s and quickly ascended to become one of Tinseltown's go-to comedic talents. Growing up showbiz-adjacent in Los Angeles, aspiring filmmaker Hill turned to acting after being discovered by his friend's dad, Dustin Hoffman. After his debut role in the 2004 film "I Heart Huckabees," Hill scored parts in movies featuring funny people like Adam Sandler, Steve Carell, and Seth Rogen. But Hill only became a true comedy phenomenon with his star turn in 2007's "Superbad." He was soon headlining films like "Cyrus" and "Get Him to the Greek," but despite his success, Hill was fighting some serious insecurities about being perceived as fat and unattractive.
Wanting to move away from being the loud, brash "Superbad" guy, Hill pivoted to dramatic roles in the early 2010s, and, along with changing up his roles, he also changed his body. He dropped weight when he scored a role in the 2011 "Moneyball" and gained an Oscar nomination in the process. However, while Hill was embracing health and fitness, his changing body remained the topic of public speculation and the butt of Hollywood jokes. Hill's weight has fluctuated over the years, and as he's aged, he's gotten honest about how all the scrutiny has affected his self-esteem and mental health. Let's go inside Jonah Hill's dramatic weight loss to really understand the journey that this celebrated actor has been on for years.
Growing up, Hill's weight sparked his insecurities
Growing up showbiz-adjacent in Los Angeles, Jonah Hill was very troubled by his weight. An aspiring writer who spent his days writing spec scripts for "The Simpsons" and hanging out with skateboarders, Hill's body made him vulnerable to bullying. Aside from being bullied for his weight, he's also dealt with all sorts of insensitivities, like when Jimmy Kimmel told him on Jimmy Kimmel Live! "You smell good, which is surprising." Hill told GQ he was an insecure kid. He said, "The two gnarliest environments are skateboarding and comedy, and I grew up in both of those environments. I was an insecure, overweight kid, which in both of those communities is like having a scarlet letter on you. You are a target for abuse."
Hill also faced body confidence issues on the home front, where intergenerational body insecurities were passed down to him from his family. He opened up about his early relationship to fitness and food in his documentary "Stutz." He said, "When I was a kid, exercise and diet was framed to me in, like, there's something wrong in how you look. But never once was exercise or diet propositioned to me in terms of mental health," adding, "because for me that caused a lot of problems and even problems with me and my mom." Hill's mother, Sharon Feldstein, confirmed that she transferred her own weight insecurities and anxieties onto Hill. Although she tried to help Hill lose weight, she didn't realize how it negatively impacted her son's self-esteem.
Early in his career, Hill seemingly joked about his own weight
Jonah Hill was only in his early 20s when he became a comedy sensation in "Superbad," and his on-screen persona quickly became tied to his physical appearance. Looking back on his early showbiz days, Hill shared on "The Ellen Show" (via Us Weekly) others' perceptions of him. He said, "I came up in goofy comedies and this kind of curly haired, overweight kid and everyone had their own opinion on what I should be, how they could speak to me, how they could treat me."
At the time, it might have seemed like Hill was unfazed by the attention paid to his body. In fact, oftentimes, he was in on the joke. In a satirical interview conducted by filmmaker Edgar Wright, Hill was asked if it was important to be unattractive to be funny and if skinny people can be funny — a clear knock on Hill's physical appearance and weight. He even slyly made fun of his weight opposite his frequent comedy collaborator Seth Rogen in the 2009 film "Funny People," where Hill's character, Leo, jokes about Ira (Rogen) not being funny anymore because he lost weight. Leo says, "You shouldn't have lost all that weight, man. There's nothing funny about a physically fit man." The visual joke clearly juxtaposed Hill's larger body next to Rogen's slimmer physique, a knowing nod to Rogen's own dramatic weight loss.
A milestone birthday and a movie role influenced Hill's healthy lifestyle changes
Young Jonah Hill made a name for himself playing cinematic sardonic goofballs, but his acting career took a dramatic turn when he co-starred in the 2011 drama "Moneyball." Not only was the film a chance for Hill to recalibrate his Hollywood career, but it also inspired him to embrace a more mature, healthier lifestyle. On "Oprah's Oscar Special," Hill shared with Oprah Winfrey that losing weight coincided with turning 28 years old and getting cast in "Moneyball." He said, "It seemed like I was eager to shed my skin, whatever that meant. Like, get out of whatever box I was in." He added, "Yeah, I wanted to be healthier, I wanted to grow up, and that meant maturing and not just doing one kind of film."
Indeed, Hill felt like losing weight opened up the door for him to play more diverse characters. On the radio show "Kidd Kraddick in the Morning," he shared, "When you're a big guy, you can't play a thin guy." And while Hill lost noticeable weight, he gained Hollywood credibility. For the role of Peter Brand in "Moneyball," he was nominated for an Oscar best supporting actor at the 84th Annual Academy Awards. But for Hill, being in "Moneyball" wasn't about industry accolades, it was about growing as an actor. "To me, [doing 'Moneyball'] is about making more dramatic movies. The awards element of it is completely secondary," he told Entertainment Weekly.
To lose weight, Hill switched up his diet and worked out
When Jonah Hill got serious about losing weight, he got serious about his food and fitness. Talking with film critic Peter Travers on ABC News, Hill said he went to a nutritionist to better understand his diet and to make healthier food choices. Apparently, Hill's favorite foods were, according to him, "the menu of a six-year-old's birthday party." So for Hill, out went the pizza and chicken fingers and in came more health-conscious cuisine. He started eating vegetables and enjoying Japanese food. According to Bon Appétit, Hill especially liked eating at the Sushi of Gari restaurant in New York City for his Japanese food fix. He also embraced that trendiest of 2010 beverages — green juice. Hill was spotted over the years out and about with a healthy-looking drink in hand.
But just as Hill made food switches to drop the pounds, he also started working out. On the radio show "Kidd Kraddick in the Morning," he revealed that he started running and doing push-ups once he started dropping weight via his diet. Hill, at the advice of his friend, worked his way up to doing 100 push-ups per day. Throughout the years, it seems that Hill has kept up his fitness routine, being photographed walking to the gym, in the boxing ring, and on a surfboard.
His weight loss became the butt of award-show jokes
Jonah Hill's weight loss seemed to positively affect his personal and professional life, but it didn't stop comedians from making it the butt of their jokes. At the 2011 MTV VMAs, Hill took to the stage with Nicki Minaj and joked about his weight loss, claiming that it would cause him to not be funny anymore. While he was in on the joke, he took the opportunity to razz those who speculated that because he'd lost weight, he wouldn't be funny anymore.
The following year, Hill was nominated for a best supporting actor Oscar for "Moneyball" and the ceremony didn't miss an opportunity to make a crack about Hill's appearance. Host Billy Crystal sang about Hill's weight loss during his opening number, "It's great that you shed weight. But kid, if you lose tonight, I think that you should know they're serving cupcakes after the show." Hill was a good sport about it, but his pained facial expression showed that he might not have appreciated the joke. However, he later told The Guardian about the weight jokes that he "doesn't pay attention to stuff like that."
He gained weight for War Dogs but got fit again with help from a famous friend
Jonah Hill gained weight to star in 2016's "War Dogs." He looks noticeably larger in the role of real-life arms dealer Efraim Diveroli. Hill said that he never met the real Diveroli and he told The Hook, "It allowed me to create a character that I don't know if he speaks, looks, or behaves anything like him." But when it came time to undo his weighty character creation, Hill got advice from his friend and former "Jump Street" film series co-star, Channing Tatum. Dubbed the "Sexiest Man Alive" by People magazine in 2012 for his ripped physique, Tatum was no stranger to the work it takes to keep his body "Magic Mike"-ready. In fact, he once told Kelly Clarkson on her eponymous daytime talk show that getting into shape is a full-time job.
So it's no surprise that Hill called up Tatum when he wanted to get back in shape. On "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" Hill said he asked Tatum, "Hey, if I eat less and go to a trainer, will I get in good shape?" Tatum's reply, according to Hill, simply was, "Yeah, you dumb motherf***er, of course you will. It's the simplest thing in the entire world." Tatum hooked Hill up with help, and when it came time to promote "War Dogs," Hill was already noticeably slimmer than he was in the film.
He accidentally got Drake involved in his weight loss journey
Jonah Hill yet again enlisted the help of a nutritionist when he wanted to get back into shape after filming "War Dogs," but this time, he inadvertently brought along a very famous friend on his weight loss journey. Previously, the media linked Hill to his Hollywood colleagues like Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio for being wellness inspirations, but those rumors were never substantiated by Hill himself. However, Hill confirmed that music superstar Drake did indeed become privy to his diet.
On "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon," Hill shared that his nutritionist asked him to keep a food diary. Late in the night, Hill sent his diary to someone listed as "DR" in his phone contacts, only to realize that he didn't email his doctor, but he actually emailed Drake. Sadly, Drake didn't respond back to Hill's food list, but it's safe to assume that someone in his camp got the list.
He released a magazine all about body confidence
While Jonah Hill is mostly recognized for his acting, being in front of the camera was a massive detour in his career. Hill always wanted to be a director, and he fulfilled his dream with the 2018 film "Mid90s." The movie, also written by Hill, seemingly drew from his own experience growing up in skateboarding culture. But while "Mid90s" wasn't directly about Hill's teenage years, it turned out to be a personally transformative job, particularly when it came to his own body confidence.
The promotion for "Mid90s" included the publication of a free zine called "Inner Children." In the zine, Hill directly addressed body issues he faced as a young star in Hollywood. He wrote in the foreword, "I became famous in my late teens and then spent most of my young adult life listening to people say that I was fat and gross and unattractive." He felt ashamed of his teenage self, but to challenge those feelings, Hill interviewed people he admired, like his actor sister Beanie Feldstein, musician Q-Tip, and skateboarder and rapper Na-Kel Smith about their own journeys to self-love. At the end of the zine, Hill posed next to a cardboard cut-out of his teenage self. He said on "The View," "I love that guy. I wish I could understand as an adult that you don't have to be so hard on yourself."
He clapped back at negative comments about his body
As Jonah Hill got older, he may have become more vocal about his own self-acceptance, but that didn't mean he was going to consent to public scrutiny about his body. In 2014, Hill shut down an interviewer who asked him "if he was still considered the fat guy at parties" by simply replying, "Do you have any questions that are smart?" Several years later, Hill took the Daily Mail to task in 2021 for publishing photos of him shirtless after a surfing session. In a since-deleted Instagram post, Hill wrote of taking his shirt off publicly (via Vanity Fair), "Probably would have happened sooner if my childhood insecurities weren't exacerbated by years of public mockery about my body by press and interviewers." He continued, "So the idea that the media tries to play me by stalking me while surfing and printing photos like this and it can't phase [sic] me anymore is dope. I'm 37 and finally love and accept myself."
He also asked fans to stop asking him about his body. In another since-deleted Instagram post, Hill posted a selfie with the caption, "I know you mean well but I kindly ask that you not comment on my body good or bad I want to politely let you know it's not helpful and doesn't feel good. Much respect" (via The U.S. Sun). We have to admire a celebrity that respectfully draws boundaries.
Getting healthy unlocked Hill's creativity
There's no doubt that Jonah Hill is a serious Hollywood talent regardless of his weight, but the actor credits getting healthy with unlocking his creativity. Since Hill first got serious about his weight loss journey in the early 2010s, he's racked up an impressive showbiz resume. Not only is he a formidable comedic and dramatic actor, but he's also an accomplished writer, director, and producer. Hill has story credits for films like "21 Jump Street" and its sequel, "22 Jump Street," and the raunchy animated movie "Sausage Party," he wrote movies like "Mid90s," "You People," and he even co-created and starred in a short-lived animated series "Allen Gregory." Not to mention, he served as a producer on the Clint Eastwood-directed drama "Richard Jewell" and the Netflix series "Maniac."
Hill fully credits his commitment to his health and well-being as a pillar for his successful career. In a conversation with fellow Hollywood creative Adam McKay published in GQ, Hill said, "I got healthier, my art got better, and I was happier. Straight up. I haven't seen misery bring better art out of anybody. I just haven't." Hill isn't shy about the work it takes to stay healthy. In GQ, he revealed his methodology — he keeps lists. One for gratitude and one for positive actions. They include healthy things like smoothies, vitamins, movement, and checking in with friends.
Hill embraced fitness through jiu-jitsu and surfing
Jonah Hill has been vocal about the role of exercise in his dramatic weight loss over the years, but he really found his fitness sweet spot in his mid-30s when he started practicing jiu-jitsu and going surfing. Hill shared with GQ that he started practicing the martial art to avoid workaholism. He initially chose jiu-jitsu because it scared him, but he trained with good people, and it broke his fear.
Once he conquered his fear via the combat sport, he felt empowered to start surfing. Filmmaker Spike Jonze and musician Mike Diamond got Hill hooked on riding waves. Hill took up surfing relatively late in life. Of his fitness pastimes, Hill said, "I think the hardest thing in the world is to be present, for me. And the two things I like to do, if you're not present, you will literally get f***ed up. So, like, it forces me to be present."
Hill doesn't talk about his body these days, but he's looking as fit as ever
Jonah Hill has spent years candidly talking about his weight, but these days, he keeps pretty quiet about not only his body, but also his life and career in general. Hill deleted his Instagram account in 2022, shortly after he revealed that he would be stepping away from promoting his films "Stutz" and "You People." In a statement published on Deadline, Hill wrote, "I have come to the understanding that I have spent nearly 20 years experiencing anxiety attacks, which are exacerbated by media appearances and public facing events" and that he would be taking time off from his Hollywood career.
But just because Hill hasn't been talking about himself lately doesn't mean that his fit physique has stopped garnering attention. The fan Instagram account, jonahfits, continues to chronicle the star's fresh style and love of surfing. Hill has also been spotted walking around Malibu, California, running errands and looking as trim as ever (via Page Six). He's also seemingly kept a sense of humor about his health and wellness by launching his own satirical lifestyle brand, Meaningful Existence. Launched in 2023, Hill appeared in character as the brand's fictional founder, Prophet Ezekiel Profit, at a Los Angeles Lakers basketball game alongside "Real Housewives" star Lisa Rinna. Even behind his cheeky sunglasses and derisive wig, Hill looked pretty well himself.