Jeremy Piven enjoys being typecast as the ultimate wheeler dealer

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Piven, who is currently filming the big screen version of the cult TV series Entourage as Mr. Selfridge Season 2 opens.

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Jeremy Piven / Getty

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Whether it be playing super agent Ari Gold in Entourage or department store magnate Harry Selfridge, Jeremy Piven fits into the role of wheeler dealer/entrepreneur better than most.

For the time being Piven is working hard on the film set of  Entourage with the rest of the crew  just as the Season two premiere of Mr. Selfridge will be hitting the television screen over the coming weekend.

In recent interview Jeremy admitted that  over the years he has gotten used to playing the roles of perverse and complicated characters, meaning that playing the early 20th century entrepreneur Harry Selfridge, an American in London, and Ari Gold, the ultimate hyperactive agent to the stars  not as difficult as it looked.

According to Piven, an actor should never judge the characters that they play, instead they should provide them with as much integrity as possible whilst making sure to adhere to the character’s own personality, something that was easier to do with Harry Selfridge, who was a real person, albeit somewhat flawed, whilst Ari Gold was a product of the HBO scriptwriting team, although reportedly closely based on an actual Hollywood talent agent  who should remain nameless.

In the interview Jeremy Piven also looked back with particular pleasure at having spent more than 6 months in London, whilst  shooting the Mr Selfridge series and working with an all  British cast.

Piven admitted that at some stage he began to feel particularly strong empathy for the late Harry Selfridge, who took on an even tougher task, more than 100 years previously, during which time he succeeded in transforming the ultraconservative shopping habits of the British, to basically developing the entire concept of the department store.

Now with the second season of Mr Selfridge ready to be aired on the ITV network in the UK and PBS in the United States, and a third  season reportedly to be on the cards, Jeremy is back playing the role that made him famous and probably for the last time –  Ari Gold..

Over eight seasons that it ran Jeremy won one Golden Globe Award and three consecutive Emmy Awards as well as several other nominations for Best Supporting Actor.

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Jeremy Piven first sprang to prominence in the world of entertainment in 1992 when he became a regular member of the cast of The Larry Sanders Show, playing the part of the head screenwriter Jerry.

The following year , Piven  was cast as George Costanza in the pilot version of  Seinfeld, with the part famously going to Jason Alexander