As an actor, Favreau has appeared in films such as Rudy (1993), PCU (1994), Swingers (1996), Very Bad Things (1998), Deep Impact (1998), The Replacements (2000), Daredevil (2003), The Break-Up (2006), Four Christmases (2008), Couples Retreat (2009), I Love You, Man (2009), People Like Us (2012), The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), and Chef (2014).

He has also directed the films Elf (2003), Zathura: A Space Adventure (2005), Cowboys & Aliens (2011), Chef (2014), The Jungle Book (2016), The Lion King (2019), and The Mandalorian & Grogu (2026).

Alongside Filoni, he serves as an executive producer on all of the show's spin-off series, including The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka, and Skeleton Crew.

[14] While in Chicago, Favreau landed his first film role alongside Sean Astin as tutor D-Bob in the sleeper hit Rudy (1993).

The next year, he appeared in the college film PCU alongside Jeremy Piven, and the 1994 episode of Seinfeld titled "The Fire" as Eric the Clown.

[17] In 1997, he appeared on the television sitcom Friends, portraying Pete Becker – Monica Geller's millionaire boyfriend who competes in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) – for several episodes.

He was a guest-director for an episode of the college dramedy Undeclared in 2001, and Favreau got some screen time as lawyer Foggy Nelson in the 2003 movie Daredevil (2003) (considerably more in the director's cut version).

His character was John Person, an out of work actor given a strange mission to deliver a blue suitcase to a man named Cowboy in the desert.

He scored his first financial success as a director of the hit comedy Elf (2003) starring Will Ferrell, Zooey Deschanel, James Caan, and Peter Dinklage.

[32] Also in 2005, Favreau appeared as a guest judge and executive representative of Sony Corporation in week five of the NBC business-focused primetime reality TV show, The Apprentice.

He was called upon to judge the efforts of the show's two teams of contestants, who were assigned the task of designing and building a float to publicize his 2005 Sony Pictures movie, Zathura: A Space Adventure.

He wrote two issues of a planned mini-series for Marvel Knights titled Iron Man: Viva Las Vegas, that debuted in September 2008 before being canceled in November 2008.

[40] Favreau was the third director attached to John Carter, the film adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' swashbuckling space hero.

It co-stars Sofía Vergara, John Leguizamo, Scarlett Johansson, Oliver Platt, Bobby Cannavale and Dustin Hoffman, along with Robert Downey Jr. in a cameo role.

[citation needed] Favreau directed and produced the live-action adaptation of The Jungle Book, for Walt Disney Pictures, which was released on April 15, 2016, to critical and commercial acclaim.

[54] On March 8, 2018, Lucasfilm announced that Favreau would executive produce and write a live-action Star Wars television series, titled The Mandalorian, for Disney+.

[57] During that same year, Favreau appeared in Solo: A Star Wars Story voicing Rio Durant, "a very cool and important alien character" and member of Beckett's crew.

In May 2022, Favreau produced the documentary series Prehistoric Planet alongside the BBC Studios Natural History Unit for Apple TV+.

[64] In January 2024, Lucasfilm announced that a feature film titled The Mandalorian & Grogu was in active development, with Favreau directing, writing, and co-producing alongside Kathleen Kennedy and Dave Filoni.

In November 2010, it was reported that Favreau would direct a film titled Magic Kingdom, based on The Walt Disney Company's theme park of the same name.

[73] In October 2012, Favreau was attached to direct the racing film Battle for Bonneville about the story of Art and Walt Arfons, with Ryan Reynolds set to star as one of the leads.

[74] In November 2012, it was said that Favreau – along with David Fincher, Brad Bird, Matthew Vaughn and Ben Affleck – was being considered to direct Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but the choice fell on J. J.

[86] Favreau credits the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons with giving him "a really strong background in imagination, storytelling, understanding how to create tone and a sense of balance.

[89] The company most recently produced The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka, and Star Wars: Skeleton Crew television shows, in partnership with Lucasfilm, and the Apple TV+ documentary series Prehistoric Planet.