He also starred in the FX on Hulu miniseries Pam & Tommy (2022) for which he received Primetime Emmy and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor nominations.

They initially worried that American Pie (1999) had beaten them to the idea for the movie, but they decided that the film "'managed to totally avoid all honest interaction between characters,' which is what we're going for.

[17] Also when Rogen was 16, his father lost his job and his mother quit hers, forcing them to put their house up for sale and relocate to a significantly smaller apartment.

[17] Of the awkwardness of a grown man spending so much time with a teenaged Rogen, Apatow said, "I'm such a comedy fan that, even though he's 16, I know I'm hanging out with one of the guys who's going to be one of the great comics.

[28] He became familiar to audiences as one of the main character's co-workers in Apatow's well-reviewed buddy comedy directorial debut feature The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005),[29][30] which Rogen also co-produced, and in which he improvised all his dialogue.

[22][31] "[Rogen] hadn't done any screen work that indicated he could carry as memorable and convincing a performance as he does with the character Cal," MTV's John Constantine wrote.

[32] The Orlando Sentinel's Roger Moore believed that Rogen "had his moments" in the film,[33] whereas Moira Macdonald of The Seattle Times said the actor was "droopily deadpan".

[34] Rogen followed this with a small role in You, Me and Dupree (2006), a critically panned comedy featuring Matt Dillon, Kate Hudson and Owen Wilson.

[35] Rogen's breakthrough came when Universal Studios green-lit him for the lead in yet another Apatow production, Knocked Up (2007), a romantic comedy that follows the repercussions of a drunken one-night stand between his slacker character and Katherine Heigl's just-promoted media personality that results in an unintended pregnancy.

On completing The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Apatow had approached Rogen about potential starring roles, but the actor suggested many high-concept science fiction ideas.

[36] Rogen called shooting sex scenes with Heigl "nerve-wracking" and was grateful for the supporting cast for shifting some of the film's focus away from him.

[41][42] Later that year, he played a supporting part as an irresponsible police officer in Superbad, which he wrote with his writing partner, Evan Goldberg, and was co-produced by Apatow.

[44] Rogen then made a vocal cameo appearance in the animated film Shrek the Third, also released in 2007,[45] and hosted Saturday Night Live in October 2007.

[54] Rogen, Goldberg and Apatow were behind the stoner action comedy Pineapple Express directed by David Gordon Green at Columbia Pictures.

[17] The Green Hornet was a critical disappointment; Adam Graham of the Detroit News called it "a big, sloppy, loud, grating mess of a movie,"[72] and the Arizona Republic's Bill Goodykoontz found its story to have fallen apart.

[81] Rogen hosted the 27th Independent Spirit Awards in February 2012, and the road movie The Guilt Trip, co-starring Barbra Streisand, was released in cinemas that December.

[82] The film was about an inventor (Rogen) who invites his mother (Streisand) on a road trip, as he attempts to sell his new product while also reuniting her with a lost love.

"[91] In December, Sony Pictures announced that it was cancelling the release of the movie after a cyber attack on the studio, allegedly tied to North Korea and threats made subsequently by Kim Jong-un.

Scott Foundas of Variety found the film to be "about as funny as a communist food shortage, and just as protracted,"[93] while The Daily Telegraph critic Robbie Collin opined that it was "a raucous, abrasive, snort-out-loud satire with mischief in its heart and methane in its gut.

[96] Also in 2014, Rogen made cameo appearances in the comedy 22 Jump Street as the double of Jonah Hill's character and in James Franco's drama The Sound and the Fury as a telegrapher.

"[100][101] In November 2015, Rogen starred alongside Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Anthony Mackie in the Christmas-themed comedy The Night Before as three best friends who annually reunite to celebrate Christmas Eve.

Sausage Party became the most commercially successful R-rated animated film of all time, overtaking South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999).

"[108] Along with Evan Goldberg, Rogen directed and executive produced the science fiction comedy series Future Man, starring Josh Hutcherson, which premiered on the streaming service Hulu in November 2017.

[134] The project began filming in January 2024, with Keke Palmer posting on her Instagram page that she had joined Rogen as part of the cast that same month.

[137] Rogen testified about the disease and his charity before the United States Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services on February 26, 2014.

[138] Rogen started the Hilarity for Charity movement to inspire change and raise awareness of Alzheimer's disease among the Millennial Generation.

[140] On February 25, 2016, Rogen and Miller were honoured with the unite2gether accolade from unite4:humanity for their work promoting awareness and raising money for Alzheimer's research through Hilarity for Charity.

[141] Rogen appeared in a Bud Light commercial celebrating LGBT Pride Month and the Supreme Court of the United States ruling that granted same-sex couples the right to marry.

[153] During his July 2020 promotional tour for his comedy, An American Pickle, Rogen said he was "fed a huge amount of lies about Israel" growing up, commenting: "They never tell you that – 'Oh, by the way, there were people there.'

Rogen has said he believes antisemitism has remained pervasive and prevalent, but also spoke to the importance of a strong Jewish diaspora: "You don't keep something you're trying to preserve all in one place.