Who is Ike Barinholtz, Set To Play Elon Musk In Luca Guadagnino’s ‘Artificial’?

Comedian and Emmy Nominee Takes on Tech Titan Role. Actor Known for Impressions and Game Show Wins to Portray Elon Musk

July 24, 2025: Ike Barinholtz, an Emmy-nominated actor and comedian, is allegedly in talks to play the controversial tech mogul Elon Musk in Luca Guadagnino’s next satirical movie, “Artificial.” David Heyman and Jeffrey Clifford of Heyday Films, along with Jennifer Fox, are making the movie, which is a comic drama set against the high-stakes world of artificial intelligence.

Barinholtz is known for his high-energy comedy and celebrity impressions. He will join a strong group that already includes Andrew Garfield and Yura Borisov, who was nominated for an Oscar this year. Simon Rich, a well-known author recognized for his unique sense of comedy, wrote the movie.

Ike Barinholtz is a well-known actor, writer, director, and producer in Hollywood. He became famous for his impressions of people like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Mark Wahlberg on the sketch comedy show “MADtv” (2002–2007). This was the start of his career. He later got a lot of praise for his part as Morgan Tookers in “The Mindy Project” (2012–2017), where he also worked as a writer and producer behind the scenes. Barinholtz was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his role in “The Studio” more recently. He has also shown that he is good at game shows by winning $1 million for charity on “Celebrity Jeopardy” and the top prize on “Who Wants To Be a Millionaire” with his dad. He has acted in well-known comedies like “Neighbors” (2014), “Sisters” (2015), and “Blockers” (2018), as well as “Suicide Squad” (2016).

About the movie “Artificial”:

People say that “Artificial” is a comedy-drama based on the crazy things that happened at OpenAI in 2023. During this time, CEO Sam Altman was suddenly fired, only to be hired back a few days later. This shocking change of events grabbed the attention of the tech world. There are no official plot specifics yet, but reports say that Andrew Garfield is in talks to play Altman and that Russian actor Nikita Borisov is being considered for the role of Ilya Sutskever, the OpenAI co-founder who played a big part in Altman’s temporary dismissal.

In 2015, Elon Musk, the wealthy businessman who started SpaceX and Tesla, helped start OpenAI with Altman and others. But he left the organization in 2018 because there were reports of conflicts about its future. Barinholtz’s possible role as Musk, who will only be a minor part in the movie, is likely to give the story a sarcastic twist. The movie aims to give us a funny but deep look at the complicated and often emotional world of AI.