While in Chicago, Favreau landed his first film role, as the pudgy football player in the sleeper hit Rudy. He then moved to Los Angeles, where he made his breakthrough in 1996 as an actor-screenwriter with the film Swingers - a film that certainly was "money".
Since then, his credits have included Very Bad Things, Daredevil and the excellent Love & Sex, co-starring the very tall Famke Janssen. He also played a guest role in the sitcom Friends.
In 2001, he made his (film) directorial debut with another self-penned screenplay, Made. Made once again teamed him up with his Swingers co-star Vince Vaughn but it somehow lacked the spark that made Swingers so interesting and enjoyable.