'Despicable Me 2': How Steve Carell Wins 'Major Points' With His Kids -- and Their Friends (Video)

"Despicable Me 2" opens nationwide on July 3, and no one is more excited than the star's children.

He has starred in some of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful contemporary comedies, but to his kids, Steve Carell’s coolest job doesn’t even show his face.

Having previously lent his voice to the animated Over the Hedge and Horton Hears a Who!, Carell earned big kudos from his kids (Annie, 12, and Johnny, 9) with 2010's Despicable Me.

“They definitely like the animated stuff,”  Carell says of his daughter and son. “When I can do the voice from Despicable Me for their friends, that wins major points: ‘Hello! Come over and have some waffles at our house!’ ” he adds, off the cuff, in a pitch-perfect Gru voice.  “They just think that’s the best.”
While promoting the sequel to Despicable Me, out July 3, Carell also has some more adult-friendly fare hitting theaters.
The Way, Way Back, marking Oscar-winning screenwriters Nat Faxon and Jim Rash’s co-directorial debut, is a summer friendly, coming-of-age story set in a sleepy seaside town. Having debuted at Sundance earlier this year, the indie will open in select theaters across the country on July 5.