Jeff Goldblum

Jeff Goldblum
Jeff Goldblum at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival
Born	Jeffrey Lynn Goldblum (1952-10-22) October 22, 1952 (age 59) West Homestead, Pennsylvania, United States
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1974–present
Spouse	Patricia Gaul (1980–1986) Geena Davis (1987–1990)

Jeffrey Lynn "Jeff" Goldblum (born October 22, 1952) is an American actor. His career began in the mid-1970s and he has appeared in major box-office successes including The Fly, Jurassic Park and its sequel Jurassic Park: The Lost World, and Independence Day. He starred as Detective Zach Nichols for the eighth and ninth seasons of the USA Network's crime drama series Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

Early life

Goldblum was born in the Pittsburgh suburb of West Homestead, Pennsylvania, the son of Shirley S. (née Temeles), a radio broadcaster who later ran a kitchen equipment and appliances sales firm, and Harold L. Goldblum, a medical doctor.^[1][2] He has a sister, Pamela, and an older brother, Lee. Another older brother, Rick, died at age 23. His family is Jewish and belonged to an Orthodox synagogue.^[3][4]

Goldblum's parents were interested in show business.^[5] Goldblum moved to New York City at 17 to become an actor. Goldblum worked on the stage and studied acting at the renowned Neighborhood Playhouse under the guidance of acting coach Sanford Meisner. He made his Broadway debut in the Tony Award-winning musical Two Gentlemen of Verona. He is also an accomplished jazz pianist and declared that if he did not act, he would have become a professional musician. He made his film debut as a thug in the 1974 Charles Bronson film Death Wish. He briefly appeared as a protester in the TV movie Columbo A Case of Immunity (1975).

Career

Jeff Goldblum, 1985

In 1974, Goldblum appeared in Death Wish as Freak # 1. Later in his career, as "Lacey Party Guest" in Annie Hall (1977), Goldblum is seen saying into the telephone at a Hollywood party, "This is Mr. Davis. I forgot my mantra." Goldblum has had leading roles in films such as The Fly, Independence Day, The Lost World (1997), Earth Girls Are Easy, The Tall Guy, Vibes (1988) and Into the Night (1985). Goldblum's strong supporting roles include those in Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), The Big Chill (1983), and Jurassic Park (1993), as well as The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) and the cult films The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension (1984) and Igby Goes Down (2002).

For several years, Goldblum was the voice for most U.S. Apple commercials, including advertisements for the iMac and iBook. He also voices some U.S. Toyota commercials as well as Procter & Gamble's facial cream line. He has recently appeared on Irish TV in commercials for the National Lottery.

Goldblum taught acting at Playhouse West in North Hollywood with Robert Carnegie. It was with several actors from this acting company that he improvised and directed the live action short film Little Surprises, which was nominated for an Academy Award in 1996.

Goldblum in May 2005 after a performance of The Pillowman

Goldblum got the role of Adam in Adam Resurrected, a film adaptation of the Yoram Kaniuk novel about a former German entertainer who becomes the ringleader to a group of Holocaust survivors in an asylum after World War II.

In September 2006, it was announced that Goldblum was one of the founding members of a new theater company in New York called The Fire Dept. According to press materials, "The Fire Dept is made up of established and emerging writers, directors, actors and designers who have come together to create and produce work that cannot be replicated inside a television box or on a movie screen...The work of The Fire Dept combines the rigor and structure of great narrative storytelling with the vitality of formal experimentation to immerse audiences in a total experience that leaves them awake, alive and transformed." The company will devote energy into developing new live theater works as well as interpreting old favorites.

His guest appearance was on Sesame Street in 1990 as Bob's long-lost brother Minneapolis (parody of Indiana Jones) where Big Bird's friend Snuffleupagus had "the golden cabbage of Snuffertiti" hidden in his cave. He has also appeared on Tom Goes to the Mayor, The Colbert Report, and Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job!.

Goldblum replaced Chris Noth as a Senior Detective on Law & Order: Criminal Intent.^[6] In the series, Goldblum plays the role of Detective Zach Nichols. In August 2010, media outlets reported that Goldblum had decided not to return to Criminal Intent due to persistent concerns about the program's future.^[7][8]

Personal life

Goldblum with former spouse Geena Davis in 1990

Goldblum has been married twice: from 1980 to 1986, to Patricia Gaul, with whom he starred in Silverado (1985), and from 1987–1990 to Geena Davis, his co-star in three films (including the comedy Earth Girls Are Easy and the science fiction/horror film The Fly).

Filmography

Theater

Broadway

• The Pillowman (2005)
• Two Gentlemen of Verona
• The Play What I Wrote
• The Moony Shapiro Songbook
• The Exonerated
• City Sugar
• El Grande de Coca Cola

London and Broadway

• The Prisoner of Second Avenue

London and Recklinghausen (Germany)

• Speed-the-Plow

Pittsburgh

• The Music Man at Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera

Television

• Columbo: A Case of Immunity (1975)
• Starsky and Hutch – Murder on Stage 17 (1977)
• The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1980)
• Tenspeed and Brown Shoe (1980)
• Rehearsal for Murder (1982)
• Ernie Kovacs: Between the Laughter (1984)
• Faerie Tale Theatre (1985)
• Who's The Boss? (1985)
• The Ray Bradbury Theater – The Town Where No One Got Off (1986)
• Life Story (BBC) (US Title: The Race for the Double Helix) (1987)
• Captain Planet and the Planeteers (1990)
• Framed (1990)
• Lush Life (1993)
• The Simpsons – A Fish Called Selma (1996)
• The Story of Bean (1997)
• Playmate Pajama Party (1999)
• From Star Wars to Star Wars: The Story of Industrial Light & Magic (1999)
• AFI's 100 Years... 100 Stars (1999)
• When Dinosaurs Ruled (2000)
• Festival in Cannes (2001)
• King of the Hill – Guest voice as Dr. Vayzosa (2002)
• Friends – Guest as Leonard Hayes (2003)
• Tom Goes to the Mayor (2004)
• Will and Grace (2005)
• Raines (2007)
• Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! (2007)
• Law & Order: Criminal Intent (since 2009)
• Top Gear (2010, as star in a reasonably priced car)
• NTSF:SD:SUV:: (2011) Guest Appearance
• The League (2011) Guest as Ruxin's father
• Glee (2012) Guest as Hiram Berry

Awards

• 1983: Star of Tomorrow Award. Presented by the National Association of Theatre Owners.
• 1987: Saturn Award for Best Actor in The Fly
• 1996: Academy Award nomination for Live Action Short Film
• 2005: Emmy Award nomination for a guest appearance on Will & Grace

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jeff Goldblum

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Jeff Goldblum

• Jeff Goldblum at the Internet Movie Database
• Jeff Goldblum at the Internet Broadway Database
• Jeff Goldblum at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• April 2005 Interview with Goldblum from New York magazine
• Goldblum resurrects fond memories, a July 2004 article (with accompanying audio commentary) from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
• Jeff Goldblum: the Buddha of Hollywood from The Guardian, 12 July 2010