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Dan Hedaya

 
Actor: Dan Hedaya
Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > Actors
  • Born: Jul 24, 1940 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York
  • Occupation: Actor
  • Active: '80s-2000s
  • Major Genres: Comedy, Drama
  • Career Highlights: Blood Simple, Dick, Mulholland Dr.
  • First Major Screen Credit: Night of the Juggler (1980)

Biography

Dan Hedaya has played a wide variety of characters on the stage, screen, and television. Fans of the long-running sitcom Cheers will remember Hedaya for his portrayal of barmaid Carla's grease bag husband Nick Tortelli. Following studies in literature at Tufts University, Hedaya launched his acting career. He then went on to act in the New York Shakespeare Festival for many years. Hedaya made his feature film debut in The Passover Plot (1975). Since 1980, Hedaya has appeared in over 20 feature films, and is frequently cast as cops, criminals, or rough-edged regular joes. In Blood Simple (1984), he got the opportunity to play a leading role as Marty, the jealous husband who hires a creepy detective to kill his faithless wife. It is on television, that Hedaya has found most of his work. He has guest-starred on numerous shows ranging from police and courtroom dramas like Hill Street Blues and Law and Order, to sitcoms such as Family Ties. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
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Filmography: Dan Hedaya
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Swimfan

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Mulholland Dr.

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Shaft

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The Crew

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Locked in Silence

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Dick

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The Hurricane

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The Extreme Adventures of Super Dave

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Wikipedia: Dan Hedaya
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Dan Hedaya
Born July 24, 1940 (1940-07-24) (age 69)
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Occupation Actor
Years active 1970–present

Dan Hedaya (born July 24, 1940) is an American character actor. He often plays sleazy villains or uptight, wisecracking individuals; two of his best-known roles are as a cuckolded husband in the Coen Brothers crime thriller Blood Simple, and the scheming Nick Tortelli on the sitcom Cheers.

Contents

Life and career

Hedaya was born in Brooklyn, New York, to a Sephardic Jewish family from Syria.[1][2][3] His father immigrated from Aleppo.[4] Hedaya was raised in Bensonhurst, and worked as a junior high school teacher for many years before deciding to pursue acting full-time.[4]

Alongside a successful career in the movies, Hedaya has held several TV roles, including Carla Tortelli's ex-husband Nick on the sitcom Cheers and its short-lived spinoff The Tortellis. He played the estranged father of Mallory Keaton's boyfriend, Nick, on the sitcom Family Ties. More recently, he played an Italian-American priest in the controversial and quickly cancelled NBC series The Book of Daniel. Adding to his list of television credits is his performance as the long-lost father of Adrian Monk on Monk. He also guest starred in 1997 and 2005 as a wise cracking lawyer on the medical drama ER.

In films, Hedaya has played the evil dictator Arius in 1985's Commando, Mel Horowitz, the father of Alicia Silverstone's Cher in the 1995 film Clueless. He played Julian Marty in the first Coen Brothers feature, Blood Simple. His physical similarity to Richard Nixon led to him being cast as the former president for the film Dick.

Filmography

References

  1. ^ "Philadelphia Rings a Bell FOR 'First Wives Club' Actor". Jewish Exponent. 1996-10-03. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-2974557.html. Retrieved 2007-12-10. 
  2. ^ Weinraub, Bernard (1995-11-14). "After 20 Years, Dan Hedaya Is Fading Out of Anonymity". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9402EED91539F937A25752C1A963958260. Retrieved 2007-12-10. 
  3. ^ Zenner, Walter P. (2000). A Global Community: The Jews from Aleppo, Syria. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 0814327915. 
  4. ^ a b Schleier, Curt (1999-10-28). "A Night at the Sephardic Film Festival". The Jewish Journal. http://www.jewishjournal.com/articles/item/a_night_at_the_sephardic_film_festival_19991029/. Retrieved 2009-06-15. 

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Actor. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
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