Jeff Goldblum

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Jeff Goldblum

Jeff Goldblum, circa 1985

Born

Jeffrey Lynn Goldblum
October 22, 1952 (age 55)
West Homestead, Pennsylvania

Years active

1974 - present

Spouse(s)

Patricia Gaul (1980-1986)
Geena Davis (1987-1990)

Awards won
Other Awards
Saturn Award for Best Actor (film) 1986 The Fly

Jeffrey Lynn Goldblum (born October 22, 1952) is an Academy Award-nominated American actor. He often portrays quirky, intense or eccentric characters. He is also known for his distinctive appearance and his unique, staccato delivery of lines. At 6 feet 4 ½ inches (1.94 m), he is among Hollywood's tallest actors.

1 Biography
2 Filmography
3 Theater
- 3.1 Broadway
- 3.2 London
4 Television
5 Awards
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Goldblum was born in the Pittsburgh suburb of West Homestead, Pennsylvania, the son of Shirley, a radio broadcaster who later ran a kitchen equipment-selling firm, and Harold Goldblum, a doctor.^[1] He has a sister, Pamela and an older brother, Lee. Another older brother, Rick, only lived to age 23. His family is Jewish and belonged to an Orthodox synagogue;^[2]^[3] Goldblum's paternal grandfather emigrated from Russia and his maternal grandfather from Austria.^[1]^[2] Goldblum's parents were interested in show business.^[4] 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 a production of The Two Gentlemen of Verona. He is an excellent jazz piano singer and declared that if he did not act, he would be performing musically as a career. His film debut was playing a thug in the 1974 Charles Bronson classic Death Wish. He briefly appeared as a protester in the TV movie Columbo: A Case of Immunity (1975).

[edit] Career

Early in his career, he had a short role in Annie Hall (1977) where he attends a Hollywood party and is shown on the phone admitting, "I forgot my mantra". Goldblum has had leading roles in films such as The Fly and The Tall Guy. Goldblum's strong supporting roles include those in Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), The Big Chill (1983), Into the Night (1985), Earth Girls Are Easy (1988), Jurassic Park (1993), and The Lost World (1997). He also had strong supporting roles in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) and the 1984 cult films The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension and Igby Goes Down(2002). Goldblum delivers the exact same line, "must go faster," in very similar situations in both Jurassic Park and Independence Day. In Jurassic Park he exclaims it when he is sitting in the back of the jeep with his broken leg being chased by the tyrannosaurus. He says it in Independence Day when he and Will Smith are in the spaceship trying to escape the mother ship.

Goldblum was the voice for most of the US Apple commercials, including the ones for the iBook. He also voices some of the 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 teaches acting at Playhouse West in North Hollywood, along 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. According to gossip columnist Caffeinated Clint (as of September 2006) Goldblum is still rumored to reprise his role as Ian Malcolm in the upcoming film Jurassic Park IV.

The upcoming film Adam Resurrected is a film adaptation of the Yoram Kaniuk novel about a former circus clown who becomes the ringleader to a group of Holocaust survivors in an asylum after World War II. Goldblum was asked to take on the role of Adam, the story's main character, while visiting Israel for the first time in mid-2006.

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 as Bob's long-lost brother Minneapolis (parody of Indiana Jones) where Big Bird's friend Snuffleupagus had a missing golden cabbage. He has also appeared on "Tom Goes To The Mayor" and "Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job!".

[edit] Personal life

Goldblum with Geena Davis in 1990

Goldblum has been married twice. He was married to Patricia Gaul from 1980 to 1986. He was later married to Geena Davis, with whom he starred in three films (including the comedy Earth Girls Are Easy) from November 1, 1987 to October 1990. He claims to have maintained a good friendship with her in the ensuing years, saying, "she's a wonderful person and a wonderful actress." He was engaged to Laura Dern, with whom he co-starred in Jurassic Park. Goldblum was engaged to Catherine Wreford, a Canadian dancer, as documented in his 2006 mockumentary/documentary Pittsburgh, but the two are no longer seeing each other. While a guest on Late Night With Conan O'Brien, Goldblum said he enjoys curling.