Daniel Stern Biography

Daniel Jacob Stern (born August 28, 1957) is an American film and television actor. He is known for his roles in the Hollywood films C.H.U.D., Diner, City Slickers, the first two Home Alone films where he played bandit Marv Merchants, and as the narrator for the television series The Wonder Years.

Early life

Stern was born in Bethesda, Maryland, to a social worker father and a mother who managed a day care center. His brother is television writer David M. Stern. Daniel Stern is 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) tall and of Jewish descent. During his years at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, Stern starred in several theater productions, including playing C.C. Baxter in The Apartment and Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof. Stern applied for a job as a lighting engineer for a Shakespeare Festival in Washington, D.C., but was hired as a walk-on in their production of As You Like It. After taking acting lessons, Stern began his acting career in Off Broadway and Broadway productions, including a performance at Second Stage Theatre with actor Bob Gunton.

Career

In 1979, Stern made his movie debut as Cyril in Breaking Away. The following year he played a student who raised objections during Jill Clayburgh's proof of the snake lemma in the film It's My Turn. His breakthrough role as an actor came in Barry Levinson's Diner. He had another early film role in the 1984 horror film C.H.U.D., as the soup kitchen C.H.U.D. hunter. Stern was a candidate for the role of Biff Tannen in the 1985 film Back to the Future, but Stern turned the role down and was replaced by Thomas F. Wilson.

Stern has played characters in a number of comedic roles, such as Phil Berquist in the City Slickers movies; Marv Merchants the burglar in the first two Home Alone movies (Home Alone in 1990 and Home Alone 2 in 1992). However, he declined to play the character once again in the fourth installment of the franchise, he also starred as Max in Bushwhacked. He provided the voice of the narrator on the TV series The Wonder Years, which starred Fred Savage. Stern and Savage were also featured together in Little Monsters, in which Stern played the father of Savage's character. Stern provided the voice for the main character of the Dilbert animated TV series, based on the comic strip by Scott Adams. Stern directed several episodes of The Wonder Years and the feature film Rookie of the Year.

Stern was originally offered the role of Dale Gribble in King of the Hill but the role was offered to Johnny Hardwick when a salary agreement could not be reached.

Outside of acting and directing, Stern works as an artist, specializing in bronze sculpture.

Personal life

Stern has been married to Laure Mattos since 1980. Together they have three children, two daughters: Sophie and Ella, and a son, Henry.

In 2003, Stern went on a USO tour to Iraq and Kuwait.

Stern is a former member of the advisory board of National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1979	Starting Over	Student 2
	Breaking Away	Cyril
1980	It's My Turn
	One Trick Pony	Hare Krishna
	Stardust Memories
	A Small Circle of Friends
1981	Honky Tonk Freeway	Hitchhiker
1982	I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can
	Diner
1983	Get Crazy
	Blue Thunder
1984	The Ratings Game
	Frankenweenie
	C.H.U.D.
	Samson and Delilah
1985	Hometown		TV Series
	Key Exchange
1986	The Boss' Wife
	Hannah and Her Sisters
1987	Born in East L.A.
1988	The Milagro Beanfield War
	D.O.A.
	Weekend War
	The Wonder Years	narrator	TV Series 1988 to 1993
1989	Little Monsters	Glen Stevenson
	Leviathan
	Friends, Lovers, & Lunatics
1990	Coupe de Ville	Marvin Libner
	Home Alone	Marv
1991	City Slickers
	The Simpsons (season 2)	Three Men and a Comic Book	Animated TV Series
1992	Home Alone 2: Lost in New York	Marv Merchants
1993	SeaQuest DSV		TV Series
	Rookie of the Year
1994	City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold
1995	Bushwhacked	Max Grabelski
1996	Celtic Pride
1997	Gun		TV Series
	Hey Arnold!		Animated TV Series
1998	Very Bad Things
	Tourist Trap
1999	Dilbert		Animated TV Series
	Partners
2000	How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog
2001	Danny		TV Series
	Viva Las Nowhere
2003	Old School
	Regular Joe		TV Series
2004	The Last Full Measure
2006	Bachelor Party Vegas
	The Last Time
2008	A Previous Engagement
	Otis	Will Lawson
2009	Whip It
	Family Guy		Animated TV Series
	Monk		TV Series
2010	The Next Three Days	Meyer Fisk
	Battle of the Bulbs	Bob Wallace
2012	A Christmas Story 2	The Old Man
2013	Workaholics	Travis Rockne	TV Series
	Girlfriend in a Coma	Tom McNeil	TV Series

Awards and nominations

Year	Result	Award	Category	Film or series
1992	Nominated	American Comedy Awards	Funniest Supporting Actor	City Slickers