Jeff Goldblum Biography

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. His mother, Shirley (née Temeles), was a radio broadcaster who later ran a kitchen equipment and appliances sales firm, and his father, Harold L. Goldblum, was a medical doctor. He has a sister, Pamela, and an older brother, Lee. Another older brother, Rick, died at age 23. His family was Jewish, and had emigrated from Russia and Austria to the U.S. During his childhood, Goldblum belonged to an Orthodox synagogue and had a Bar Mitzvah.

Goldblum's parents were interested in show business. 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

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 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.

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. 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.

Personal life

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: Transylvania 6-5000 (1985), The Fly (1986), and Earth Girls Are Easy (1988).

Goldblum follows "Eastern religions."

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1974	Death Wish	Freak #1
1974	California Split	Lloyd Harris
1975	Nashville	Tricycle Man
1976	Special Delivery	Snake
1976	St. Ives	Hood #3
1976	Next Stop, Greenwich Village	Clyde Baxter aka Charlie Biletnikoff
1977	Annie Hall	Lacey Party Guest
1977	Between the Lines	Max Arloft
1977	The Sentinel	Jack
1978	Thank God It's Friday	Tony Di Marco
1978	Invasion of the Body Snatchers	Jack Bellicec
1978	Remember My Name	Mr. Nudd
1981	Threshold	Aldo Gehring
1983	The Right Stuff	Recruiter
1983	The Big Chill	Michael Gold
1984	The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension	New Jersey
1984	Terror in the Aisles	Jack Bellicec
1985	Transylvania 6-5000	Jack Harrison
1985	Silverado	"Slick" Calvin Stanhope
1985	Into the Night	Ed Okin
1986	The Fly	Seth Brundle	Saturn Award for Best Actor
1987	Beyond Therapy	Bruce
1988	Vibes	Nick Deezy
1988	Earth Girls Are Easy	Mac
1989	The Tall Guy	Dexter King
1989	The Fly II	Seth Brundle	Uncredited
1990	Framed	Wiley
1990	El Sueño del Mono Loco	Dan Gillis
1990	Mister Frost	Mr. Frost
1991	The Favour, the Watch and the Very Big Fish	Pianist
1992	Shooting Elizabeth	Howard Pigeon
1992	The Player	Himself
1992	Fathers & Sons	Max
1992	Deep Cover	David Jason	Nominated"?Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male
1993	Jurassic Park	Dr. Ian Malcolm	Nominated"?Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
1995	Hideaway	Hatch
1995	Nine Months	Sean Fletcher
1995	Powder	Donald Ripley
1996	Independence Day	David Levinson	Nominated"?Saturn Award for Best Actor
1996	The Great White Hype	Mitchell Kane
1996	Mad Dog Time	Mickey Holliday
1997	The Lost World: Jurassic Park	Dr. Ian Malcolm
1998	The Prince of Egypt	Aaron	Voice Only
1998	Welcome to Hollywood	Himself
1998	Holy Man	Ricky Hayman
2000	Auggie Rose	John Nolan
2000	Chain of Fools	Avnet
2000	One of the Hollywood Ten	Herbert Biberman
2001	Cats & Dogs	Professor Brody
2001	Beyond Suspicion	John Nolan
2001	Perfume	Jamie	Also Executive Producer
2002	Run Ronnie Run!	Himself	Uncredited
2002	Igby Goes Down	D.H.
2003	Dallas 362	Bob
2003	Spinning Boris	George Gorton
2003	War Stories	Journalist
2004	Incident at Loch Ness	Party Guest
2004	The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou	Allistair Hennessey	Nominated"?Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
2006	Mini's First Time	Mike Rudell
2006	Fay Grim	Agent Fullbright
2006	Pittsburgh	Himself	Also Producer
2006	Man of the Year	Stewart
2009	Adam Resurrected	Adam Stein
2010	The Switch	Leonard
2010	Morning Glory	Jerry Barnes
2012	Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie	Chef Goldblum
2012	Zambezia	Ajax	Voice
2013	Le Week-End

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1975	Columbo	Protector	Episode: "A Case of Immunity"
1976	The Blue Knight	Daggett	Episode: "Upward Mobility"
1977	Starsky & Hutch	Harry Markham	Episode: "Murder on Stage 17"
1980	The Legend of Sleepy Hollow	Ichabod Crane	Television movie
1980	Tenspeed and Brown Shoe	Lionel Whitney	14 episodes
1982	Rehearsal for Murder	Leo Gibbs	Television movie
1982	Laverne & Shirley	Jeffrey	Episode: "Watch the Fur Fly"
1984	Ernie Kovacs: Between the Laughter	Ernie Kovacs	Television movie
1984	American Playhouse	Unknown	Episode: "Popular Neurotics"
1985	'Faerie Tale Theatre	Buck Wolf	Episode: "The Three Little Pigs"
1986	The Ray Bradbury Theater	Cogswell	Episode: "The Town Where No One Got Off"
1990	Sesame Street	Minneapolis	Episode: "21.72"
1990	Framed	Wiley	Television movie
1990"1991	Captain Planet and the Planeteers	Verminous Skumm	5 episodes
1993	Lush Life	Al Gorky	Television movie
1993"1997	Saturday Night Live	Host	2 episodes
1995	The Larry Sanders Show	Jeff Goldblum	Episode: "Nothing Personal"
1996	The Simpsons	MacArthur Park	Episode: "A Fish Called Selma"
2002	King of the Hill	Dr. Vayzosa	Episode: "The Substitute Spanish Prisoner"
2003	Friends	Leonard Hayes	Episode: "The One with the Mugging"
2003"2005	Crank Yankers	Professor Fermstein	2 episodes
2004	Tom Goes to the Mayor	Bill Joel	Episode: "Toodle Day"
2005	Will & Grace	Scott Wooley	3 episodes Nominated"?Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series
2007	Raines	Michael Raines	7 episodes
2007	Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!	Himself	2 episodes
2009"2010	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Detective Zach Nichols	24 episodes
2010	Top Gear	Himself	Episode: "15.6"
2011	NTSF:SD:SUV::	Gunnar Geirhart	Episode: "Full Hauser"
2011"2012	The League	Rupert Ruxin	2 episodes
2012	Portlandia	Alan	Episode: "Thanksgiving"
2012	Glee	Hiram Berry	2 episodes
2013	Portlandia	The Doily Shoppe Owner	Episode: "Take Back MTV"

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

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