Stephen Tobolowsky

Stephen Harold Tobolowsky (born May 30, 1951) is an American character actor and writer. He is known for film roles such as insurance agent Ned Ryerson in Groundhog Day^[1] and amnesiac Sammy Jankis in Memento, as well as such television characters as Commissioner Hugo Jarry in Deadwood, Bob Bishop in Heroes, Sandy Ryerson in Glee, Stu Beggs in Californication and White Famous, "Action" Jack Barker in Silicon Valley, Dr. Leslie Berkowitz in One Day at a Time, Principal Earl Ball in The Goldbergs, and Dr. Schulman in The Mindy Project.

Stephen Tobolowsky
Tobolowsky at the 2012 Texas Book Festival
Born	Stephen Harold Tobolowsky (1951-05-30) May 30, 1951 (age 74) Dallas, Texas, U.S.
Education	Southern Methodist University (BFA) University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (MFA)
Occupations	Actor writer
Years active	1975−present
Spouse	Ann Hearn ​ (m. 1988)​
Children	2
Website	stephentobolowsky.com

Tobolowsky has a monthly audio podcast, The Tobolowsky Files, of autobiographical stories of his acting and personal life.^[2] He has also authored three books: The Dangerous Animals Club, Cautionary Tales, and My Adventures with God.

Early life and education

Tobolowsky was born on May 30, 1951, in Dallas.^[3] He grew up creating imaginative games with his brother, and his story The Dangerous Animals Club paints a picture of how unsupervised children in the 20th century could amuse themselves. He showed talent at baseball, but a serious childhood illness ended his career as an athlete before it began. He graduated from Justin F. Kimball High School and Southern Methodist University.^[4] He received a master's degree from the University of Illinois in 1975.^[5]

Tobolowsky is a cousin of former Dallas attorney Ira Tobolowsky,^[6] who was murdered in his home in 2016 by a disgruntled former litigant.^[7] George Tobolowsky, Ira's brother and Stephen's cousin, is a sculptor.^[8]

Stephen Tobolowsky also played in a band called A Cast of Thousands, which had two songs, "Red, White and Blue" and "I Heard a Voice Last Night", on a compilation of local Dallas bands called A New Hi. Both of these songs featured Steve Vaughan on guitar, who would be later known as Stevie Ray Vaughan.^[9]

Career

Tobolowsky has appeared in over 200 films, plus many television projects. He has also worked in the theater, directing and acting in plays in New York City, San Francisco and Los Angeles. He directed one film, Two Idiots in Hollywood, based on his play of the same name. He also co-wrote the film True Stories with David Byrne and Beth Henley.^[10] While writing True Stories, he told Byrne about his supposed psychic abilities, which inspired Byrne to write the song "Radio Head" for the film. Tobolowsky was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play for the 2002 revival of Morning's at Seven.

On October 29, 2009, Tobolowsky started a new podcast on /Film called The Tobolowsky Files, where he tells stories, in a similar fashion to Stephen Tobolowsky's Birthday Party (2005).^[11][12] The show was picked up by Public Radio International in 2012.^[13]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1977	Keep My Grave Open	Robert
1984	The Philadelphia Experiment	Barney
	Swing Shift	French deMille / Documentary Narrator
1986	Nobody's Fool	Kirk
1987	Spaceballs	Captain of the Guard
1988	Mississippi Burning	Clayton Townley
	Two Idiots in Hollywood	Prosecuting Attorney	Also writer and director
1989	Checking Out	Pharmacist
	Breaking In	District Attorney
	Great Balls of Fire!	Jud Phillips
	In Country	Pete
1990	Bird on a Wire	Joe Weyburn
	Funny About Love	Hugo
	Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael	Mayor Bill Klepler	Credited as Stephen Tobolowski
	The Grifters	Jeweler
	Mirror, Mirror	Mr. Anderson
1991	Thelma & Louise	Max
1992	Wedlock	Warden Holliday
	Basic Instinct	Dr. Lamott
	Where the Day Takes You	Charles
	Hero	Wallace
	Memoirs of an Invisible Man	Warren Singleton
	Single White Female	Mitchell Myerson
	Roadside Prophets	Ranger Bob
	Sneakers	Dr. Werner Brandes
1993	Josh and S.A.M.	Thom Whitney
	Calendar Girl	Antonio Gallo
	The Pickle	Mike Krakower
	Romeo Is Bleeding	District Attorney	Uncredited
	Groundhog Day	Ned Ryerson
1994	Trevor	Father Jon
	My Father the Hero	Mike
	Radioland Murders	Max Applewhite
1995	Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde	Oliver Mintz
	Murder in the First	Mr. Henkin
1996	The Glimmer Man	Christopher Maynard
	Power 98	Rick Harris
	Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco	Bando (voice)	[14]
1997	Boys Life 2	Father John
	The Curse of Inferno	Lonnie Martin
	Mr. Magoo	Agent Chuck Stupak
1998	An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn	Bill Bardo
	Black Dog	McClaren
	The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story	Tabaqui (voice)	[14]
	Around the Fire	Doc
	The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars	Calculator (voice)	Credited as Stephen Tobolowski[14]
1999	The Insider	Eric Kluster
	One Man's Hero	Captain Gaine
2000	Sleep Easy, Hutch Rimes	Dewey Wise
	Bossa Nova	Trevor
	The Operator	Doc
	Memento	Sammy Jankis
	Stanley's Gig	Abe Cohen
2001	The Prime Gig	Mick
	Freddy Got Fingered	Uncle Neil	Uncredited
2002	Love Liza	Tom Bailey
	The Country Bears	Norbert Barrington
	Ritual	Dr. Javitz	Uncredited
2003	National Security	Billy Narthax
	View from the Top	Frank Thomas	Uncredited
	Freaky Friday	Mr. Elton Bates
	Frankie and Johnny Are Married	Murray Mintz
2004	Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!	George Ruddy
	Garfield	Happy Chapman / Walter J. Chapman
	Little Black Book	Carl
	Debating Robert Lee	Debate Judge
2005	Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous	Tom Abernathy
	Robots	Bigmouth Executive, Forge (voice)	[14]
	Stephen Tobolowsky's Birthday Party	Himself
	Living 'til the End	Dr. Shaw
2006	The Sasquatch Gang	Ernie Dalrymple
	Failure to Launch	Bud
	Pope Dreams	Carl Venable
	Blind Dating	Dr. Perkins
	National Lampoon's Totally Baked: A Potumentary	Jesco Rollins
2007	Wild Hogs	Charley
	Boxboarders!	Dr. Stephen James
	Loveless in Los Angeles	Jon
2008	The Rainbow Tribe	Principal Sands
	Beethoven's Big Break	Sal DeMarco	Video
2009	The Time Traveler's Wife	Dr. Kendrick
2010	Buried	Alan Davenport (voice)
	Hard Breakers	Ephraim
	Peep World	Ephraim
2011	You May Not Kiss the Bride	Plumber
	The Last Ride	Ray
2012	A Little Something on the Side	Larry	Short
	The Lorax	Uncle Ubb (voice)	[14]
	Pearblossom Hwy	Rick Lawler
2014	The Barber	Chief Gary Hardaway
	Mr. Peabody & Sherman	Principal Purdy (voice)	[14]
	Atlas Shrugged: Part III	Dr. Hugh Akston
	Christian Mingle	Douglas McCarver
2015	Hollywood Adventures	Wronald Wright
2016	Welcome to the Men's Group	Carl
	Six LA Love Stories	Professor John Dobler
	The Confirmation	Father Lyons
	Guys and Girls Can't Be Friends	Andy
2017	Scooby-Doo! Shaggy's Showdown	Andy Gunderson (voice)	[14]
	Mamaboy	Reverend Weld
2018	Strange Nature	Mayor Paulson	[15]
	Monsters At Large	Mr. Phillips
2019	Fractured	Dr. Berthram	[16]
2023	Candy Cane Lane	Mr. Benedetto
2023	Poolman	Stephen Toronkowski/Blanche
2025	Freakier Friday	Mr. Elton Bates	Post-production[17]

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1983	Cocaine and Blue Eyes	TV Clerk	Television film
1985	Alice	Caveman Carl	Episode: "Vera, the Nightbird"
	Knots Landing	Steve Comiskey	Episode: "A Man of Good Will"
	Falcon Crest	Doctor	Episode: "The Phoenix"
	Cagney & Lacey	Russell Phelps	Episode: "Ordinary Hero"
	Stir Crazy	Salesman	Episode: "Where's Mary?"
1986	Designing Women	Boyd	Episode: "Design House"
	227	Professor	Episode: "We the People"
1987	The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd	Alex	Episode: "Here's Why You Should Never Wear High Heels to the Bank"
1989	Roe vs. Wade	Darryl Horwath	Television film
	L.A. Law	Dr. Michael Segal	Episode: "Lie Down and Deliver"
	Lifestories	Josh Gant	Episode: "Art Conforti"
1990	Last Flight Out	Doctor Timothy Brandon	Television film
1991	Seinfeld	Tor	Episode: "The Heart Attack"
	Tagget	Al Hentz	Television film
	Down Home	Honis	Episode: "Mail Order Tran"
	Baby Talk	Dr. Ezra Farr	Episode: "The Whiz Kid"
	The Marla Hanson Story	Defense Attorney	Television film
	Deadly Medicine	Ron Sutton	Television film
	Perry Mason: The Case of the Maligned Mobster	Sergeant Phil Baranski	Television film
1993	Picket Fences	Ben Sasha	Episode: "Be My Valentine"
	Civil Wars	Eugene Paxton	Episode: "A Liver Runs Through It"
	When Love Kills: The Seduction of John Hearn	Detective Keefe	Television film
	Café Americain	Roger	Episode: "Toast of the Town"
	Against the Grain	Niles Hardeman	Recurring role
1994	Harts of the West	Dave's former boss	Episode: "Back in the Panties Again"
	Blue Skies	Oak	Main role
1995	Dweebs	Karl	Main role
	A Whole New Ballgame	Dr. Warner Brakefield	2 episodes
	Chicago Hope	Dr. Ted Joseph	2 episodes
1996	The Home Court	Jeffrey Solomon	Episode: "Touched by an Anger"
	The Pretender	Dr. Alan Trader	Episode: "Pilot"
	Night Visitors	Taylor	Television film
	Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Principal Flutie	Unaired pilot
1996–1997	Mr. Rhodes	Ray Heary	Main role
1997	The Drew Carey Show	The Councilman	Episode: "The Dog and Pony Show"
	The Naked Truth	Vincent Hartford	Episode: "The Birds"
	Murder One	Dr. Andross	3 episodes
	Promised Land	Fred Argyle	Episode: "Par for the Course"
1998	The Closer	Phil	Episode: "Morality Bites"
	Hercules	Numericles (voice)	Episode: "Hercules and the Techno Greeks"
	Suddenly Susan	Dr. Gerken	Episode: "Don't Tell"
	Vengeance Unlimited	Mayor Bob Laird	Episode: "Eden"
1998–2000	Any Day Now	Mr. Brinkman	2 episodes
1999	Mad About You	Principal Hocksacker	Episode: "Uncle Phil Goes Back to High School"
	The Practice	Clyde Burrows	Episode: "Closet Justice"
	Don't Look Under the Bed	Michael McCausland	Television film
	That '70s Show	The Professor	Episode: "Laurie and the Professor"
	Two Guys and a Girl	Father Viteri	Episode: "Berg's New Roommate"
	Odd Man Out	Alan Carlson	Episode: "In the Name of the Father"
	Snoops	Michael Bench	3 episodes
2000	Manhattan, AZ	Dr. Bob	Recurring role
	Alien Fury: Countdown to Invasion	B.J. McQueen	Television film
	Buzz Lightyear of Star Command	Gil (voice)	Episode: "Mindwarp"[14]
	That's Life	Study Advisor Roger Robinson	Episode: "The Screw-Up"
2001	Roswell	Julius Walters	Episode: "Secrets and Lies"
	Bull	Mr. Siegel	Episode: "Blood, Flopsweat and Tears"
	King of the Hill	Dr. Benson, Burt Halverstrom (voice)	Episode: "The Exterminator"
	Off Centre	Milt Flack	Episode: "Swing Time"
	The Day the World Ended	Principal Ed Turner	Television film
	The Lone Gunmen	Adam Burgess	Episode: "Madam, I'm Adam"
	Black River	Mayor Tom Thompson	Television film
2002	Malcolm in the Middle	Mr. Fisher	Episode: "Lois' Makeover"
	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Jim Halliwell	Episode: "Malignant"
	Do Over	Mr. Meyers	Episode: "The Block Party"
2003	Las Vegas	Donny Rollins	Episode: "Donny, We Hardly Knew Ye"
	Kingpin	Dr. Klein's lawyer	Episode: "Black Magic Woman"
	Oliver Beene	Ringmaster Bob	Episode: "Divorce-o-Rama"
	The Dead Zone	Dr. Jim Pratt	Episode: "Plague"
2003–2005	CSI: Miami	Assistant State Attorney Don Haffman	Recurring role
2004	Will and Grace	Ned Weathers	Episode: "Company"
	It's All Relative	Roy	Episode: "Philip in a China Shop"
	The West Wing	Dr. Max Milkman	Episode: "The Stormy Present"
	Complete Savages	Mr. Frehley	Episode: "Voodude"
	Married to the Kellys	Henry Conway	Episode: "Talk Radio"
	According to Jim	Dr. Ted	Episode: "The Marriage Bank"
2005	American Dragon: Jake Long	Stan Lipkowski (voice)	2 episodes[14]
	McBride: The Doctor Is Out... Really Out	Harry Evers	Television film
	Curb Your Enthusiasm	Len Dunkel	Episode: "The Seder"
	The Closer	James Bloom	Episode: "The Butler Did It"
	Reba	Judge	Episode: "Grannies Gone Wild"
2005–2006	Deadwood	Hugo Jarry	Recurring role
2006	Ghost Whisperer	Dr. Edward	Episode: "Dead Man's Ridge"
	Night Stalker	Titus Berry	Episode: "Timeless"
	Desperate Housewives	Bud Penrod	Episode: "No One Is Alone"
2006–2007	Big Day	The Garf	Recurring role
2007	John From Cincinnati	Mark Lewinsky	3 episodes
	Entourage	Mayor of Beverly Hills	Episode: "Sorry, Harvey"
	Boston Legal	Dr. Alvin Azinabinacroft	Episode: "The Good Lawyer"
	Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip	Joe	Episode: "The Friday Night Slaughter"
	The Valley of Light	Littlefield	Television film
	Raines	Wally Anderson	Episode: "Stone Dead"
2007–2008	Heroes	Bob Bishop	Recurring role
2008	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Spencer Freiberg	Episode: "Two and a Half Deaths"
	Rita Rocks	Bill Bowman	Episode: "Get Off Off of My Cloud"
2009	The New Adventures of Old Christine	Principal James Merrow	2 episodes
2009–2011	Glee	Sandy Ryerson	Recurring role
2010	The Sarah Silverman Program	Bill Fantastimart	Episode: "A Fairly Attractive Mind"
	True Jackson, VP	Lars Balthazar	Episode: "Saving Snackleberry"
	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Edwin Adelson	Episode: "Bullseye"
2011	Community	Professor Peter Sheffield	Episode: "Competitive Wine Tasting"
	The Defenders	Judge Gelineau	Episode: "Nevada v. Wayne"
	Pound Puppies	Mr. Geekman (voice)	Episode: "Taboo"[14]
2011–2014	Californication	Stu Beggs	Main role
2012	Work It	Dr. David Deutsch	Episode: "Shake Your Moneymaker"
2012–2013	Justified	FBI Agent Jerry Barkley	3 episodes
2012–2016	The Mindy Project	Marc Shulman	4 episodes
2013	Toy Story of Terror!	Ron the Hotel Manager (voice)	Television film[14]
2014–2023	The Goldbergs	Principal Earl Ball	Recurring role
2014	Friends with Better Lives	Dr. Adleman	Episode: "Game Sext Match"
	Hello Ladies: The Movie	Alan	Television film
	The Hotwives	Phil	Recurring role
2015	Big Time in Hollywood, FL	Alan Dolfe	Main role
	Dr. Ken	Joe	Episode: "Pilot"
	Another Period	Thomas Edison	Episode: "Rejects Beach"
2016	Fuller House	Mr. Gerald	Episode: "The Not-So-Great Escape"
	Blunt Talk	Daniel Rudolph	Episode: "Walter Has to Look After Walter"
2016–2017	Silicon Valley	Jack Barker	13 episodes
	Justice League Action	Martin Stein (voice)	Recurring role (10 episodes)[14]
2017–2020	The Loud House	Principal Huggins (voice)	Recurring role[14]
	One Day at a Time	Dr. Berkowitz	Main role
2017	White Famous	Stu Beggs	3 episodes
	We Bare Bears	Stephen (voice)	Episode: "Tubin"
2018	DIY	Mister Wonderworm (voice)	Television film
	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Defense Attorney Kayman	Episode: "The Good Girl”
2019	Schooled	Earl Ball	Recurring role
	The Cool Kids	Leonard	Episode: "Margaret Ups Her Game”
	Live in Front of a Studio Audience	Harry Bentley	Episode: "Norman Lear's All in the Family and The Jeffersons"
	Green Eggs and Ham	Chad (voice)	Episode: "House"[14]
	The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants	Creepy Rattlechains (voice)	Episode: "The Spooky Tale of Captain Underpants Hack-a-Ween"[14]
2019–2022	Puppy Dog Pals	Chip (voice)	2 episodes
2020	ThunderCats Roar	Driller (voice)	Episode: "Driller"[14]
2020–2021	Archer	Robert (voice)	8 episodes
2022	Grace and Frankie	Allen	Episode: "The Horrible Family"
	Haul Out the Holly	Ned	Television film (Hallmark)
2023	Lopez vs Lopez	Sam Van Bryan	Recurring role
	The Really Loud House	Walter Phillipini	2 episodes
	Animaniacs	Local DJ (voice)	2 episodes
	Haul Out the Holly: Lit Up	Ned	Television film (Hallmark)
2024	Nobody Wants This	Rabbi Cohen	Recurring role
2024	Lopez vs Lopez	Sam Van Bryan	Episode: "Lopez vs In-Laws"
2024	The Madness	Don Sloss Sr.	Episode: "Discord"
2024	Hacks		Episode: "Join the Club"

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2013	Batman: Arkham Origins	Ferris Boyle	Cold, Cold Heart DLC
2024	Batman: Arkham Shadow		[14]

Discography

• Featured on two tracks of the 1971 compilation album A New Hi‍^[18]
• Featured on the track "Loser" (also released as a digital single) of the 2010 cast album Glee: The Music, Volume 3 Showstoppers‍^[19]
• Featured on the tracks "Loser" and "I Wanna Sex You Up" of the 2010 compilation downloadable cast album Glee: The Music, The Complete Season One‍^[20]

Stage appearances

Selected stage appearances

Year	Title	Venue	Role	Notes
1976	Meredith Monk Dance Company's Paris	Royce Hall	Man with a clipboard	[21]
1982	Beth Henley's The Wake of Jamie Foster	Eugene O'Neill Theatre	Leon
1985	Chekhov's The Three Sisters	Los Angeles Theatre Center	Baron Tuzenbach
1986	Michel de Ghelderode's Barabbus	Los Angeles Theatre Center	Pontius Pilate and The Watcher
1987	Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie	Los Angeles Theatre Center	Gentleman caller
1989	Christopher Durang's The Marriage of Bette and Boo	Los Angeles Theatre Center	Father Donnally and The Doctor
2002	Paul Osborn's Mornings at Seven	Lyceum Theater and Ahmanson Theatre	Homer
2002	Shaw's Heartbreak House	Theater 40	Capt. Shotover
2003	Sally Nemeth's Holy Days	Theater 40	Gant	[22]
2019	Angela J. Davis' The Spanish Prayer Book	Road Theater Los Angeles	Alexander	[23]

Writing credits

Year	Title	Notes
1984	Two Idiots in Hollywood	Stage play and film
1986	True Stories	Film

Directing credits

Year	Title	Notes
1984	Two Idiots in Hollywood	Stage play at Theatre Los Angeles
1984	Beth Henley's The Miss Firecracker Contest	Stage play at Manhattan Theatre Club
1987	Beth Henley's The Lucky Spot	Film
1988	Two Idiots in Hollywood	Film
2003	Jim McLure's Blue Silence	Stage play at Theater 40