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Bob Balaban
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BIRTHDAY
August 16, 1945
Chicago, IL
RECENT CREDITS
Dedication
(FILM)
Aug. 24, 2007
No Reservations
(FILM)
Jul. 21, 2007
For Your Consideration
(FILM)
Nov. 17, 2006
Trust the Man
(FILM)
Aug. 18, 2006
Lady in the Water
(FILM)
Jul. 21, 2006
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Bob Balaban Credits
BIOGRAPHY
Playing a succession of bespectacled, soft-spoken, yet vaguely superior characters, Bob Balaban carved himself a niche as a reliable character actor in the last quarter of the 20th century, while also getting the....
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Playing a succession of bespectacled, soft-spoken, yet vaguely superior characters, Bob Balaban carved himself a niche as a reliable character actor in the last quarter of the 20th century, while also getting the occasional opportunity to write and direct for the screen.
The nephew and cousin of industry personages, Balaban got the acting bug at Colgate University and N.Y.U., inspiring him to study with Uta Hagen and Viola Spolin. After some exposure on and off-Broadway in the late 1960s, Balaban made his film debut in Midnight Cowboy (1969), playing the high school student who meets Jon Voight in the movie theater for a tryst. Working sporadically through the '70s, more in theater and TV than film, Balaban developed a more familiar face with such roles as the cartographer and French translator from Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1978) and the attorney hired to help Richard Dreyfuss' quadriplegic choose to die in Whose Life Is It Anyway? (1981).
Balaban's major contribution to the industry in the 1980s was as a director, first of the disappointing Showtime movie The Brass Ring (1983) and then of the macabre weekly TV series Tales of the Darkside (1984) and Amazing Stories (1985). His big-screen directorial debut, the cannibal-themed black comedy Parents (1989), was considered either an objectionable failure by some or a devious cult classic by others; two later forays into directing (My Boyfriend's Back in 1993, The Last Good Time in 1994) were better received.
In the 1990s, Balaban returned his focus to acting, especially as he caught on with more regular parts in the latter half of the decade. His most widely seen role was the NBC executive who accepts, then declines, then accepts again the pilot written by George and Jerry on the popular sitcom Seinfeld. His Russell Dalrymple appeared in only six episodes in the 1992-1993 season but was featured prominently in the season finale, lost at sea and presumed dead in his all-consuming quest to win Elaine's affections. It was this Seinfeld gig that netted Balaban the most regular and prominent work of his career in the years that followed. Although often still appearing in serious roles, Balaban indulged his talent for subtle comedy by linking up with actor/director Christopher Guest and appearing in two of his acclaimed faux documentaries, Waiting for Guffman (1996) and Best in Show (2000).
Balaban scored a major art-house and critical successes producing and playing one of the main characters in Robert Altman's murder-mystery Gosford Park, and appearing as an ineffective father in Ghost World. That same year he appeared in important supporting roles in such big-budget fare as The Mexican and The Majestic. He maintained his carer in the independent world hooking up again with Christopher Guest for A Mighty Wind, and making a cameo appearance in the Oscar nominated Capote. Balaban appeared in and helped produce the animated Hollywood satire Hopeless Pictures, which ran on IFC in 2005. 2006 proved to be a very busy year for the multi-talented Balaban. In addition to another ollaboration with Guest, For Your Consideration, he played a film critic in M. Nght Shyamalan's The Lady in the Water. He also directed Ralph Finnes and Susan Sarandon in Doris and Bernard.
~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
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Headlines
Box Office Analysis, May 18: "The Matrix" Takes It
May. 18, 2003
Box Office Analysis for May 18: The Matrix Reloaded. Daddy Day Care, X2: X-Men United, Down With Love, The Lizzie McGuire Movie, Anger Management, Identity, Holes, A Mighty Wind, Bend It Like Beckham
Full Box Office Analysis
60th Annual Primetime Emmy Nominations and Winners
Posted: Jul. 17, 2008
Sunday: 'Recount'
Posted: May. 25, 2008
Box Office Analysis: May 11
Posted: May. 11, 2003
Box Office Analysis: April 20
Posted: Apr. 20, 2003
Box office analysis: March 10
Posted: Mar. 10, 2002
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Indicates Mandatory
Recently Worked With...
Jerry Seinfeld
Seinfeld
Aired: Sep. 16, 2008
Grant Show
Swingtown
Aired: Jul. 3, 2008
Billy Crudup
Dedication
Released: Sep. 21, 2007
Catherine Zeta-Jones
No Reservations
Released: Jul. 27, 2007
Adrian Grenier
Entourage
Aired: Jul. 15, 2007
Jennifer Coolidge
For Your Consideration
Released: Nov. 22, 2006
David Duchovny
Trust the Man
Released: Sep. 1, 2006
Paul Giamatti
Lady in the Water
Released: Jul. 21, 2006
Jeremy Dangerfield
Capote
Released: Sep. 30, 2005
Eric Bogosian
The First Amendment Project
Aired: Dec. 14, 2004
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