Jeff Garlin

Jeff Garlin

Jeff Garlin (born June 5, 1962) is an American comedic actor best known for his role as Jeff Greene, Larry David's manager on the HBO show Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Biography

Early life

Garlin was born and raised in Chicago and then South Florida. He attended and graduated from Nova High School in Davie, Florida in 1980. He then studied filmmaking and began performing stand-up comedy as a student at the University of Miami in the 1980s. He left the university without completing a degree in order to pursue his comedy career. He was at one time studying at Oraita—Institute for Continuing Rabbinic Education of Hebrew College. Totally a lie, sorry--I misunderstood the joke on the show.

Comedic style

Garlin has toured the country as a stand-up, is an alumnus of Chicago's Second City Theatre, and has written and starred in three critically-acclaimed solo shows, Someone to Eat Cheese With, Uncomplicated, and Concentrated.

Garlin has a style of comedy that has much in common with the comedians of the 60s and early 70s (among them, Woody Allen, Shelley Berman, Richard Pryor, and Mort Sahl). Garlin's comedic style is that of story-telling that explores his personal foibles and exposing his innermost secrets for all to hear.

Curb Your Enthusiasm

On television, Garlin co-stars and executive produces the critically acclaimed HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm. The show stars Larry David, the co-creator of Seinfeld, and won the 2001 AFI Comedy Series of the Year Award. Garlin spent three seasons on NBC's Mad About You in the role of Marvin. In addition to his acting career, Garlin has also directed both Jon Stewart (Unleavened) and Denis Leary (Lock-n-Load) in their respective HBO specials, as well as several episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Garlin has also had his own HBO half-hour comedy special.

Film and television

Garlin has a variety of television and film appearances to his credit, as an actor and a stand-up, including Dr. Katz, Arrested Development, Everybody Loves Raymond, The Late Show with David Letterman, Tom Goes to the Mayor, The Daily Show, and Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Garlin appeared with Eddie Murphy in the box office hit Daddy Day Care and appeared in Steven Soderbergh's Full Frontal, starring Julia Roberts and David Duchovny.

His feature directorial debut, I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With (which he also wrote) premiered to favorable reviews at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival. It opened in September 2007. The film co-stars Sarah Silverman and Bonnie Hunt with many memorable supporting turns including appearances by Paul Mazursky, Dan Castellaneta, and Amy Sedaris.

In 2006, Garlin also directed This Filthy World, a one-man show performed by director John Waters. Garlin is appearing in WALL-E, a film by Pixar that will come out in 2008.

References

• Jeff Garlin at IMDb
• New York Times Magazine article, June 25, 2006 [1].