Harvey Fierstein

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Harvey Fierstein

Harvey Fierstein (left) with Anthony Rapp at the Annual Flea Market and Grand Auction hosted by Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, September 2006
Born Harvey Forbes Fierstein
June 6, 1952 (1952-06-06) (age 56)
Brooklyn, New York, USA
Years active 1980s-present

Harvey Forbes Fierstein (born June 6, 1952) is an American actor, playwright, and screenwriter.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Personal life

Fierstein was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Jacqueline Harriet (née Gilbert), a school librarian, and Irving Fierstein, a handkerchief manufacturer.[1] He is Jewish.[2]

[edit] Career

The gravelly-voiced actor perhaps is known best for the play and film Torch Song Trilogy, which he wrote and starred in. The 1982 Broadway production won him two Tony Awards, for Best Play and Best Actor in a Play, two Drama Desk Awards, for Outstanding New Play and Outstanding Actor in a Play, and the Theatre World Award, and the film earned him an Independent Spirit Award nomination as Best Male Lead.

Fierstein also wrote the book for La Cage aux Folles (1983), winning another Tony Award, this time for Best Book of a Musical, and a Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Book. Legs Diamond, his 1988 collaboration with Peter Allen, was a critical and commercial failure, closing after 72 previews and 64 performances. His other playwriting credits include Safe Sex, Spookhouse, and Forget Him.

In 2007, Fierstein wrote the book to the musical A Catered Affair in which he also stars. After tryouts at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre in the fall of 2007, it began previews on Broadway in March 2008 and opened on April 17. He received a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Book of a Musical, and the show won the Drama League Award for Distinguished Production of a Musical.

[edit] Acting

Fierstein made his acting debut at La MaMa, E.T.C. in Andy Warhol's only play, Pork. Fierstein continued to appear at La MaMa and other venues but also, having some aspirations to become a painter, enrolled at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) from Pratt in 1973.

In addition to Torch Song Trilogy, La Cage aux Folles and A Catered Affair, Fierstein's Broadway acting credits include Edna Turnblad in Hairspray (2003), for which he won a Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical, and Tevye in the 2005 revival of Fiddler on the Roof. Fierstein and Tommy Tune are the only individuals to have won Tony Awards in four different categories.

Fierstein's film roles include Woody Allen's Bullets Over Broadway, Robin Williams' mask maker brother in Mrs. Doubtfire, a Parade of Hope spokesman in Death to Smoochy, Garbo Talks, Duplex, and the blockbuster hit Independence Day. He narrated the documentary The Times of Harvey Milk, for which he won a News & Documentary Emmy Award. He also voiced the role of Yao in Walt Disney's animated feature Mulan, a role he later reprised for the video game Kingdom Hearts II and the direct-to-DVD sequel Mulan II.

On television, Fierstein was featured as the voice of Karl, Homer Simpson's assistant, in the "Simpson and Delilah" episode of The Simpsons, and the voice of Elmer in the 1999 HBO special based on his children's book The Sissy Duckling, which won the Humanitas Prize for Children's Animation. Additional credits include Miami Vice, Murder, She Wrote, the Showtime TV movie Common Ground (which he also wrote), and Cheers, which earned him an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. On May 31, 2006, her last day as anchor, he sang a tribute to Katie Couric on the Today Show. He appeared as Heat Miser in the television movie remake of The Year Without a Santa Claus in December 2006.

[edit] Personal life

Fierstein is an occasional columnist writing about gay issues. He was openly gay at a time when very few celebrities were, and never needed to come out, as it was simply known that he was gay. His careers as a stand-up comic and female impersonator are mostly behind him. Fierstein resides in Ridgefield, Connecticut.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Harvey Fierstein Biography. filmreference (2008). Retrieved on 2008-06-11.
  2. ^ Mark J. Terrill. "'Hairspray' drag queen to play Mrs. Claus at Macy's parade", USATODAY, 27 November 2003. Retrieved on 2008-06-11. 

[edit] External links


Awards
Preceded by
Christopher Plummer
for Othello		 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play
1982-1983
for Torch Song Trilogy		 Succeeded by
Dustin Hoffman
for Death of a Salesman
v • d • e
Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play

John Wood (1976) · Al Pacino (1977) · Barnard Hughes (1978) · Tom Conti (1979) · John Rubinstein (1980) · Ian McKellen (1981) · Roger Rees (1982) · Harvey Fierstein (1983) · Jeremy Irons (1984) · Derek Jacobi (1985) · Judd Hirsch (1986) · James Earl Jones (1987) · Ron Silver (1988) · Philip Bosco (1989) · Robert Morse (1990) · Nigel Hawthorne (1991) · Judd Hirsch (1992) · Ron Leibman (1993) · Stephen Spinella (1994) · Ralph Fiennes (1995) · George Grizzard (1996) · Christopher Plummer (1997) · Anthony LaPaglia (1998) · Brian Dennehy (1999) · Stephen Dillane (2000)
v • d • e
Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical

Nathan Lane (2001) · John Lithgow (2002) · Harvey Fierstein (2003) · Hugh Jackman (2004) · Norbert Leo Butz (2005) · John Lloyd Young (2006) · David Hyde Pierce (2007)