Richard Schiff
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article needs copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone or spelling. You can assist by editing it now. A how-to guide is available. (March 2008) |
| Richard Schiff | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Richard Schiff, July 2007 |
|||||||||||
| Born | May 27, 1955 Bethesda, Maryland |
||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
Richard Schiff (born May 27, 1955) is an Emmy Award-winning American actor, known for playing Toby Ziegler on the NBC television drama The West Wing, a role for which he won an Emmy Award. Schiff also made his directorial debut with The West Wing, directing an episode entitled "Talking Points."
Contents |
[edit] Biography
[edit] Personal life
Schiff, the middle of three sons, was born in Bethesda, Maryland, the son of Charlotte, a television and publishing executive, and Edward Schiff, a real estate lawyer.[1] His parents divorced when he was twelve. He dropped out of high school, but later obtained an equivalency diploma. He studied briefly at The City College of New York (CCNY) in 1973, but had no interest. After not appearing for final exams, he went to Colorado where he cut firewood. He returned to New York in 1975 and started studying acting at CCNY and was eventually accepted into their theater program.
Schiff met his wife Sheila Kelley during auditions for "Antigone" in 1993; they married in 1996 and have one son, Gus.[2]
[edit] Career
Schiff initially disliked acting and studied to be a director. He directed several off-Broadway plays, including "Antigone" with a then just-graduated Angela Bassett in 1983. He met present wife, Sheila Kelley, during auditions for this play. The two married many years later – in 1996. In the mid-1980s, Schiff says he conquered his fears and decided to take a stab at acting. He got several TV roles, and was seen by Steven Spielberg in an episode of the TV drama High Incident. Spielberg then cast him in The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) and his career has been on an upward climb ever since that has led to his co-starring role in The West Wing.
In 1996 Schiff guest starred on the popular TV series ER, and appeared in NYPD Blue the following year. Schiff played a doctor alongside Eddie Murphy in the 1998 Dr. Dolittle remake. He also played Col./Brig. Gen. Robert Laurel Smith in the 1998 HBO TV movie "The Pentagon Wars", based on the real-life development of the US Army's Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle. That same year, Schiff was also in the movie blockbuster Deep Impact, in which he played Don Beiderman. Schiff also appeared in one episode of 'Becker' during the first season of the series.
In 2004, Schiff appeared in Ray as famed musician Ray Charles's producer, Jerry Wexler. In this movie, he shaves off his trademark beard. After starring on The West Wing since 1999, Schiff chose to leave the series in its seventh season (2005–2006), and was contracted to appear in half of the season's episodes. However, with NBC choosing to end the series, Schiff continued to appear until the end of the show's run in May 2006, though he did not appear in the series finale. He starred along with Peter Krause in the thriller Civic Duty 2006. Schiff is well known for his intense approach to acting and his consistent employment of a hushed, gruff tone of voice, the latter of which has earned him the nickname “The Hoarse Whisperer” among many West Wing fans.
Schiff had a memorable cameo in the second season finale of Entourage where he played himself. In the scene, Schiff is at lunch with his agent Ari Gold, and declares his desire to act in action movies. In early 2006, Schiff returned to his stage roots, starring in the premiere run of Underneath the Lintel, a one-act, single-character play by Glen Berger, at the George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, New Jersey. In February 2007, he appeared in the West End production of Underneath the Lintel in the Duchess Theatre in London, England, and also appeared on BBC Radio Five Live and talked at length to Simon Mayo about his experience of acting in The West Wing and his new West End production. In 2007, he appeared in the season finale of Burn Notice, . A radio version of Underneath the Lintel, performed by Richard Schiff, was broadcast by BBC Radio 4 on 5 January 2008. In 2008 Schiff co-star in Last Chance Harvey with Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson and Another Harvest Moon with Ernest Borgnine and is going to show up in the Season finale of Eli Stone.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Richard Schiff at the Internet Movie Database
- BBC Radio Five Live
- June 2001 appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
|
||||||||
