Wallace Shawn Acting What is he famous for acting in? His best-known film roles include Earl in Strange Invaders (1983) and Mr. Hall in Clueless (1995). Did he win any awards for his acting? Shawn was honored in 2005 with the PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award as a Master American Dramatist. What else did he star in? Shawn quite often appears on television, where he has appeared in many genres and series. Did he have a favorite role he played? I don't know. When did he begin acting? Shawn's involvement with theater began in 1970 Did he prefer acting to writing? I don't know.
Did he act more in theater or film?
Did Shawn act more in theater or film?
Shawn's involvement with theater began in 1970 when he met Andre Gregory, who has since directed several of his plays. As a stage actor, he has appeared mostly in his own plays and other projects with Gregory. He made his film debut in 1979, playing Diane Keaton's former husband in Woody Allen's Manhattan and an insurance agent in Bob Fosse's All That Jazz. His best-known film roles include Earl in Strange Invaders (1983) and Mr. Hall in Clueless (1995). After seeing his performance in My Dinner With Andre (1981), casting director Janet Hirshenson was so fond of his delivery of the word "inconceivable" that she cast him as Vizzini in The Princess Bride (1987). Other roles include Baron Von Westphalen in Southland Tales, on Gossip Girl as Cyrus Rose, and in The Haunted Mansion (2003) as Ezra. His rare non-comedic film roles include two collaborations with Andre Gregory and Louis Malle: the semi-autobiographical dialogue My Dinner with Andre, and a combined production-and-backstage-drama of Uncle Vanya titled Vanya on 42nd Street. Shawn quite often appears on television, where he has appeared in many genres and series. He has had recurring roles as the Grand Nagus Zek in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Stuart Best in Murphy Brown, Jeff Engels in The Cosby Show, Dr. Howard Stiles in Crossing Jordan, Arnie Ross in Taxi, Charles Lester in The Good Wife, and a reprisal of his role as Mr. Hall in Clueless (based on the film). He appeared in the 1985 music video for Chaka Khan's "This is My Night". On February 4, 2010, Shawn appeared as Alan Rubin in The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He appeared in Vegas Vacation (1997) as Marty. One of Shawn's latest films opened in his birthplace in New York in June 2014 titled A Master Builder. Shawn was honored in 2005 with the PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award as a Master American Dramatist. CANNOTANSWER
As a stage actor, he has appeared mostly in his own plays and other projects with Gregory.
Wallace Michael Shawn (born November 12, 1943) is an American actor, playwright, and essayist. His film roles include Wally Shawn (a fictionalized version of himself) in My Dinner with Andre (1981), Vizzini in The Princess Bride (1987), Mr. James Hall in Clueless (1995) and the voice of Rex in the Toy Story franchise (1995–2019). He has also had roles in six of Woody Allen's films. His television work includes recurring roles as Jeff Engles in The Cosby Show (1987–1991), Grand Nagus Zek in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993–1999), Cyrus Rose in Gossip Girl (2008–2012), and Dr. John Sturgis in Young Sheldon (2018–).

His plays include the Obie Award–winning Aunt Dan and Lemon (1985), The Designated Mourner (1996) and Grasses of a Thousand Colors (2008). He also co-wrote the screenplay for My Dinner with Andre with Andre Gregory, and scripted A Master Builder (2013), a film adaptation of the play by Henrik Ibsen, in which he also starred. Haymarket Books published his books Essays (2009) and Night Thoughts (2017).

Early life
Shawn was born on November 12, 1943, in New York City, to a Jewish family. His parents were journalist Cecille (née Lyon; 1906–2005) and William Shawn (1907–1992), the longtime editor of The New Yorker. He has two younger twin siblings: composer Allen, and Mary, who is autistic and lives in an institution.

Shawn attended The Putney School, a private liberal arts high school in Putney, Vermont. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in history from Harvard College. He studied philosophy, politics and economics, as well as Latin, at Magdalen College, Oxford, originally intending to become a diplomat. He also traveled to India as an English teacher on a Fulbright program. He taught Latin in Manhattan but since 1979, he has made his living primarily as an actor.

Career

Playwright
Shawn's early plays, such as Marie and Bruce (1978), portrayed emotional and sexual conflicts in an absurdist style, with language both lyrical and violent. In a conversation with Andre Gregory, parts of which were used to create My Dinner with Andre, Shawn said these plays depicted "my interior life as a raging beast." Critical response was extremely polarized: some critics hailed Shawn as a major writer, while John Simon called Marie and Bruce "garbage" and Shawn "one of the unsightliest actors in this city." His 1977 play A Thought in Three Parts caused controversy in London when the production was investigated by a vice squad and attacked in Parliament after allegations of pornographic content. Shawn received the Obie Award for best playwrighting in 1974 for Our Late Night.

Shawn's later plays are more overtly political, drawing parallels between his characters' psychology and the behavior of governments and social classes. Among the best-known of these are Aunt Dan and Lemon (1985) and The Designated Mourner (1997). Shawn's political work has invited controversy, as he often presents the audience with several contradictory points of view. He has called Aunt Dan and Lemon a cautionary tale against fascism. Shawn's monologue The Fever, originally meant to be performed for small audiences in apartments, depicts a person who becomes sick while struggling to find a morally consistent way to live when faced with injustice, and harshly criticizes the United States' record in supporting oppressive anti-communist regimes. In 1997, Shawn discussed the political nature of Aunt Dan and Lemon, The Fever and The Designated Mourner in an interview in which he talked extensively about the thematic connections among them, as well as his own views on Marxist, communist and socialist politics, their relevance to American liberalism, and how governmental and individual responsibilities for finding solutions to the dichotomy between rich and poor in the world take hold in his characters. Aunt Dan and Lemon earned Shawn his second Obie Award for excellence in playwrighting in 1986, and The Fever won Best American Play in 1991. Three of Shawn's plays have been adapted into films: The Designated Mourner (basically a film version of David Hare's stage production), Marie and Bruce and The Fever. Vanessa Redgrave stars in The Fever (2004), which first aired on HBO on June 13, 2007.

Shawn has also written political commentary for The Nation, and in 2004 he published the one-issue-only progressive political magazine Final Edition, which featured interviews with and articles by Jonathan Schell, Noam Chomsky, Mark Strand and Deborah Eisenberg. Shawn is credited as translator of Bertolt Brecht's The Threepenny Opera, which opened at Studio 54 in Manhattan on March 25, 2006. He appears briefly in voiceover during "Song about the Futility of Human Endeavor". He published his first nonfiction work, Essays, on September 1, 2009. It is a collection of essays that express his perceptions of politics and other aspects of his life.

Acting
Shawn's involvement with theater began in 1970 when he met Andre Gregory, who has since directed several of his plays. As a stage actor, he has appeared mostly in his own plays and other projects with Gregory. He made his film debut in 1979, playing Diane Keaton's ex-husband in Woody Allen's Manhattan and an insurance agent in Bob Fosse's All That Jazz. His best-known film roles include Earl in Strange Invaders (1983) and Mr. Hall in Clueless (1995). After seeing his performance in My Dinner With Andre (1981), casting director Janet Hirshenson was so fond of his delivery of the word "inconceivable" that she cast him as Vizzini in The Princess Bride (1987). Other roles include Baron Von Westphalen in Southland Tales, Cyrus Rose on Gossip Girl, and Ezra in The Haunted Mansion (2003).

His rare non-comedic film roles include two collaborations with Andre Gregory and Louis Malle: the semi-autobiographical dialogue My Dinner with Andre, and a combined production-and-backstage-drama of Uncle Vanya titled Vanya on 42nd Street. Shawn quite often appears on television, where he has appeared in many genres and series. He has had recurring roles as the Grand Nagus Zek on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Stuart Best on Murphy Brown, Jeff Engels on The Cosby Show, Dr. Howard Stiles on Crossing Jordan, Arnie Ross on Taxi, Charles Lester on both The Good Wife and The Good Fight, and a reprisal of his role as Mr. Hall on Clueless (based on the film). He appeared in the 1985 music video for Chaka Khan's "This is My Night". On February 4, 2010, Shawn appeared as Alan Rubin on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He appeared in Vegas Vacation as Marty. A Master Builder opened in New York City in June 2014. In 2018, he joined the cast of Young Sheldon in the recurring role of Meemaw's boyfriend and Sheldon's physics professor, Dr. John Sturgis.

Shawn stars in Woody Allen's 2020 film Rifkin's Festival, set in San Sebastian, Spain.

Shawn was honored in 2005 with the PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award as a Master American Dramatist.

Voice acting 
Shawn is a voice actor for animated films and television series, including Rex in the Toy Story franchise, Monsters, Inc. (2001) during the outtakes in the end credits, Kingdom Hearts III, Mr. Gilbert Huph in The Incredibles, Principal Mazur in A Goofy Movie, Bertram in Family Guy, Munk in Happily N'Ever After, Purple Pirate Paul in Tom and Jerry: Shiver Me Whiskers, and as a caricature of himself in BoJack Horseman.

Shawn said that Toy Story director John Lasseter may have seen both his My Dinner with Andre and The Princess Bride roles and saw him as "excitable" like Rex.

In The Fox and the Hound, he was originally going to voice Boomer, but dropped out and was replaced by Paul Winchell. In Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, Shawn replaced Jon Lovitz as the voice of Calico. He also provided the voice of Mr. Mustela in The Addams Family 2 in 2021.

Personal life
In June 2013, Shawn and many other public figures appeared in a video showing support for Chelsea Manning. He referred to himself as a socialist in his essay "Why I Call Myself a Socialist: Is the World Really a Stage?", which was published online and later in his Essays.

Shawn is Jewish and identifies religiously as an atheist. , he lives in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. He voiced his support for the Palestinian people during the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict. He is a member of Jewish Voice for Peace and is on the advisory board.

His longtime companion is writer Deborah Eisenberg.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Theatre

Musical

Bibliography

References

Further reading

External links

 
 
 
 
 An Innocent Man in Guantanamo with readings by Wallace Shawn at LIVE from the New York Public Library, April 4, 2008
 Lannan Foundation: Wallace Shawn reading of The Fever

1943 births
Living people
Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford
Jewish American atheists
American male comedians
American male film actors
American male television actors
American male video game actors
American male voice actors
American Marxists
American socialists
Audiobook narrators
Collegiate School (New York) alumni
Comedians from New York City
Dalton School alumni
Harvard College alumni
Jewish American male comedians
Jewish American male actors
Jewish socialists
Male actors from New York City
Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters
New York (state) socialists
People from Chelsea, Manhattan
The Putney School alumni
20th-century American comedians
21st-century American comedians
20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
20th-century American essayists
21st-century American essayists
20th-century American male actors
21st-century American male actors
Bothwell Browne (born Walter Bothwell Bruhn; 1877–1947) was a Danish American stage and film performer, best known as a female impersonator.

Early life
Born in Copenhagen, Browne grew up in San Francisco  and developed a vaudeville act.  At one point he was performing as a duo with male impersonator Kathleen Clifford.  He was in New York by 1908, when The New York Times reports him as suing Texas Guinan over the rights to a Gibson Girl stage act.

Career
Deliberately or not, Browne competed with the better-known female impersonator Julian Eltinge. Some audiences and theater managers found his act more seductive and therefore more unsettling than Eltinge. Browne's Broadway production Miss Jack opened in September 1911 at the Herald Square Theater, exactly one week before Eltinge's more successful The Fascinating Widow.

Browne's only film appearance is the 1919 Mack Sennett production Yankee Doodle in Berlin, Sennett's highest-budget film up to that point, and a bit of World War I propaganda. This release was parallel to Eltinge's anti-German film Over the Rhine (re-cut into The Isle of Love three years later).

The same year, Browne appeared as the headliner at the Palace Theater in New York, the single most sought-after booking in American vaudeville, in December 1919, supported on stage by the Sennett Bathing Beauties.  This appears to be the pinnacle of his career. He thereafter retired to teach dancing classes in San Francisco, and died in Los Angeles at age 79-80.

See also
Julian Eltinge
Bert Savoy
Karyl Norman

References 

1877 births
1947 deaths
Male actors from Copenhagen
American male silent film actors
American male stage actors
American drag queens
Vaudeville performers
Danish emigrants to the United States
20th-century American male actors
LGBT male actors Hemant Mahaur (born 1976) and is an actor, director, writer, and producer, working in the Indian film industry. He is also the Managing Director of Mask Magic Film & TV Institute Privet Limited (MMFTI). He is an acting instructor and has trained some Bollywood actors. He attended India's National School of Drama.

Childhood
Hemant Mahaur was born on 18 August 1976 in Agra, the city of the Taj Mahal in Uttar Pradesh in Northern India in a middle-class family. He began appearing on stage at the age of six when he took part in his school plays in Hatharas city in Uttar Pradesh. His interest in films was kindled right at an early age when as a toddler, his father, a retired class one central government officer from the Government of India, took him and his mother to watch Hindi films, almost every Sunday. Having grown up on the hardcore Hindi Masala movies  of the 1970–80s, it was but natural that one day as a child, he decided that he was going to take up acting as a profession.

Education
Hemant Mahaur is science graduate from the Meerut University, with specialisation in biology. During his college days he started working seriously under theater activists Panchanan Patak and Lalit Mohan Thapaliyal and did many plays as an actor during 1989 to 1994 in Delhi. He then shifted from biology into studying law. He enrolled himself into the LLB course, again from the Meerut University. Had he not got admission at the prestigious National School of Drama, in New Delhi, he would have been a lawyer.

Education in theater
Hemant Mahaur did a one-year diploma course in theater from the Sriram Center (SCR), New Delhi, in the year 1994-95. From 1995 to 1998, he undertook training at the National School of Drama, specialising in acting. (Source: NSD Site)

Theater experience
Hemant has more than 30 years of experience of working in theater. He has been working as a professional actor since 1989, when he was doing his college. Between 1989 and 1994 he did many plays as an actor, and performed in theater festivals like Nandikar theater festival in Calcutta, Ipta festival in Patna and in Jabalpur etc. In 1994, Hemant Mahaur did One year Acting diploma course from Sri Ram Center New Delhi. During his acting course in SRC, the professional wing of SRC, called Sri Ram Center Repertory company gave him a chance to participate as an actor in plays. There, he played some Hindi plays under theater directors like B.V.Karanth, Habeeb Tanveer, Ranjit Kapur and traveled with SRC Rep Co in various parts in India. And then in 1995, he got selected in prestigious World class institution N.S.D ( National School of Drama ), where he specialized in Acting. During 1995 to 1998, his training in N.S.D, he  did main roles throughout. After his training from the National School of Drama, he formed his own theater group and called it "Mask Magic". As "Mask Magic" is an pan-India registered organisation, it has been performing plays all over India.

Hemant Mahaur has worked with theater personalities like B. V. Karanth, Habib Tanvir, Satyadev Dube, Kanhayya Lal, Mohan Mahrishi, Ram Gopal Bajaj, D. R. Ankur, M. K. Raina, Kirti Jain, Anuradha Kapur, Bansi Kaul, Ranjit Kapur, Robin Das, Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapur, Tripurari Sharma, Dadi Padamji and Rita Ganguli.

He has also worked with international theater personalities Triplev Velentien from Ukraine, Morutz Orski from Poland and Sueveston from the United Kingdom.

Also, in 2014, Hemant Mahaur formed a film institute called MASK MAGIC FILM & TV INSTITUTE PVT LTD ( MMFTI ). He is running MMFTI as Managing Director in Mumbai.

Acting in films
 "The Warrior" (2001). (Bafta award-winning and Oscar nominated), directed by Asif Kapadia
 "Swaraj"The Little Republic' (won the Best Social Film Award at 2003 National Film Awards constituted by Government of India), directed by Anwar Jamal
 "Jungle" (2000 film), directed by Ram Gopal Varma
 "Shool" (1999 film), directed by E. Niwas
 "Chintu ji" (2009 film), directed by Ranjit Kapur
 "Arjun: The Worrier Prince" (2012 animated film; voice of Duryodana)
 "Chot" (2004 film) directed by Nabh Kumar Raju
"Agent Vinod" (2012 film)  Directed By Sri RamRaghwan
"Peter Gaya Kaam Se" (coming release)  Directed By John Owen
"Haal-E-Kangaal (released- only 2 character full length movie) Directed By Ram Chandran PN
 "Highway" (2014 film) Directed by Imtiaz Ali
 "Phantom" (2016 film) Directed By Kabir Khan
 "Yaara" (2020 film) Directed By Tigmanshu Dhulia
 "Apna Amitabh to super hit hai" (Coming release- as main lead), Directed by Ajay Anand.
 "The Great Indian Murder" (Coming Web series for Disney+HotStar) Produce by Ajay Devgan Films, Directed by Tigmanshu Dhulia.
 "Dr.Arora"(Cmng web series for Sonyliv) Produced by Imtiyaz Ali(Window seat films) Directed by Sajid Ali.

Acting in short filmsSadak Chhaap (New York film academy's short film) selected for screening in Cannes film festival 2015, Directed by Anvita SudarshanJang Hamne Bhi Ladi Thi, Lekin (SRFTI'S first Diploma film, Screened in Mumbai film festival), Directed by Manu GautamHotel 55 ( Asingle Actor film) Directed by Richard MelliniKabahun Na Chhaden Khet Directed by Vikram Jeet Singh Bullar

Direction
 * DWAND' in 2019.
 * THE KITE in 2011.

Writing in films
 Hemant wrote dialogue for Hindi film CHILAM Story, screenplay and dialogue for the short film THE KITE Story, screen play and dialogue for Mayanagari''

References

External links

People from Agra
Indian male film actors
Male actors in Hindi cinema
Living people
1970 births
National School of Drama alumni