He diversified his roles to avoid becoming typecast as his geek persona, joining the cast of "Saturday Night Live" (1985–1986) and starring in films such as "Out of Bounds" (1986), "Johnny Be Good" (1988), "Edward Scissorhands" (1990) and "Six Degrees of Separation" (1993). After a series of minor roles in the 1990s, he starred as Microsoft's Bill Gates in the 1999 television film "Pirates of Silicon Valley". He had the leading role in the USA Network series "The Dead Zone" from 2002 to 2007. In 2020, he appeared in ABC's "The Goldbergs".