Jeffrey Lynn "Jeff" Goldblum (/ˈɡoÊŠldbluËm/; born October 22, 1952) is an American actor. His career began in the mid-1970s and he has appeared in major box-office successes including The Fly, Jurassic Park and its sequel Jurassic Park: The Lost World, and Independence Day. He starred as Detective Zach Nichols for the eighth and ninth seasons of the USA Network's crime drama series Law & Order: Criminal Intent.
Early life
Goldblum was born in the Pittsburgh suburb of West Homestead, Pennsylvania. His mother, Shirley (née Temeles), was a radio broadcaster who later ran a kitchen equipment and appliances sales firm, and his father, Harold L. Goldblum, was a medical doctor. He has a sister, Pamela, and an older brother, Lee. Another older brother, Rick, died at age 23. His family was Jewish, and had emigrated from Russia and Austria to the U.S. During his childhood, Goldblum belonged to an Orthodox synagogue and had a Bar Mitzvah.
Goldblum's parents were interested in show business. Goldblum moved to New York City at 17 to become an actor. Goldblum worked on the stage and studied acting at the renowned Neighborhood Playhouse under the guidance of acting coach Sanford Meisner. He made his Broadway debut in the Tony Award-winning musical Two Gentlemen of Verona. He is also an accomplished jazz pianist and declared that if he did not act, he would have become a professional musician. He made his film debut as a thug in the 1974 Charles Bronson film Death Wish. He briefly appeared as a protester in the TV movie Columbo: A Case of Immunity (1975).
Career
In 1974, Goldblum appeared in Death Wish as Freak # 1. Later in his career, as Lacey Party Guest in Annie Hall (1977), Goldblum is seen saying into the telephone at a Hollywood party, "This is Mr. Davis. I forgot my mantra." Goldblum has had leading roles in films such as The Fly, Independence Day, The Lost World (1997), Earth Girls Are Easy, The Tall Guy, Vibes (1988) and Into the Night (1985). Goldblum's strong supporting roles include those in Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), The Big Chill (1983), and Jurassic Park (1993), as well as the Wes Anderson films The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) and The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) and the cult films The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension (1984) and Igby Goes Down (2002).
For several years, Goldblum was the voice for most U.S. Apple commercials, including advertisements for the iMac and iBook. He also voices some U.S. Toyota commercials as well as Procter & Gamble's facial cream line. He has recently appeared on Irish TV in commercials for the National Lottery.
Goldblum taught acting at Playhouse West in North Hollywood with Robert Carnegie. It was with several actors from this acting company that he improvised and directed the live action short film Little Surprises, which was nominated for an Academy Award in 1996.
Goldblum got the role of Adam in Adam Resurrected, a film adaptation of the Yoram Kaniuk novel about a former German entertainer who becomes the ringleader to a group of Holocaust survivors in an asylum after World War II.
In September 2006, it was announced that Goldblum was one of the founding members of a new theater company in New York called The Fire Dept.
His guest appearance was on Sesame Street in 1990 as Bob's long-lost brother Minneapolis (parody of Indiana Jones) where Big Bird's friend Snuffleupagus had "the golden cabbage of Snuffertiti" hidden in his cave. He has also appeared on Tom Goes to the Mayor, The Colbert Report, and Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job!.
In 2014, Goldblum's jazz band did a weekly show at the Carlyle Hotel.
Goldblum replaced Chris Noth as a senior detective on Law & Order: Criminal Intent. In the series, Goldblum plays the role of Detective Zach Nichols. In August 2010, media outlets reported that Goldblum had decided not to return to Criminal Intent due to persistent concerns about the program's future.
In 2014, Goldblum appeared in an episode of Last Week Tonight parodying his role in Law & Order.
Personal life
From 1980 to 1986, Goldblum was married to Patricia Gaul, with whom he starred in Silverado (1985), and from 1987â€"1990, he was married to Geena Davis, his co-star in three films: Transylvania 6-5000 (1985), The Fly (1986), and Earth Girls Are Easy (1988). In summer 2014, he became engaged to Olympic gymnast Emilie Livingston; the couple married in November 2014. In January 2015, Goldblum announced on the Late Show with David Letterman that the couple is expecting a son.
Goldblum follows "Eastern religions".
Filmography
Film
Television
Video games
Theatre
Broadway
- The Pillowman (2005)
- Two Gentlemen of Verona
- The Play What I Wrote
- The Moony Shapiro Songbook
- The Exonerated
- City Sugar
- El Grande de Coca Cola
London and Broadway
- The Prisoner of Second Avenue
London and Recklinghausen (Germany)
- Speed-the-Plow
Pittsburgh
- The Music Man at Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera
References
External links
- Jeff Goldblum at the Internet Movie Database
- Jeff Goldblum at the Internet Broadway Database
- Jeff Goldblum at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
- April 2005 Interview with Goldblum from New York magazine
- Goldblum resurrects fond memories, a July 2004 article (with accompanying audio commentary) from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
- Jeff Goldblum: the Buddha of Hollywood from The Guardian, 12 July 2010
