Arrested Development

Background:

“He's just brilliantly funny. I would sit in editing and watch him and laugh out loud and always know that Jeffrey could do anything in any story and have enough weight to actually make the show work. He could hold up the show. He had that part from the second he walked in to audition. He was Hank, just like that. It's really weird.” Gary Shandling on Jeffrey Tambor's character on “The Larry Sanders Show”

One of the most reputable and popular character actors working today, Jeffrey Tambor has had impressive credits covering across the full range of show business, from film to network to cable television to theater. After extensive stage exposure and starring in failed TV series, among them “Mr. Sunshine” (1986), “Max Headroom” (1987) and “American Dreamer” (1990), the multi-talented actor gained acclaim and became famous for his portrayal of Hank Kingsley, the sidekick to Garry Shandling's Sanders, on the HBO hit series “The Larry Sanders Show” (1992-1998). Tambor's deliriously endearing performance won him four Emmy nominations. More recently, he was celebrated for his role as George Bluth Sr./Oscar Bluth on the Fox critically hailed sitcom “Arrested Development” (2003-2006), from which he was handed a Golden Satellite Award, two Emmy nominations and two SAG nominations. On the movie front, Tambor is known for playing supporting or cameo parts in such vehicles as Mr. Mom (1983), There's Something About Mary (1998), Girl Interrupted (1999), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000, nabbed a Blockbuster Entertainment nomination), Scorched (2003), Malibu's Most Wanted (2003), My Boss' Daughter (2003), Under the Tuscan Sun (2003) and Eurotrip (2004). He also portrayed Tom Manning in the comic book derived action film Hellboy (2004) and will reprise the role for a sequel in 2008. Tambor has also done many voice-overs, including Steve in the animation TV series “Sammy” (2000) and King Neptune in the SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (2004).

Outside the spotlight, Tambor is enjoying his roles of husband, father and grandfather. He has been married to second wife Kasia Ostlun since 2001 and has two young children with her, Gabriel and Eve. He is the grandfather of three-year-old Mason Jay, the son of his daughter Molly. Now a Los Angeles resident, he co-owns Skylight Books in Los Feliz.

Teacher

Childhood and Family:

Jeffrey Michael Tambor was born on July 8, 1944, in San Francisco, California. He was raised in a conservative Jewish family with his father, Barney Tambor, working as a flooring contractor and his mother, Eileen Salzberg, as a housewife. After high school, Jeffrey went to San Francisco State University to study acting and got his Bachelors of Arts degree there. He went on to pursue his Master’s degree at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. After completing his studies, he began his career in theater. He taught acting for a time at Milton Katselas' Beverly Hills Playhouse and at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.

Jeffrey married Kathryn Mitchell on March 9, 1991, but they later divorced. He married current wife Kasia Ostlun on October 6, 2001. Before the marriage, they appeared together in two movies, Never Again and Get Well Soon (both 2001). On December 10, 2004, his wife gave birth to son Gabriel Kasper Tambor. The couple's daughter, Eve Julia Tambor, was born on December 10, 2006. Jeffrey also has a daughter named Molly Tambor (born in 1975), who gave him a grandson, Mason Jay Moore, on December 14, 2004.

The Larry Sanders Show

Career:

Jeffrey Tambor began taking acting and taking theater lessons at age 11 through a private teacher and went on to study the craft at San Francisco State University and later at Wayne State University, where he also spent time teaching theater classes. With a Master’s degree under his belt, he spent the next 15 years working with various regional theater companies, including the Seattle Repertory Theater, the Milwaukee Repertory Theater, the South Coast Repertory Theaters, the Old Globe Theater in San Diego, the renowned Actors Theater in Louisville and Harvard's Loeb Drama Center in Boston.

After appearing on Broadway in director Arthur Penn's “Sly Fox” (1976), Tambor ventured into television with episodic roles in series like “Starsky and Hutch” (1978) and “Taxi” (1979) and moved on to a regular role as the cliquish neighbor, Jeffrey P Brookes III, on the ABC sitcom spin-off “The Ropers,” which ran from 1979 to 1980. It was also in 1979 that Tambor made his first feature film acting debut as the mentally unstable law partner of Al Pacino in the Oscar nominee And Justice for All.

Known better for his TV work, Tambor took on the role of Dankworth in the NBC miniseries “ Alcatraz: The Whole Shocking Story” in 1980 and made his first of several appearances on TV in 1981 as Lance Kessler in CBS' A Gun in the House, which starred David Ackroyd and Valorie Armstrong. He then succeeded Dabney Coleman as the sexist boss, Franklin Hart Jr., on the TV sitcom version of the hit comedy, “9 to 5” (ABC, 1982-83), portrayed Pierre Salinger in the CBS biographical miniseries “Robert Kennedy and His Times” (1986), was cast as a blind British professor named Paul Stark in the short-lived comedy “Mr. Sunshine” (1986) and costarred as the frenzied head of a newsroom in the short-lived, influential ABC sci-fi show “Max Headroom” (1987). From 1981-1987, he also maintained a recurring role on the acclaimed NBC serial police drama “Hill Street Blues,” as Alan Wachtel.

Tambor provided his vocals for the syndicated animated children's series “The New Adventures of Jonny Quest” (1987), appeared as Gordon Salt in three episodes of “L.A Law” (1988) and joined the cast of the soon-canceled ABC drama series “Studio 5B” (1989), playing Lionel Goodman. By this time, the actor had made nearly ten movies, most notably the John Hughes written Mr. Mom (1983), as the boss of Michael Keaton. He continued his work in films by playing Billy Crystal's foreman on Ron Underwood's City Slickers (1991) and Mel Brooks' villainous contender in Life Stinks (also 1991), among others.

The early 1990s also found Tambor working on a number of TV projects, including appearing as Joe Baines on the NBC sitcom “American Dreamer” (1990) and supplying his voice for the syndicated animated children's series “The Adventures of Don Coyote and Sancho Panda” (1990). A veteran of TV short-lived series, Tambor did not hit the big time until 1992 when he began his six-season stint on the HBO comedy show “The Larry Sanders Show.” As Garry Shandling's conceited, zany announcer and sidekick, Hank Kingsley, he collected four Emmy nominations (1993, 1996, 1997 and 1998) in the category of Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.

After the demise of the successful show, Tambor's big screen career gained momentum in the form of a series of supporting parts in projects like Meet Joe Black (1998), the Ben Stiller vehicle There's Something About Mary (1998), Muppets From Space (1999), Teaching Mrs. Tingle (1999), Girl Interrupted (1999, starring Winona Ryder) and Pollack (2000). He even netted a Blockbuster Entertainment nomination for Favorite Supporting Actor-comedy for playing Mayor Augustus Maywho in Ron Howard's hit, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), starring Jim Carrey, and offered a memorable performance in a rare leading role as a sexually impaired Baby Boomer on the romantic comedy Never Again (2001). Meanwhile, on the small screen, he had a lead role in the brief series “Everything's Relative” (1999), played Myron Sylver on the two-season series “The Lot” (1999) and voiced Steve in the animation series “Sammy” (2000), starring David Spade. In 2002, he appeared alongside James Bulliard, Bess Armstrong and Tyler Labine in the ABC short-lived drama series “That Was Then.”

Tambor's next huge breakthrough arrived the following year when he landed the regular role of George Bluth Sr./Oscar Bluth on the critically acclaimed sitcom “Arrested Development” (Fox, 2003-2006). His character, the confined millionaire patriarch of a highly dysfunctional Orange County family, was originally planned to appear only in the pilot, but the producers soon added Tambor to the cast on a full-time basis after seeing the actor's impressive performance. For his bright efforts, he won a Golden Satellite for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series (2004), as well as collecting two Emmy nominations (2004 and 2005) for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, a Television Critics Association nomination for Individual Achievement in Comedy (2004) and two SAG nominations for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (2005 and 2006).

Also in 2003, Tambor had small roles and cameos in such movies as Scorched (2003), comic Jamie Kennedy's hip-hop, white-boy romp Malibu's Most Wanted (2003), My Boss' Daughter (2003), starring Ashton Kutcher, and Under the Tuscan Sun (2003), as Diane Lane's divorce attorney. He continued with another unforgettable part as the parent of Scott Mechlowicz in the begrimed teen comedy Eurotrip (2004) and was cast in the supporting role of the head of the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense in the action film Hellboy (2004), based on the comic book series. Tambor also provided the vocals of King Neptune for the SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (2004), adapted from the popular Nickelodeon animated series.

After “Arrested Development” departed the airwaves, Tambor found himself working on another TV series titled “Twenty Good Years,” about two men who reflect on the last 20 years of their life. Debuting on NBC on October 11, 2006, the show was axed after only a few episodes. More recently, he starred with Chris Klein in a pilot for CBS called “The Captain” (2007) and appeared in an episode of “Law & Order” (2007). Tambor will reprise his role as Tom Manning for the installment Hellboy 2: The Golden Army (2008).

Awards:

• Satellite: Golden Satellite, Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Comedy or Musical, “Arrested Development,” 2004