Pretty Woman

Background:

Larry Miller is an American standup comedian and television and film actor who began his career in New York City as a musician before making the successful transformation to comedy and acting. First attracting the attention of moviegoers with his small, but memorable portrayal of a store manager in the massive hit “Pretty Woman” (1990), Miller now has countless projects dotting his resume, including roles in “The Nutty Professor” (1996), “Nutty Professor II: The Klumps” (2000), “Waiting for Guffman” (1996), “10 Things I Hate About You” (1999), “Best in Show” (2000), “A Mighty Wind” (2003), “The Princess Diaries” (2001), “The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement” (2004), “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” (2005), “For Your Consideration” (2006) and “Keeping Up With The Steins” (2006). He TV projects include recurring roles in such popular series as “Law and Order,” “Made About You,” “8 Simple Rules... for Dating My Teenage Daughter” and “Boston Legal.”

Miller is married to Eileen Conn and is the father of two sons.

Jewish

Childhood and Family:

Lawrence J. Miller, professionally known as Larry Miller, was born on October 15, 1953, in Long Island, New York, to a talent agent named Iris Burton. He graduated from Valley Stream South High School. Led by his strong passion for music, Larry attended Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts, in pursuit of a degree in music. He later relocated to New York City to try his hand as a musician. However, it was his profession as a standup comedian that led to appearances on television and in films.

Larry is married to television producer and writer Eileen Conn. They currently reside in southern California with their two sons. Larry is Jewish.

The Other End of the Line

Career:

An honors graduate of Amherst College, Larry Miller made his way to New York City to fulfill his dream of becoming a professional musician. After finding work as a drummer and pianist in nightclubs, he was inspired to try his luck at standup comedy and sporadically performed at comedy clubs like the Comic Strip and Catch a Rising Star. Within two years, he had left his musical career and was touring as a full time comedian.

Miller made the leap to the big screen in 1978 with a part in the comedy “Take Down,” but did not get other roles until many years later when his career as a standup comic really took off. He received small roles in the films “Three Fugitives” and “Out Cold” (both 1989) and after appearing in an episode of the HBO comedy show “One Night Stand” (1990), Miller nabbed his breakthrough screen role in the Garry Marshall blockbuster hit “Pretty Woman” (1990), which starred Julia Roberts and Richard Gere.

After the successful role, Miller landed larger roles in a number of movies, including “Necessary Roughness” (1991), “Carry on Columbus” (1992), “Corrina, Corrina” (1994), and “Radioland Murders” (1994) and eventually graduated to a costarring role in the Eddy Murphy vehicle “The Nutty Professor” (1996), where he portrayed Dean Richmond. The same year, he also starred with Deborah Theaker, Michael Hitchcock and Scott Williamson in the Christopher Guest directed comedy “Waiting for Guffman.” Miller made his TV film debut in 1991's “Frankenstein: The College Years,” starred in his own HBO special called “Larry Miller: Just Words” (1992), had recurring roles on the sitcoms “Dream On” (1990-1995) and “Made About You” (1993-1998) and a regular role on the NBC comedy series “The Pursuit of Happiness” (1995). He then offered a dramatic performance as a man accused of murder in the “Law and Order” episode “Coma” (1994), a role he reprised in the 1996 episode “Encore.”

Miller went on to costar in the ABC sitcom “Life's Work” and the courtroom series “Michael Hayes” in 1996 and 1997, respectively, and guest starred in such series as “Just Shoot Me” (1997), “3rd Rock from the Sun” (1998) and Disney's “Hercules” (1998, as the voice of Lynceus). From 1999 to 2000, he provided the voice of Pointy-Haired Boss in the cartoon series “Dilbert.” Meanwhile on the big screen, he acted in “For Richer or Poorer” (1997), Wes Craven's “Carnival of Souls” (1998), “The Minus Man” (1999), “10 Things I Hate About You” (1999), “Runaway Bride” (1999) and “The Big Tease” (1999) among other films.

The actor returned to his role of Dean Richmond for the sequel “Nutty Professor II: The Klumps” (2000) before appearing as Max Berman in “Best in Show” (2000), which reunited him with director/writer Christopher Guest. He worked again with Guest for the 2003 comedy “A Mighty Wind,” where he portrayed Wally Fenton. In between his work with Guest, Miller could be seen in Garry Marshall's “The Princess Diaries” (2001, had an unaccredited part as Paolo the Hairdresser), Tim Hill's “Max Keeble's Big Move” (2001) and Chris Koch's “A Guy Thing” (2003). He also voiced XR in the animated series “Buzz Lightyear of Star Command” (2000) and played the recurring role of Tommy in the comedy series “8 Simple Rules... for Dating My Teenage Daughter” (2002-2003).

In 2004, Miller made a cameo appearance in “Raising Helen,” which starred Kate Hudson, reprised his role of Paolo in the sequel “The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement” (2004, again directed by Marshall), costarred with Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer in the murder mystery “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” (2005) and appeared with Jeremy Piven in the independent comedy “Keeping Up With The Steins” (2006). Still in 2006, he voiced Fred Nickle for “The Ant Bully,” a computer animated film for director John Davis and rejoined Guest for “For Your Consideration.” From 2004 to 2006, he also played the recurring role of Edwin Poole in the David E. Kelley created drama “Boston Legal” and appeared as Leonard Harper in a 2005 episode of the hit “Desperate Housewives.”

2007 saw Miller in movies like “The Pre Nup,” “Bag Boy,” “The Final Season” and “Blonde Ambition,” which starred Jessica Simpson and Luke Wilson and was directed by Scott Marshall. His voice could also be heard as Buzzwell in the animation “Bee Movie” (2007). He then starred as Mr. Frankfurt Dickwalder in the comedy film “Senior Skip Day” (2008). He next appeared in the movie “The Other End of the Line” (2008), a romance film directed by James Dodson and written by Tracey Jackson, and portrayed Sid Pomerantz in the comedy “My Beautiful Mistake” (2008), with Enrico Colantoni and Mike Starr.

However, Miller has never forgotten his roots as a live performer. Whenever he has time, he can be found performing standup comedy. He has also written for a humor column at The Daily Standard.

Awards:
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