Daniel Stern (actor)

For other people named Daniel Stern, see Daniel Stern (disambiguation).
Daniel Stern
Stern in July 2014
Born
Daniel Jacob Stern

(1957-08-28) August 28, 1957 (age 67)
Bethesda, Maryland, U.S.
Other namesPeter Mills (screenwriter name)
Occupations
  • Actor
  • artist
  • director
  • screenwriter
Years active1979–present
Spouse
Laure Mattos
​
(m. 1980)​
Children3, including Henry
RelativesDavid M. Stern (brother)

Daniel Jacob Stern (born August 28, 1957)[1] is an American actor, artist, director, comedian, and screenwriter. He is best known for his roles as Marv Murchins in Home Alone (1990) and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), Phil Berquist in City Slickers (1991) and City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold (1994), the voice of adult Kevin Arnold on the television series The Wonder Years, and the voice of Dilbert on the animated series of the same name. Other notable films of his include Breaking Away (1979), Stardust Memories (1980), Diner (1982), Blue Thunder (1983), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), The Milagro Beanfield War (1988), Coupe de Ville (1990), and Very Bad Things (1998). He made his feature-film directorial debut with Rookie of the Year (1993).

Early life

Stern was born in Bethesda, Maryland to Cynthia and Leonard Stern. His father was a social worker while his mother managed a day care center.[1] He is Jewish. His brother is television writer David M. Stern. During his years at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, Stern starred in several theater productions, including playing Chuck Baxter in Promises, Promises and Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof. Stern applied for a job as a lighting engineer for a Shakespeare Festival in Washington, D.C., but was hired as a walk-on in their production of The Taming of the Shrew, starring Glenn Close.[2] He dropped out of high school in his senior year and soon moved to New York. After taking acting lessons at HB Studio with Austin Pendleton and Herbert Berghof, Stern began his acting career in Off Broadway and Broadway productions, including True West with Gary Sinise and How I Got That Story at Second Stage Theatre with Bob Gunton. He acted in numerous productions at The Public Theater, Ensemble Studio Theater, Cherry Lane Theater, and Manhattan Theater Club.

Career

Stern with Kristen Wiig and Drew Barrymore at 2009 Toronto International Film Festival

In 1979, Stern made his film debut as Cyril in Breaking Away. The following year he played a student who raised objections during Jill Clayburgh's proof[3] of the snake lemma in the film It's My Turn. He was the novice observer Richard Lymangood in the 1983 action thriller film Blue Thunder. He had another early film role in the 1984 horror film C.H.U.D., as the soup kitchen C.H.U.D. hunter. His breakthrough role as Laurence "Shrevie" Schreiber came in Barry Levinson's Diner. He appeared in two films with Woody Allen, Stardust Memories and Hannah and Her Sisters.

Stern at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival

Stern has played characters in a number of comedic roles, such as Phil Berquist in City Slickers and City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold, and Marv the burglar in the first two Home Alone films, Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, with Joe Pesci. However, he declined to play the character once again in the fourth installment of the franchise, believing the script to be a disgrace to the original motion picture. He also starred as Max in Bushwhacked. He provided the voice of the narrator on the TV series The Wonder Years, which starred Fred Savage as Kevin Arnold. As narrator, Stern played the adult Kevin Arnold, remembering his youth.[4] Stern and Savage were also featured together in Little Monsters, in which Stern played the father of Savage's character. In the late 1990s, Stern took on a more serious role in the black comedy Very Bad Things with Christian Slater, Cameron Diaz and Jon Favreau. Stern provided the voice for the main character of the Dilbert animated TV series, based on the comic strip by Scott Adams.

Stern directed several episodes of The Wonder Years and the 1993 feature film Rookie of the Year, and in recent years directed two episodes of the TV series, Manhattan.

Stern created, wrote, and starred in the CBS television show Danny.

He wrote the off-Broadway hit Barbra's Wedding, which was produced by The Dodgers and Manhattan Theater Club. It starred John Pankow and Julie White and ran for six months. Stern also appeared in the play at Garry Marshall's Falcon Theater.

Stern was originally offered the role of Dale Gribble in King of the Hill but he was replaced by Johnny Hardwick when his salary agreement went low.[5][6] He starred in Game Over, Man! (2018) as well as the Hulu original series, “Shrill”, as the main character’s (Aidy Bryant) father.

Personal life

Stern works as an artist, specializing in bronze sculpture. He has created sculptures for public art projects in San Diego, Pasadena, Palm Desert, Temple City, Monrovia, and Agoura Hills. He is an artist in residence at Studio Channel Islands Art Centre in Camarillo. He has also done many private commissions, gallery exhibitions and art fairs.[7] He married Laure Mattos, an actress in 1980, and together they have three children, one of whom is his son, California State Senator Henry Stern.

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1979 Breaking Away Cyril
Starting Over Student 2
1980 A Small Circle of Friends Crazy Kid: Draft Inductee Credited as "Dan Stern"
Stardust Memories Actor
One-Trick Pony Hare Krishna
It's My Turn Cooperman
1981 Honky Tonk Freeway Hitchhiker
1982 Diner Laurence 'Shrevie' Schreiber
I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can Jim
1983 Blue Thunder Officer Richard Lymangood
Get Crazy Neil Allen
Daniel Artie Sternlicht
1984 C.H.U.D. A.J 'The Reverend' Shepherd Writer (Uncredited)
Frankenweenie Ben Frankenstein Short film
1985 Key Exchange Michael Fine
1986 Hannah and Her Sisters "Dusty"
The Boss' Wife Joel Keefer
1987 Born in East L.A. Jimmy
1988 The Milagro Beanfield War Herbie Platt
D.O.A. Hal Petersham
1989 Leviathan Buzz "Sixpack" Parrish
Little Monsters Glen Stevenson
Friends, Lovers, & Lunatics Mat
1990 Coupe de Ville Marvin Libner
My Blue Heaven Will Stubbs
Home Alone Marv Murchins
1991 City Slickers Phil Berquist
1992 Home Alone 2: Lost in New York Marv Murchins
1993 Rookie of the Year Phil Brickma Director
1994 City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold Phil Berquist
1995 Bushwhacked Max Grabelski Executive Producer[8]
1996 Celtic Pride Mike O'Hara
1998 Very Bad Things Adam Berkow
2000 How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog Guest at Costume Party Uncredited
2001 Viva Las Nowhere Frank Jacobs
2004 The Last Full Measure Short film
2006 Vegas, Baby Hardy Hard Direct-to-video
The Last Time John Whitman
2008 Otis Will Lawson
A Previous Engagement Jack Reynolds
2009 Whip It Earl Cavendar
Red State Blues Howard Short film
2010 The Next Three Days Meyer Fisk
Branches Narrator (voice) Short film
2011 California Romanza Uncle Pops
2012 A Christmas Story 2 The Old Man Direct-to-video
2017 City Slickers in Westworld Phil Berquist Video short
2018 Game Over, Man! Mitch
2019 James vs. His Future Self Jimmy Executive Producer[9]
TBA Everything's Peachy Jerry Schiff Pre-production, Director and Writer

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1984 Samson and Delilah Micah Television film
The Ratings Game Skip Imperali
1985 Hometown Joey Nathan 10 episodes
1986 Comedy Factory Leon Episode: "Man About Town"
1988 Weekend War Garfield Television film
1988–1993 The Wonder Years Adult Kevin Arnold (voice) Uncredited; 114 episodes
1990 The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson William Cline Television film
1991 The Simpsons Narrator Episode: "Three Men and a Comic Book"
1997 Gun Harvey Hochfelder Episode: "The Shot"
1998 Hey Arnold! Mr. Packenham (voice) Episode: "Tour de Pond/Teachers' Strike"
Tourist Trap George W. Piper Television film
1999 Partners Sam
1999–2000 Dilbert Dilbert (voice) 30 episodes
2001 Danny Danny 9 episodes
2003 Regular Joe Joe Binder 5 episodes; Also; Executive Producer
2009 Family Guy Narrator (voice) Episode: "FOX-y Lady"
Monk Sheriff Franklin Episode: "Mr. Monk and the UFO"
2010 Battle of the Bulbs Bob Wallace Television film
2013 Workaholics Travis Rockne Episode: "Alice Quits"
2013; 2015 Getting On Richard James 2 episodes
2014 House of Lies Robert Tretorn
2014–2015 Manhattan Glen Babbit 15 episodes
2015 Strange Calls Gregor Television movie
2016 Angie Tribeca Dreyfuss Episode: "The Coast Is Fear"
2017 Love Marty Dobbs Episode: "Marty Dobbs"
2018 Dan the Weatherman Don Television movie
2019 Shrill Bill Easton 8 episodes
2020 Captain Karl's Institute for the Abnormally Bizarre 'Captain Karl' Moorehouse
2023–present For All Mankind Eli Hobson 10 episodes

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Nominated work Result
1992
 American Comedy Awards Funniest Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture City Slickers Nominated

References

  1. ^ a b "New Face: Daniel Stern Off the Sofa and Onto the Movie Screen in 'Breaking Away'; 'But It Was Cheap Rent'". The New York Times. August 31, 1979. Retrieved April 30, 2010.
  2. ^ "Daniel Stern: Then and Now | Film Industry Digest". Retrieved 2020-04-10.[permanent dead link‍]
  3. ^ "Quotes from "It's My Turn"". IMDb.
  4. ^ Day, Heather Thompson (2013). How to Feed the Mediavore: The 30 Day Challenge. Review and Herald. p. 28. ISBN 9780812756555.
  5. ^ "The Untold Truth of King of the Hill". 30 August 2017.
  6. ^ Faires, Robert (1999-04-02). "Picks to Snicker". The Austin Chronicle.
  7. ^ "‘Home Alone’ star sculpts statue for City of Agoura Hills" Archived 2016-01-05 at the Wayback Machine, Stephanie Bertholdo, The Acorn
  8. ^ "IMDb Daniel Stern - Producer (4)". IMDb.
  9. ^ "IMDb Daniel Stern - Producer (4)". IMDb.
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