Garlin was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Gene[4] and Carole (née Crafton) Garlin. He grew up in Morton Grove, Illinois,[5] where his father owned a plumbing supply business called Bilko and his mother was active in community theater. He has a younger brother, Michael.[6] Garlin is Jewish[7] and attended Hebrew school.[8][9]
Garlin has said he wanted to be a comedian since he was eight, when he saw Jimmy Durante perform in Chicago.[7] Garlin attended Melzer Elementary School in Morton Grove.[10] He enjoyed playing sports at school, but had to stop after being diagnosed with Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome, a heart ailment.[6]
When Garlin was in sixth grade, his father sold his supply business and the family relocated to South Florida.[10] He graduated from Nova High School in Davie, Florida, in 1980. He attended Broward Community College, followed by a stint studying film at the University of Miami, where he first began to perform stand-up comedy.[11]
Career
Standup
In 1984, aged 22, Garlin moved back to Chicago to pursue a stand-up comedy career. He performed with the comedy troupe The Second City.[12][13] He worked in the box office with Stephen Colbert.[14]
Garlin was hired by comedians Denis Leary and Jon Stewart to help develop their specials. He worked as a stage director for their shows and edited the scripts. He worked with Larry David in this same way. He continues to do standup, where he says he improvises a lot on stage, and feels very relaxed, "maybe too relaxed."[6]
From 1997 to 1999, Garlin spent three seasons on NBC's Mad About You in the role of Marvin.[20] He co-stars in and executive produces the HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm. He had a recurring role on the series Wizards of Waverly Place as Uncle Kelbo, appearing in three episodes over the first three seasons.
In 2006, Garlin directed This Filthy World, a one-man show performed by director John Waters. He was a voice actor in WALL-E (2008), as B. McCrea, the captain of the Axiom spaceship.[23] Garlin executive produced the documentary Finding Vivian Maier (2013).[24]
In 2013, Garlin signed onto the ABC sitcom The Goldbergs,[25] which premiered on September 24, 2013.[26] He played Murray Goldberg, the father of the title family. In December 2021, as shooting of the show's ninth season neared completion, Garlin left the series[27] following misconduct allegations and investigations by the show's human resources department, initially reported in November 2019.[28] For the rest of the season, Garlin's character continued to appear on the show via outtakes, a stand-in, and CGI.[29][30] The character was later killed off in the show's tenth and final season.
In July 2013, Garlin directed his second film, Dealin' with Idiots,[31] inspired by his experiences with his sons in Little League.[25][32] The entire film was improvised.[24]
In October 2019, Garlin revealed he would have a role in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the final installment of the Star Wars saga, which was released on December 20, 2019.[33] He played Junn Gobint.
Misconduct allegations
On December 3, 2021, Vanity Fair published an article detailing that Garlin had been under investigation for three years for "allegedly engag[ing] in a pattern of verbal and physical conduct on [the set of The Goldbergs] that made people uncomfortable". The report found that he had used "inappropriate language" and engaged in "unwanted physical contact" on set such as hugging or touching others without their consent.[34][35][36] On December 15, 2021, it was announced that Garlin would not return to the show. His departure was said to be a mutual decision.[27]
Writing
In 2010, Garlin published a book, My Footprint: Carrying the Weight of the World, a memoir that documents his journey to lessen his carbon footprint.[37][38][39]
Podcast
On the comedy podcast network Earwolf[40] Garlin hosted By the Way, In Conversation with Jeff Garlin,[41] which consisted of unscripted talks rather than formal interviews. The debut episode featured Garlin's Curb Your Enthusiasm co-star Larry David. The twice monthly installments were recorded in front of a live audience at Largo at the Coronet in Los Angeles.[40] The podcast's last episode was released in February 2015.[42]
By the Way, In Conversation with Jeff Garlin episodes
Garlin is an avid fan of the Chicago Cubs. In this image, he is seen in Wrigleyville before Game Four of the 2016 World Series.
Garlin married Marla Beth Cahan on July 24, 1994. They have two sons.[1] In September 2018, they announced their intention to divorce.[47] In March 2020, Garlin said that he and Cahan were at the end of their divorce proceedings.[2] He has been dating Sari Tracht, an editor, since early 2021.[48]
For a few years, Garlin lived with talk-show host Conan O'Brien. O'Brien has said that sometimes Garlin woke him up in the middle of the night and made him perform skits.[51]
Garlin's dog on the television show The Goldbergs lives with him in real life.[52]
On September 20, 2022, Garlin announced that he has been struggling with bipolar disorder, writing: "Bipolar is a motherfucker. Sometimes it's just too much to deal with. I'm doing the best I can. This the first time that I've opened up about this."[53][54][55]
In February 2000, before filming began on Curb Your Enthusiasm, he had a stroke at the age of 37. During the early episodes of season one, he had noticeably slurred speech that later improved. In addition to epilepsy and attention deficit disorder, he has type II diabetes, which he controls with diet and exercise.[6][56] Garlin has written about his problems with food and discussed his weight problems publicly.[50] In a 2011 interview, he said: "I think people look at fat people as having a lack of willpower when willpower has nothing to do with it. I didn't change my life until I approached everything like an addict. I haven't had sweets in almost three years because I know if I have one cookie, just like if an alcoholic has his first drink, I'm off to the races and I'm back eating sugar again."[51]
^Westbrook, Caroline (October 19, 2004). "Jeff Garlin interview". www.somethingjewish.co.uk. Archived from the original on January 5, 2011. Retrieved June 23, 2010. ...very proud and happy to be Italian, and I think everything that I do is naturally Jewish.
^ abcdefghij"Jeff Garlin (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved November 19, 2023. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
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