Judd Hirsch

Judd Hirsch

Active - 1971 - 2023  |   Born - Mar 15, 1935 in Bronx, New York, United States  |   Genres - Drama, Comedy, Crime

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Biography by AllMovie

Born March 15th, 1935, Bronx-native Judd Hirsch attended CCNY, where he majored in engineering and physics. A blossoming fascination in the theatre convinced Hirsch that his future lay in acting. He studied at the AADA and worked with a Colorado stock company before his 1966 Broadway debut in Barefoot in the Park. He spent many years at New York's Circle Repertory, where he appeared in the first-ever production of Lanford Wilson's The Hot L Baltimore. After an auspicious TV-movie bow in the well-received The Law (1974), Hirsch landed his first weekly-series assignment, playing the title character in the cop drama Delvecchio (1976-77). From 1978 to 1982, he was seen as Alex Reiger in the popular ensemble comedy Taxi, earning two Emmies in the process.

While occupied with Taxi, Hirsch found time to act off-Broadway, winning an Obie award for the 1979 production Talley's Folly. In the following decade, he was honored with two Tony Awards for the Broadway efforts I'm Not Rappoport and Conversations with My Father. His post-Taxi TV series roles include Press Wyman in Detective in the House (1985) and his Golden Globe-winning turn as John Lacey in Dear John (1988-92). Judd Hirsch could also be seen playing Jeff Goldblum's father in the movie blockbuster Independence Day (1996). In 2001, Hirsch co-starred with Paul Bettany and Christopher Plummer in the multi-Award winning biopic A Beautiful Mind.

The actor once again found success on the television screen in CBS' drama Numb3rs, in which he took on the role of Alan Eppes, father of FBI agent Don Eppes (Rob Morrow) and Professor Charlie Eppes (David Krumholtz). After appearing on all four seaons of Numb3rs, Hirsch took a small role in director Brett Ratner's crime comedy Tower Heist (2011).

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Factsheet

  • First professional stage appearance was in the 1964 summer stock production of Herb Gardner's A Thousand Clowns; Broadway debut, two years later, was in Barefoot in the Park.
  • Originally wanted to play the role of Latka, not Alex, on Taxi.
  • Reprised his Taxi character, Alex, in 1999's Andy Kaufman biopic Man on the Moon.
  • David Krumholtz, who played Hirsch's son on NUMB3RS, appeared as Hirsch's son in the 1992 Broadway play Conversations with My Father, when Krumholtz was 13.