Actor Steve Guttenberg, trained at New York's High School of the Performing Arts, Julliard and the Actors Studio, was already a professional as a teenager, making his off-Broadway debut in a revival of The Lion in Winter. In 1976 he was first seen before the cameras in the made-for-TV Something for Joey. The following year, he made his big-screen bow in The Chicken Chronicles, and within three years was starring in his own weekly TV series, Billy (he was subsequently top-billed in the bizarre 1982 summer-replacement weekly No Soap, Radio. After a flurry of excellent film roles--the foredoomed Barry Kohler in Boys from Brazil (1978), football-obsessed groom-to-be Eddie in Diner (1982), etc.--Guttenberg settled into workaday parts. He seemed to have a propensity for getting involved in film series: he was seen as Michael Kellan in both 3 Men and a Baby and 3 Men and a Little Lady, Jack Bonner in the two Cocoon films, and Mahoney in the first four Police Academy entries. In 1991, Steve Guttenberg made his belated Broadway debut in Prelude to a Kiss. In the decades to follow, Guttenberg would appear in films like Home Team, Domino One, Fatal Rescue, and A Novel Romance, as well as a memorable arc on the cult hit series Veronica Mars. He would also appear on Dancing with the Stars.
Steve Guttenberg
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- When he first got to Hollywood, he snuck onto the Paramount studio lot and set up an office in an abandoned building.
- Made his acting debut in a commercial for Kentucky Fried Chicken.
- Appeared in the 1989 music video for Michael Jackson's "Liberian Girl."
- Made his Broadway debut in 1991's Prelude to a Kiss.
- Founded The Guttenhouse Project, which houses foster children.
- Made his feature-length debut as a director on 2002's P.S. Your Cat Is Dead! When a stunt went wrong during the filming, Guttenberg (who was also starring) suffered a neck injury, and the resulting paralysis on the left side of his body lasted several months.
- To prepare for Season 6 of Dancing With the Stars he staged a small stand-up comedy tour in which he also showed off his dancing skills.
- Published his memoir, The Guttenberg Bible, in 2012.
- His company, Mr. Kirby Productions, was named after his high-school acting teacher, Gerald Kirby.