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Stephen Harold Tobolowsky (born May 30, 1951) is an American actor. He is well known for his role as Ned Ryerson in Groundhog Day, as well as portraying Commissioner Hugo Jarry in Deadwood for nine episodes and Bob Bishop in Heroes for eleven episodes over the second and third seasons. Tobolowsky currently plays Sandy Ryerson in the popular Fox show Glee.

Early life

Tobolowsky was born and raised to a middle-class family in Dallas, Texas, and graduated from Justin F. Kimball High School in 1969. While attending high school, he was also a guitarist and back-up singer in the first band formed by musician Stevie Ray Vaughan and Stevie Ray's brother Jimmie Vaughan. Tobolowsky later graduated from Southern Methodist University, majoring in theater, along with his friend Patricia Richardson.

Career

Tobolowsky has appeared in over 200 films and at least as many television projects with mostly minor roles. In 1994's Radioland Murders, he portrayed Max Applewhite, a gentle sound man with a dark secret. He appeared on Seinfeld as Tor Eckman, Kramer's holistic healer, in the second season episode, "The Heart Attack". He is also known for playing Sammy Jankis in 2001's Memento, starring Guy Pearce. In 2005, he was the eponymous subject of the documentary film, Stephen Tobolowsky's Birthday Party, that featured him preparing for, and hosting, his own birthday party, while delivering a series of anecdotes from his life. He was a member of the cast of NBC's television series Heroes for its second season, portraying Bob, the new boss of The Company.

Tobolowsky is well known for his role in the 1993 film, Groundhog Day, in which he played Bill Murray's annoying former high school classmate - and now insurance salesman - Ned Ryerson. Murray's character (Phil Connors) continuously runs into Ryerson when reliving the day of February 2. Tobolowsky reunited with Murray 11 years later, appearing in the movie version of the comic strip Garfield, playing the sinister dog trainer Happy Chapman, with Murray providing the voice of Garfield.

Tobolowsky has also been involved in theater; directing and acting in plays in New York City, San Francisco and Los Angeles. He has directed one movie, Two Idiots in Hollywood, based on his play of the same name. He also co-wrote the film True Stories with David Byrne. He was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play for the 2002 revival of Morning's at Seven.

On October 29, 2009, Stephen started a new podcast on /Film.com called The Toboloswky Files, where he tells stories that are brought up by /Film writer David Chen, in a similar fashion to Tobolowsky's film Stephen Tobolowsky's Birthday Party.^[1]

Personal life

On August 5, 2008, on the 11th episode of the /Filmcast, Tobolowsky revealed that he had been thrown off of a horse in Iceland and broke his neck in five places, but has since made a full recovery.

Filmography

Films

• Spaceballs (1987) as Captain of the Guards
• Mississippi Burning (1988) as Clayton Townley
• Great Balls of Fire! (1989) as Jud Phillips
• In Country (1989) as Pete
• Bird on a Wire (1990) as Joe Weyburn
• Funny About Love (1990) as Hugo
• Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael (1990) as Mayor Bill Klepler
• The Grifters (1990) as The Jeweler
• Thelma and Louise (1991) as Max
• Wedlock (1991) as Warden Holliday
• Basic Instinct (1992) as Dr. Lamott
• Single White Female (1992) as Mitch Myerson
• Sneakers (1992) as Werner Brandes
• Groundhog Day (1993) as Ned Ryerson
• Trevor (1994) as Father Jon
• Radioland Murders (1994) as Max Applewhite
• Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde (1995) as Oliver Mintz
• The Glimmer Man (1996) as Cristopher Maynard
• Mr. Magoo (1997) as FBI Agent Chuck Stupak
• Black Dog (1998) as ATF Agent McClaren
• The Insider (1999) as Eric Kluster
• Bossa Nova (1999) as Trevor
• Memento (2000) as Sammy Jankis
• Freddy Got Fingered (2001) as Uncle Neil
• Country Bears (2002) as Beary's Father
• Freaky Friday (2003) as Mr. Bates
• Garfield (2004) as Happy Chapman
• Stephen Tobolowsky's Birthday Party (2005) as himself
• Pope Dreams (2006) as Carl
• Robots (2006) Voice
• Blind Dating (2006) as Dr. Perkins
• National Lampoon's Totally Baked: A Potumentary (2006) as Jesco Rollins
• Wild Hogs (2007) as Charley
• Loveless in Los Angeles (2007) as Jon Gillece
• Beethoven's Big Break (2008) as Sal
• First Howl (2009) as Christopher Cox
• The Time Traveler's Wife (2009) as Dr. David Kendrick

Television

• The New Adventures of Old Christine as a school principal
• Heroes as Robert Bishop
• Entourage as the Mayor of Beverly Hills
• John From Cincinnati as Mark Lewinsky
• Big Day as the Garf, eccentric father of the groom
• Deadwood as Commissioner Hugo Jarry
• Complete Savages as Mr. Frehley
• The Drew Carey Show as Judge
• Seinfeld as Tor Eckman
• Will and Grace as Ned (the same first name as his character in Groundhog Day)
• Malcolm in the Middle as Lois' boss at Lucky Aide
• The unaired pilot episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer as Principal Flutie
• That '70s Show as Laurie's professor
• Off Centre as Mike's dad
• Dweebs as Karl
• CSI:Miami as State Attorney Don Haffman
• Curb Your Enthusiasm as Len Dunkel, Jeff Greene's arch-conservative brother-in-law.
• Glee as Sandy Ryerson, former glee club teacher.

References

1. ^ The Toboloswky Files on /Film.com