Bob Balaban: Encyclopedia - Bob Balaban

Bob Balaban

Bob Balaban (born August 16, 1945 in Chicago) is an American actor and director. He has starred in many films including Clockwatchers, Pie in the Sky, Altered States, and 2010: The Year We Make Contact. He also co-starred in Gosford Park, which he helped to conceive along with the director Robert Altman. An early movie appearance was in Midnight Cowboy.

Balaban's most regarded film-directing credit is Parents starring Randy Quaid; a satire of the values and prejudices of Eisenhower-era America. He is also well-remembered for playing the role of interpreter David Laughlin in the 1977 Steven Spielberg film Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Balaban later wrote a book about his experience shooting this film, called Spielberg, Truffaut & Me: An Actor's Diary.

In the 1990s, Balaban starred as the president of NBC on Seinfeld. He also starred as Phoebe's father in the television show Friends.

Since 2002, Balaban has been authoring a series of children's books: the McGrowl series. He lives on the Upper West Side of Manhattan with his family.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Bob Balaban", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki