Born: 12-Nov-1943
Birthplace: New York City

Gender: Male
Religion: Jewish
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Actor, Playwright

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Ate dinner with Andre

Most people think of Wallace Shawn as that rotund, lisping character actor from such films as Clueless with Alicia Silverstone and The Princess Bride with Mandy Patinkin. He also had recurring roles as Grand Nagus Zek on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Dr Stiles on Crossing Jordan, and he has done voice work in animated films including The Incredibles and Toy Story.

Shawn is also a playwright and occasional actor on the New York stage. As an author, he has won three Obies, for Our Late Night in 1975, Aunt Dan and Lemon in 1986, and The Fever in 1991. He also translated Bertolt Brecht's Threepenny Opera into English for its 2006 Broadway run, starring Alan Cumming and Edie Falco.

Shawn's father was William Shawn, editor of The New Yorker. He was raised amidst New York's upper-crust society, then studied history at Harvard. He taught English for a year in India before going on to Oxford, where he studied philosophy and economics. He wrote his first play, Four Meals in May, as a statement against the Vietnam war, but it was never staged professionally. He spent several years writing unproduced plays and working at a copy shop. His first major success was the 1975 off-Broadway play Our Late Night, and his first film was Woody Allen's Manhattan in 1979, where Shawn played Diane Keaton's ex-husband. Three of Shawn's plays have been made into movies, most memorably The Designated Mourner, starring Mike Nichols and Miranda Richardson. He also adapted Chekhov's Vanya on 42nd Street for the screen in 1994, and starred with Julianne Moore.

The unlikely 1981 art-house hit My Dinner with Andre will undoubtedly be the film for which Shawn is remembered. It is the recreation of a memorable meal Shawn shared with old friend and fellow stage writer and actor Andre Gregory, with Shawn and Gregory playing themselves. Nothing happens beyond two middle-aged men having dinner, but their conversation evolves into something strange and profound.

Now in his 60s, Shawn continues to work as an actor and playwright, and occasionally writes left-wing political comment. In 2004, he edited a political tract titled Final Edition, featuring essays by Noam Chomsky, Shawn's Harvard roommate and now The Nation writer Jonathan Schell, and Shawn's long-time lover Deborah Eisenberg.

Father: William Shawn (editor of The New Yorker from 1952-87)
Mother: Cecille Lyon Shawn (journalist, The New Yorker, 4 children, 2 of which d. infancy)
Brother: Allen Shawn (twin, b. 1948, composer)
Sister: Mary Shawn (twin, b. 1948, mentally retarded)
Girlfriend: Deborah Eisenberg (playwrite, cohabited since the mid-1970s)

    High School: The Putney School, Putney, VT
    University: BA History, Harvard University
    University: Oxford University

    Fulbright India 1965

    FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
    Kit Kittredge: An American Girl (20-Jun-2008)
    Happily N'Ever After (5-Jan-2007) [VOICE]
    Southland Tales (21-May-2006)
    Chicken Little (3-Nov-2005) [VOICE]
    Karroll's Christmas (14-Dec-2004)
    The Incredibles (27-Oct-2004) [VOICE]
    Melinda and Melinda (17-Sep-2004)
    Teacher's Pet (16-Jan-2004) [VOICE]
    The Haunted Mansion (26-Nov-2003)
    Duplex (26-Sep-2003)
    Monte Walsh (17-Jan-2003)
    Mr. St. Nick (16-Nov-2002)
    Personal Velocity: Three Portraits (12-Jan-2002)
    The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (5-Aug-2001)
    Blonde (13-May-2001)
    The Prime Gig (1-Sep-2000)
    Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins (8-Aug-2000) [VOICE]
    Toy Story 2 (13-Nov-1999) [VOICE]
    My Favorite Martian (12-Feb-1999)
    Noah (11-Oct-1998)
    The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story (29-Sep-1998) [VOICE]
    Critical Care (6-Oct-1997)
    Just Write (Mar-1997)
    Vegas Vacation (14-Feb-1997)
    House Arrest (14-Aug-1996)
    All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 (29-Mar-1996) [VOICE]
    Toy Story (22-Nov-1995) [VOICE]
    Canadian Bacon (22-Sep-1995)
    Clueless (19-Jul-1995)
    A Goofy Movie (7-Apr-1995) [VOICE]
    The Wife (Jan-1995)
    Napoleon (1995)
    Vanya on 42nd Street (13-Sep-1994)
    Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (7-Sep-1994)
    The Meteor Man (6-Aug-1993)
    The Cemetery Club (3-Feb-1993)
    Mom and Dad Save the World (24-Jul-1992)
    Shadows and Fog (30-Mar-1992)
    The Double 0 Kid (1992)
    We're No Angels (15-Dec-1989)
    Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills (3-Jun-1989)
    She's Out of Control (14-Apr-1989)
    The Moderns (May-1988)
    The Princess Bride (25-Sep-1987)
    Prick Up Your Ears (8-May-1987)
    Radio Days (30-Jan-1987)
    The Bedroom Window (16-Jan-1987)
    Nice Girls Don't Explode (1987)
    Head Office (29-Dec-1985)
    Heaven Help Us (8-Feb-1985)
    Micki + Maude (21-Dec-1984)
    The Bostonians (May-1984)
    The Hotel New Hampshire (9-Mar-1984)
    Crackers (Feb-1984)
    Deal of the Century (4-Nov-1983)
    Strange Invaders (16-Sep-1983)
    Lovesick (18-Feb-1983)
    A Little Sex (2-Apr-1982)
    My Dinner with Andre (11-Oct-1981)
    Atlantic City (2-Sep-1980)
    Simon (1980)
    Starting Over (5-Oct-1979)
    Manhattan (14-Mar-1979)
    All That Jazz (1979)

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