Brad Garrett
(born April 14, 1960) is an American actor, voice actor and stand-up comedian. He is best known for playing Robert Barone on Everybody Loves Raymond
and Eddie Stark on 'Til Death
.
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Biography
Early life
Garrett was born
Brad H. Gerstenfeld
[1] in
Woodland Hills, California, the son of Barbara (
née Colton), a homemaker, and Al Gerstenfeld, a
hearing aid salesman.
[2] He has two older brothers, Jeff and Paul. He attended
George Ellery Hale Middle School in
Woodland Hills, California and graduated from
El Camino Real High School in
Woodland Hills. He attended
UCLA for less than two months before dropping out to pursue his comedy career.
Career
Garrett started out at various improv clubs in
Los Angeles, including The Improv in
Hollywood and The Ice House in
Pasadena. In 1984, he became the first $100,000 grand champion winner in the comedy category of the TV show
Star Search
. This led to his first appearance, at age 23, on
The Tonight Show
starring
Johnny Carson, making him one of the youngest comedians ever to perform on the show. His appearance with Carson brought Garrett a lot of national attention, and soon he was appearing as an opening act for such headliners as
Diana Ross and
Liza Minnelli. He also opened in
Las Vegas for
Frank Sinatra,
David Copperfield,
Smokey Robinson,
Sammy Davis, Jr., the
Beach Boys, the
Righteous Brothers and
Julio Iglesias.
After achieving a strong measure of success with stand-up comedy, Garrett decided to change gears and try his luck with performing on TV. He was the voice of wrestling legend
Hulk Hogan for the cartoon series
Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n Wrestling
, He was featured on
Family Feud
during
Ray Combs's tenure in a "Funny Men vs. Funny Women Week" during November
sweeps. He also appeared for a week on the game show
Super Password
in 1987. He then appeared in the short-lived summer comedy
First Impressions
(
CBS, 1988), in which he was a divorced father who makes a living doing impressions, in a one-time spot as a bank loan officer on
Roseanne
(
ABC), and
The Pursuit of Happiness
(
NBC, 1995-96), in which he was the hero's gay best friend. Though prior to these roles, Garrett had also had a minor part on
Transformers
, voicing the
Decepticon base
Trypticon in season three and as an ill-fated thug in
Suicide Kings
. He soon won the role of
Ray Romano's brother Robert Barone on the long-running sophisticated but family-oriented comedy hit
Everybody Loves Raymond
. Garrett has also made an appearance on
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
and played a hitman who tried to kill
Will Smith.
Garrett's distinctive deep voice has landed him notable work as a
voice actor, such as on the
animated series the
Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series
,
2 Stupid Dogs
,
Project Geeker
,
A Bug's Life
,
Asterix and the Vikings
,
Justice League Unlimited
,
Finding Nemo
, and as Auguste Gusteau in Pixar's
Ratatouille
. His role on
Everybody Loves Raymond
won him five
Emmy nominations, and the 2002, 2003 and 2005
Emmy Awards for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy.
In 1990, Garrett appeared as a semi-regular panelist on the revival of
Match Game
. On the May 2, 1996 episode of the sitcom
Seinfeld
, called "
The Bottle Deposit", Garrett played a deranged auto mechanic obsessed with Jerry's car.
In 2003, he was also nominated for the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for
Gleason
. With his
Raymond
castmates, he won the 2003
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series. He won the fifth season championship of
Celebrity Poker Showdown
, and played in the 2005, 2006 and 2007
World Series of Poker. Garrett was hoping to do a spinoff with his character Robert Barone from
Everybody Loves Raymond
when the show ended its nine-year run on TV in 2005, but he withdrew in October 2005 due to inaction from
CBS that led to a number of the writers from "Raymond" leaving and taking other jobs.
In 2005, Garrett appeared on
Broadway playing Murray the Cop in the revival of
Neil Simon's
The Odd Couple
with
Nathan Lane and
Matthew Broderick. He understudied Lane in the role of Oscar Madison, and substituted for him in January, 2006, during Mr. Lane's illness. In 2006,
Fox network announced they would pick up a new sitcom called
'Til Death
starring Brad Garrett in the lead role. The plot revolves around a long married couple whose new next door neighbors are a pair of feisty newlyweds.
Joely Fisher plays Garrett's wife in the series. He also appeared onstage on
American Idol
Season 6 during judging on week 11, to which
Ryan Seacrest said, "And the next person off
American Idol
is—Brad, you're out."
In the fall of 2008, Garrett will be the star and executive producer of
Dating Brad Garrett
, an online reality show. It is set to debut on YouTube, Crackle, Hulu, and other platforms.
In 2008, Garrett hosted a celebrity roast of
Cheech & Chong, which was aired on
TBS.
In 2009, Garrett entered the main event at the
World Series of Poker, losing on the second day of the event.
Personal life
Garrett is
Jewish.
[3] In 1998, he proposed to his then girlfriend Jill Diven on the set of
Everybody Loves Raymond
, and they were married on May 18, 1999. Their first child Maxwell Bradley Garrett was born on October 14, 1998; their second child, daughter Hope Violet Garrett, was born in January 2000. Garrett and Diven separated in 2005, and Diven filed for divorce in July 2006.
[4]
Although he portrays a very deep, husky voice in
Everybody Loves Raymond
and most of his voice-acting work, he has a higher-pitched natural voice, as heard in the show
Til' Death
, during
Everybody Loves Raymond
outtakes and bloopers, and his various appearances as himself (such as on the game show
Hollywood Squares
).
He is 6 feet and 8-1/2 inches tall, although he claims to have shrunk.
[5]
On November 11, 2008, Garrett was in an altercation with some photographers who were heckling him regarding earlier comments he made about blacks in Malibu and calling him racist. Garrett struck a TMZ photographer's camera, which the photographer claimed hit him in the face.
[6] [7] The
Los Angeles District Attorney declined to file assault charges against Garrett for the incident.
[8]
Garrett was the grand marshal for the
Auto Club 500 on February 24, 2008.
Filmography
Film
- Jetsons: The Movie
(1990)
- Porco Rosso
(1992)
- Casper
(1995)
- A Delicatessen Story
(1996)
- Spy Hard
(1996)
- George B.
(1997)
- Suicide Kings
(1997)
- Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World
(1998)
- Postal Worker
(1998)
- A Bug's Life
(1998)
- Hercules: Zero to Hero
(1999)
- Sweet and Lowdown
(1999)
- An Extremely Goofy Movie
(2000)
- Façade
(2000)
- Stuart Little 2
(2002)
- The Country Bears
(2002)
- Finding Nemo
(2003)
- The Trailer
(2003)
- Garfield
(2004)
- The Amateurs
(2005)
- The Pacifier
(2005)
- Tarzan II
(2005)
- Asterix and the Vikings
(2006)
- Night at the Museum
(2006)
- Music and Lyrics
(2007)
- Underdog
(2007)
- Ratatouille
(2007)
- Christmas Is Here Again
(2007)
- ''Unstable Fables: 3 Pigs and a Baby (2008)
- Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
(2009)
- Hoodwinked 2: Hood vs. Evil
(2010)
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Television
- The Transformers
(1984-1987) (voice of Trypticon)
- Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n Wrestling
(1985-1987) (voice of Hulk Hogan)
- First Impressions
(1988) (canceled after 8 episodes)
- Where's Waldo?
(1991-1992) (voice of Wizard Whitebeard)
- Roseanne
(1991) (Doug)
- Eek! The Cat
(1992-1997) (voice)
- Goof Troop
(1992-1993) (Guest voice)
- Mighty Max (TV series)
(1993) (voice of Spike)
- Batman: The Animated Series
(1993) (voice of Goliath)
- Biker Mice from Mars
(1993-1996) (voice)
- Bonkers
(1993-1994) (voice of Louie the Louse)
- The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
(1994) (John 'Fingers' O'Neill)
- 2 Stupid Dogs
(1993-1995) (voice of Big Dog)
- Hollyrock-a-Bye Baby
(1993) (voice)
- Seinfeld
(1995)
- Tales from the Crypt
(1996) (voice of Drinky Pig)
- Bump in the night
(Animated TV series) (Voice of Big Mike)
- The Pursuit of Happiness
(1995) (canceled after 13 episodes)
- The Tick
(1996) (voice)
- Project G.e.e.K.e.R.
(1996-1997) (voice of Noah)
- Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series
(1996-1997) (voice of Grin)
- Everybody Loves Raymond
(1996-2005)
- King Of Queens
- Nightmare Ned
(1997) (canceled after 25 episodes) (voice)
- Don King: Only in America
(1997)
- Bear in the Big Blue House
(1997) (voice of Small Possum)
- Toonsylvania
(1998-2000) (voice of Phil)
- The Batman/Superman Movie
(1998) (voice)
- Superman: The Animated Series
and Justice League
(voice of Lobo)
- Mickey Mouse Works
(1999-2000) (voice)
- Hooves of Fire
(1999) (voice in U.S. version)
- Club Land
(2001)
- Disney's House of Mouse
(2001-2004) (voice)
- Bleacher Bums
(2002)
- Gleason
(2002)
- Legend of the Lost Tribe
(2002) (voice in U.S. version)
- 'Til Death
(2006-present)
- Comics Unleashed
(2007) (Himself)
- Monk (TV series)
(2008) (Honest Jake)
- ''Cheech and Chong: Roasted (2008) (Host)
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References
- According to the State of California. ''California Birth Index, 1905-1995''. Center for Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento, California. At Ancestry.com
- Brad Garrett Biography (1960-)
- Brad Garrett Interview - Ratatouille, Music and Lyrics, and Til Death
- http://et.tv.yahoo.com/newslink/15453/
- Celebheights - Brad Garrett.''www.celebheights.com''. Retrieved on 22-4-2009.
- USA Today article, "Brad Garrett seen striking man's camera"
- AP story in the Washington Post
- DA Won't Charge Garrett Over Pap Smack TMZ, December 19, 2008