ALBERT BROOKS Biography - Actors and Actresses

 
 

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ALBERT BROOKS

ALBERT BROOKS is among the most inventive practitioners of motion picture     
comedy, as well as one of its most incisive commentators on contemporary       
life. Brooks began his career as a stand-up comic, and went on to become       
an award-winning actor, writer and filmmaker.                                 
Brooks has written, directed and starred in six feature films: Real Life,     
Modern Romance, Lost In America, Defending Your Life, Mother and The Muse.     
Lost in America and Mother were honored by the National Society of Film       
Critics with the Best Screenplay award; Mother also won the New York Film     
Critic’s Circle Award for Best Screenplay.                                     
Brooks made his acting debut in Martin Scorsese’s 1976 classic, Taxi           
Driver. His other acting credits include such films as Private Benjamin,       
Unfaithfully Yours, I'll Do Anything ,Critical Care, Out of Sight and My       
First Mister. He earned an Academy Award nomination for his performance in     
Broadcast News. His latest film, Finding Nemo, received an Academy Award       
for Best Animated Feature as has become the highest grossing animated film     
ever made.                                                                     
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Brooks studied drama at Carnegie Mellon       
University before starting his performing career in 1968 doing stand-up       
comedy on network television. He began on The Steve Allen Show, later         
became a regular on The Dean Martin Show, and performed on such variety       
programs as The Ed Sullivan Show, The Merv Griffin Show, The Hollywood         
Palace and had over forty appearances on The Tonight Show starring Johnny     
Carson.                                                                       
Brooks has recorded two comedy albums: Comedy Minus One and A Star is         
Bought, the latter earning him a Grammy Award nomination for Best Comedy       
Recording. His first directorial effort was in 1972 for the PBS series The     
Great American Dream Machine. He adapted an article he had written for         
Esquire Magazine, "Albert Brooks' Famous School for Comedians" into a         
short film. Following this, he created six short films for the debut           
season of Saturday Night Live.                                                 
Brooks has been honored by the American Film Institute with a                 
retrospective of his work at the First U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen     
Colorado.  He is married to artist Kimberly Brooks and has two children.