Judd Hirsch

Judd Hirsch (born March 15, 1935 in Bronx, New York, USA) is an American actor, best known for playing the character Alex Reiger on the acclaimed television comedy series Taxi.

For his performance in Taxi, in 1981 and again in 1983, Judd Hirsch won the Emmy Award for Lead Actor In a Comedy Series. Hirsch went on to play the title character on the modestly successful sitcom Dear John and in 1989 won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Television Series in a Comedy or Musical for this role. He later teamed with Bob Newhart in the short-lived comedy George and Leo. He had also previously starred for one season in the series Delvecchio, playing a police detective (1976-77).

In motion pictures, Hirsch received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in 1980's Ordinary People. Other films in the 1980s include the 1983 drama Without a Trace, the 1984 dramedies Teachers and The Goodbye People, and the 1988 drama Running on Empty. In 1996 he portrayed the father of Jeff Goldblum's character in Independence Day, and in 2001 he appeared in the acclaimed A Beautiful Mind.

Hirsch currently is co-starring on the CBS Television drama NUMB3RS as Alan Eppes, father of FBI agent Don Eppes (Rob Morrow) and Professor Charlie Eppes (David Krumholtz). Hirsch and Krumholtz also played father and son in Conversations with My Father, a Herb Gardner play for which Hirsch won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play. Krumholtz credits Hirsch with jump-starting his career after Hirsch chose him during the audition process for Conversations.

Hirsch once voiced himself on an episode of Family Guy. He is seen building a nuclear bomb for the Keebler Elves to use against Snap, Crackle and Pop. His two lines consisted of three words.

Hirsch starred on an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as a pediatrician accused of murder.

Most recently, Hirsch was a guest star on the pilot episode of the NBC series Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip as the producer of an SNL-esque sketch show who goes into an on-air rant reminiscent of the 1976 film Network.

On the cable TV channel TV Land, an archived coffee commercial (the channel dubs them "retromercials") from the 1960s is sometimes shown with Hirsch playing the husband.