Eric Stoltz(I)
- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Eric Stoltz is a theater-trained actor and producer who has starred in both independent and studio films. He was born on September 30, and is of Irish, German and Scottish ancestry. Eric was raised in both American Samoa and Santa Barbara, California, where by the age of fourteen, he was earning money by playing piano for the local musical theater productions, including "Mame" starring Anthony Edwards, whom he co-starred with as Jeff Spicoli's stoner friends in Ich glaub' ich steh' im Wald (1982). The two became friends, and then college roommates when both attended the University of Southern California. Dropping out in his junior year, Eric joined a repertory company that did 10 plays at the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland. Moving to New York in 1981, he studied with
Stella Adler and Peggy Feury, and soon appeared in his first film, Ich glaub' ich steh' im Wald (1982). In the 1980s, he garnered attention (and a Golden Globe Award nomination) starring as Rocky Dennis in Die Maske (1985), and in John Hughes' Ist sie nicht Wunderbar (1987). In 1988, he made his Broadway debut in Our Town (1989), for which he was nominated for a Tony Award.
In the 1990s, he went back and forth from stage to film, building up an eclectic resume that included studio films (Pulp Fiction (1994)), independent films (Sundance Festival Winner Waterdance (1992)), and films that he himself produced (Mr. Jealousy (1997)). He also continued to appear on the New York stage both on Broadway ("Three Sisters", "Two Shakespearean Actors") and off-Broadway ("The Importance of Being Ernest", "The Glass Menagerie"). He continued to work in television as well, doing a recurring role as Helen Hunt's ex on Verrückt nach dir (1992), a year on Chicago Hope: Endstation Hoffnung (1994), and in the television and cable movies Im Angesicht der Freiheit (1996) (directed by Arthur Penn), Ein Killer in der Familie (1983) (with Robert Mitchum) and Ayn Rand - Leben und Liebe für die Literatur (1999) (with Dame Helen Mirren). Since 2002, he has concentrated mainly on directing, having done a television movie, several short films, several independent films, and television series such as Grey's Anatomy: Die jungen Ärzte (2005), Boston Legal (2004), Nashville (2012) and Glee (2009). In 2014, he became the producing director of the CBS drama series, Madam Secretary (2014).
In the 1990s, he went back and forth from stage to film, building up an eclectic resume that included studio films (Pulp Fiction (1994)), independent films (Sundance Festival Winner Waterdance (1992)), and films that he himself produced (Mr. Jealousy (1997)). He also continued to appear on the New York stage both on Broadway ("Three Sisters", "Two Shakespearean Actors") and off-Broadway ("The Importance of Being Ernest", "The Glass Menagerie"). He continued to work in television as well, doing a recurring role as Helen Hunt's ex on Verrückt nach dir (1992), a year on Chicago Hope: Endstation Hoffnung (1994), and in the television and cable movies Im Angesicht der Freiheit (1996) (directed by Arthur Penn), Ein Killer in der Familie (1983) (with Robert Mitchum) and Ayn Rand - Leben und Liebe für die Literatur (1999) (with Dame Helen Mirren). Since 2002, he has concentrated mainly on directing, having done a television movie, several short films, several independent films, and television series such as Grey's Anatomy: Die jungen Ärzte (2005), Boston Legal (2004), Nashville (2012) and Glee (2009). In 2014, he became the producing director of the CBS drama series, Madam Secretary (2014).
