ERIC BOGOSIAN
Date of Birth: April 24, 1953
Actor/writer Eric Bogosian was born in Woburn, Massachusetts. He began acting when he was in high school
and started writing when he arrived in New York.
Of his education he says, "I had pretty typical theatre training until I came to New York in '75. I
graduated from Oberlin in the Theatre Department, and I'd say at that point the Oberlin idea of cutting
edge theatre was Pinter and Beckett and Albee...literary playwrights."
Bogosian is the author of the plays Talk Radio, subUrbia and Griller, as well as
three Obie Award-winning solos: Drinking In America, Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll and Pounding
Nails in the Floor with My Forehead. He wrote the screen adaptations of his first two plays, receiving
the Berlin Film Festival's "Silver Bear" for his work on Talk Radio. He is the recipient of a Drama
Desk Award and two National Endowment for the Arts fellowships.
"I live by a very, very simple idea in the theatre which I learned from Richard Foreman. I make the
theatre that I want to see."
His collaborations include a 1986 album recorded with the late Frank Zappa and the 1997 television
series High Incident created with director Steven Spielberg. His one-act Bitter Sauce
was commissioned as part of Love's Fire, an evening of works based on Shakespearean sonnets.
As an actor, Bogosian has appeared in over a dozen feature films. He is best known for starring as the
misanthropic "shock-jock" Barry Champlain in Oliver Stone's film version of his own Talk Radio,
Robert Altman's Caine Mutiny Court Martial and Steven Segal's Under Siege 2. In the past
few years, he was featured in Dolores Claiborne, Woody Allen's Deconstructing Harry and
the HBO movie A Bright Shining Lie. His latest gigs include the campus drama, Gossip (2000)
and romantic comedy In the Weeds (2000).
He has also worked on television, appearing in shows such as Law & Order, The Larry Sanders Show and
Showtime's Beggars and Choosers.
Bogosian lives in New York City with his wife Joe Anne, whom he married in 1984, and two sons.
Filmography:
Wonderland(2003)
Ararat(2002)
In the Weeds (2000)
Gossip(2000)
Deconstructing Harry(1997)
Office Killer (1997) (uncredited)
Beavis and Butt-head Do America (1996) (voice)
The Substance of Fire (1996)
Arabian Knight (1995) (voice)
Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995)
Dolores Claiborne (1995)
Naked in New York (1994)
Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll (1991)
Suffering Bastards (1989)
Arena Brains (1988)
Talk Radio (1988)
New Wave Comedy (1986)
Special Effects (1984)