Michael Lerner Biography
Born: June 22, 1941
Date of Birth: June 22, 1941
His is one of those faces you've seen a million times, though the name always escapes you (heck, you probably never knew it in the first place). But Michael Lerner is recognized throughout the film industry as one of the most versatile and capable character actors around.
Both his background and his career have been all over the map: Lerner began his training in the 1960s at Brooklyn College, before moving on to the University of California at Berkeley and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. He sharpened his stagecraft at San Francisco's American Conservatory Theatre before hitting Hollywood in 1970. In the late 1990s, Michael returned to the stage, sharing the boards with Sean Penn and Danny Aiello in Los Angeles production of Hurlyburly.
Onscreen, he's equally at home with outlandish farce or intense drama. He brings a certain conniving oiliness to his portrayals in The Postman Always Rings Twice, Eight Men Out, and his Oscar-nominated turn as mock movie mogul Jack Lipnick in the Coen Brother's Barton Fink(recalling past portrayals of real-life studio heads Jack Warner and Harry Cohn in two made-for-TV flicks). Michael's owlish countenance can also be counted on for instant laughs in For Richer or Poorer with Tim Allen, Eddie Murphy's Harlem Nights, and The Beautician and the Beast with Fran Drescher.