33 Facts About Wallace Shawn

Wallace Michael Shawn was born on November 12,1943 and is an American actor, essayist, playwright, and screenwriter.

Wallace Shawn is known for playing Vizzini in The Princess Bride, Mr Hall in Clueless, Dr John Sturgis in Young Sheldon, and voicing Rex in the Toy Story franchise.

Wallace Shawn appeared in six Woody Allen films including Manhattan, Radio Days, and Rifkin's Festival.

Wallace Shawn wrote and starred, with Andre Gregory, in the 1981 avant-garde drama My Dinner with Andre, and played the title role in A Master Builder, a film adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's play.

Wallace Shawn was born on November 12,1943, in New York City, to a Jewish family.

Wallace Shawn's parents were journalist Cecille and William Shawn, the longtime editor of The New Yorker.

Wallace Shawn has younger twin siblings: composer Allen Shawn, and Mary, who is autistic and lives in an institution.

Wallace Shawn's father's family had emigrated from Central Europe; his paternal grandfather, Benjamin W Chon, was a Chicago-based cutlery merchant who married Anna Bransky.

Wallace Shawn attended The Putney School, a private liberal arts high school in Putney, Vermont.

Wallace Shawn graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in history from Harvard College.

Wallace Shawn studied philosophy, politics and economics, as well as Latin, at Magdalen College, Oxford, originally intending to become a diplomat.

Wallace Shawn traveled to India as an English teacher on a Fulbright program.

Wallace Shawn received an Obie Award for playwrighting in 1975, for Our Late Night.

Wallace Shawn's later plays are more overtly political, drawing parallels between his characters' psychology and the behavior of governments and social classes.

Wallace Shawn has called Aunt Dan and Lemon a cautionary tale against fascism.

In 1997, Wallace Shawn discussed the political nature of Aunt Dan and Lemon, The Fever and The Designated Mourner in an interview in which he talked extensively about the thematic connections among them, as well as his own views on Marxist, communist and socialist politics, their relevance to American liberalism, and how governmental and individual responsibilities for finding solutions to the dichotomy between rich and poor in the world take hold in his characters.

Three of Wallace Shawn's plays have been adapted into films: The Designated Mourner, Marie and Bruce and The Fever.

Wallace Shawn has written political commentary for The Nation, and in 2004 he published the one-issue-only progressive political magazine Final Edition, which featured interviews with and articles by Jonathan Schell, Noam Chomsky, Mark Strand and Deborah Eisenberg.

Wallace Shawn is credited as translator of Bertolt Brecht's The Threepenny Opera, which opened at Studio 54 in Manhattan on March 25,2006.

Wallace Shawn appeared briefly in voiceover during "Song about the Futility of Human Endeavor".

Wallace Shawn published his first nonfiction work, Essays, on September 1,2009.

Wallace Shawn made his film debut in 1979, playing Diane Keaton's ex-husband in Woody Allen's Manhattan and an insurance agent in Bob Fosse's All That Jazz.

Wallace Shawn has had recurring roles as the Grand Nagus Zek on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Stuart Best on Murphy Brown, Jeff Engels on The Cosby Show, Dr Howard Stiles on Crossing Jordan, Arnie Ross on Taxi, Charles Lester on both The Good Wife and The Good Fight, a reprisal of his role as Mr Hall on Clueless, and Father Frank Ignatius on Evil.

Wallace Shawn appeared in the 1985 music video for Chaka Khan's "This Is My Night".

On February 4,2010, Wallace Shawn appeared as Alan Rubin on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Wallace Shawn is a voice actor for animated films and television series, including the Toy Story franchise, Monsters, Inc, Kingdom Hearts III, The Incredibles, A Goofy Movie, Family Guy, Happily N'Ever After, Tom and Jerry: Shiver Me Whiskers, Regular Show, BoJack Horseman and Animal Crackers.

Wallace Shawn said that Toy Story director John Lasseter might have seen both My Dinner with Andre and The Princess Bride and seen him as "excitable" like Wallace Shawn's character, Rex.

Wallace Shawn provided the voice of Mr Mustela in The Addams Family 2.

Wallace Shawn has written many plays with socialist themes; much of his work examines the "connective tissue between private psychology and the politics of inequality".

Wallace Shawn voiced his support for the Palestinian people during the 2014 Gaza War.

Wallace Shawn has been on the advisory board of Jewish Voice for Peace.

On October 16,2023, Wallace Shawn spoke at a Washington DC rally organized by Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow.

Also that month, Wallace Shawn was among the artists to sign the Artists4Ceasefire campaign's open letter urging Biden to push for a ceasefire.