27 Facts About Wallace Shawn

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

Wallace Shawn has had roles in six of Woody Allen's films.

Wallace Shawn co-wrote the screenplay for My Dinner with Andre with Andre Gregory, and scripted A Master Builder, a film adaptation of the play by Henrik Ibsen, in which he starred.

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

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

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 taught Latin in Manhattan, but since 1979 he has made his living primarily as an actor.

Wallace Shawn received the Obie Award for best playwrighting in 1974 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 appears 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, and a reprisal of his role as Mr Hall on Clueless.

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 Rex in the Toy Story franchise, Monsters, Inc during the outtakes in the closing credits, Kingdom Hearts III, Mr Gilbert Huph in The Incredibles, Principal Mazur in A Goofy Movie, Bertram in Family Guy, Munk in Happily N'Ever After, Purple Pirate Paul in Tom and Jerry: Shiver Me Whiskers, and as a caricature of himself in BoJack Horseman.

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 Rex.

Wallace Shawn provided the voice of Mr Mustela in The Addams Family 2 in 2021.

Wallace Shawn is a member of Jewish Voice for Peace and is on the advisory board.