Judd Hirsch

Judd Seymore Hirsch is an American actor. He is known for playing Alex Rieger on the television comedy series Taxi, John Lacey on the NBC series Dear John, and Alan Eppes on the CBS series Numb3rs. He is also well known for his career in theatre and for his roles in films such as Without a Trace, Teachers, Independence Day and its sequel Independence Day: Resurgence, A Beautiful Mind, Tower Heist, Altered Minds, The Meyerowitz Stories, and Hollywood Stargirl.
Hirsch has twice won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding [Lead Actor in a Comedy Series], has twice won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play, has won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy, and was nominated twice for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performances in Ordinary People and The Fabelmans.

Early life and education

Hirsch was born in the Bronx, New York, to Sally and Joseph Sidney Hirsch, an electrician. Joseph was born in New York, to a German Jewish father, Benjamin Hirsch, and an English-born mother, Rosa Hirsch Benjamin, whose family were Dutch Jews. Sally Hirsch was born in Russia, also to a Jewish family. Judd Hirsch has a brother named Roland.
He grew up in both Brooklyn and the Bronx and graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School in 1952. He earned a degree in physics from City College of New York.
After graduating from college, Hirsch served in the United States Army Reserve in 1958 at Fort Leonard Wood for six months as a surveyor. Next Hirsch worked as an engineer for Westinghouse before he found work in the theater. He studied acting at HB Studio in New York City. He graduated in 1962 from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City.

Career

The Los Angeles Times noted that Hirsch is "one of the very few actors who slips effortlessly from TV series to Broadway to feature films and back again, racking up awards and favorable reviews wherever he performs."

Film

Hirsch received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Ordinary People, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture that year. His other film performances from the decade include leading roles in the 1983 drama Without a Trace, the 1984 dramedies, Teachers and The Goodbye People, and the 1988 drama Running on Empty, directed by Sidney Lumet and co-starring River Phoenix. In 1996, Hirsch portrayed the father of Jeff Goldblum's character in the blockbuster Independence Day, a role that he later reprised in its 2016 sequel. In 2001, he played a Princeton University professor in the Academy Award–winning film A Beautiful Mind. Hirsch has more recently had supporting roles in acclaimed films such as The Meyerowitz Stories and Uncut Gems.
In 2023, at the age of 87, Hirsch became the second-oldest acting nominee for an Academy Award after being nominated for his role in Steven Spielberg's film The Fabelmans. He also broke the record for the longest gap between Oscar nominations.

Television

After appearing frequently on television in the 1970s, including one season in the series Delvecchio, Hirsch gained stardom for his lead role of Alex Rieger in the popular sitcom Taxi, which ran from 1978 to 1983. For his performance in the series, Hirsch won the Emmy Award for Lead Actor In a Comedy Series in 1981 and 1983. In 1999, he reprised his role from Taxi for a brief moment in Man on the Moon, the biopic of his co-star from Taxi, Andy Kaufman.
After Taxi, Hirsch played the title character on the modestly successful sitcom Dear John and in 1989 won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Television Series in a Comedy or Musical for this role. He later teamed up with Bob Newhart in the short-lived comedy George and Leo.
Hirsch co-starred on the CBS Television drama Numb3rs as Alan Eppes, father of FBI agent Don Eppes and Professor Charlie Eppes.
Hirsch has guest-starred on episodes of Warehouse 13, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, God Friended Me, and The Whole Truth, among others and lent his voice to the animated programs Tom Goes to the Mayor and American Dad! Hirsch has also appeared several times on the television show Maron as comedian Marc Maron's father; he has had a recurring role on The Goldbergs, playing the father of Jeff Garlin's character. In 2016, Hirsch appeared on the CBS comedy series The Big Bang Theory portraying Alfred Hofstadter, the father of Johnny Galecki's character, Leonard.
From 2014 to 2015, Hirsch appeared as a series regular on the ABC television series Forever. From 2017 to 2018, Hirsch starred in the short-lived CBS comedy Superior Donuts which lasted two seasons.
In early 2020, Hirsch appeared in a scene as the historic Simon Wiesenthal, in season 1, episode 8, of the Amazon Prime Video show Hunters, which stars Al Pacino.
In 2025, he appeared alongside Linda Lavin in Mid-Century Modern, her final onscreen role before her death.

Theatre

Hirsch won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play for his work in Conversations with My Father, a Herb Gardner play. Other noteworthy stage performances include The Hot l Baltimore, ''Talley's Folly, and his starring role in I'm Not Rappaport,'' for which Hirsch also won a Tony Award in 1986.

Personal life

Hirsch was married to his first wife, Elisa Sadaune, from 1963 to 1967. Their son, Alex Hirsch, was born in 1966. Hirsch married Bonni Sue Chalkin, a fashion designer, in a Jewish ceremony on December 24, 1992. They subsequently divorced in 2005. From this second marriage, Hirsch has a daughter, Montana, and a son, London. Hirsch is currently married to his third wife, actress, Kathryn Danielle Hirsch.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1974	The Law	Murray Stone	Television movie
1975	The Law	Murray Stone	3 episodes
1975	Fear on Trial	Saul	Television movie
1975	Medical Story	Dr. Joe Dempsey	Episode: "Waste Land"
1975	The Legend of Valentino	Jack Auerbach	Television movie
1976	'	Lieutenant Marco Ciardi	Television movie
1976	Visions	Joe Morris	Episode: "Two Brothers"
1977	Rhoda	Mike	2 episodes: "Rhoda Likes Mike"; "The Weekend" Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor for a Single Appearance in a Drama or Comedy Series
1976–1977	Delvecchio	Sergeant Dominick Delvecchio	21 episodes
1978–1983	Taxi	Alex Reiger	114 episodes Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series
1979	Sooner or Later	Bob Walters	Television movie
1979	'	Count Dracula	Television movie
1980	Marriage Is Alive and Well	Herb Rollie	Television movie
1980	The Last Resort	Dr. Zegelman	Episode: "Zegelmania"
1981	'	Unknown	Television movie
1983	Lights: The Miracle of Chanukah	Unknown	Television movie
1985	Detective in the House	Press Wyman	6 episodes
1985	First Steps	Dr. Jerrold Petrofsky	Television movie
1985	Brotherly Love	Ben Ryder/Harry Brand	Television movie
1988–1992	Dear John	John Lacey	90 episodes Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy
1988	'	Capt. David Matthews	Television movie
1989	PBS NOVA	Himself	Episode: "The Hidden City"
1990	She Said No	Martin Knapek	Television movie
1994	Betrayal of Trust	Dr. Jules Masserman	Television movie
1996	Caroline in the City	Ben Karinsky	Episode: "Caroline and the Comic"
1997	Color of Justice	Sam Lind	Television movie
1997–1998	George and Leo	Leo Wagonman	22 episodes
1999	Rocky Marciano	Al Weill	Television movie
2000	Welcome to New York	Dr. Bob	Episode: "Dr. Bob"
2001	Family Law	Daniel Bonner	Episode: "Security"
2002	Philly	Rabbi Nathan Wexler	Episode: "The Curse of the Klopman Diamonds"
2003	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Dr. Judah Platner	Episode: "Mercy"
2003	Regular Joe	Baxter Binder	5 episodes; Also Producer
2003	Street Time	Shimi Goldman	Episode: "High Holly Roller"
2003	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Ben Elkins	Episode: "Pravda"
2003	Who Killed the Federal Theatre	Narrator	Television movie
2005	Family Guy	Himself	Episode: "Blind Ambition"
2006	Tom Goes to the Mayor	Prisoner	Episode: "Spray a Carpet or Rug"
2006	Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip	Wes Mendell	Episode: "Pilot"
2009	American Dad!	Rabbi	2 episodes
2005–2010	Numb3rs	Alan Eppes	114 episodes
2010	Warehouse 13	Isadore Weisfelt	Episode: "Secret Santa"
2010	The Whole Truth	Judge Wright	Episode: "Judicial Discretion"
2011–2012	Damages	Bill Herndon	14 episodes
2012	The Good Wife	Judge Harrison Creary	Episode: "Here Comes the Judge"
2013–2015	Maron	Larry Maron	4 episodes
2014	Sharknado 2: The Second One	Ben	Television movie
2014–2015	Forever	Abraham "Abe" Morgan	22 episodes
2014	Small Miracles	Mort	4 episodes
2015–2023	The Goldbergs	Ben "Pop-Pop" Goldberg	22 episodes
2016	The Big Bang Theory	Dr. Alfred Hofstadter	2 episodes
2016	Family Guy	Himself	Episode: "Take a Letter"
2017–2018	Superior Donuts	Arthur Przybyszewski	34 episodes Also: Producer
2018	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Joseph Edelman	Episode: "Alta Kockers"
2018	Welcome to the Wayne	Himself	Episode: "Gimble in the Wabe"
2019–2021	Big Mouth	Lewis Glouberman	3 episodes
2019	Modern Love	Cop, Vendor, Taxi Driver	Episode: "Take Me as I Am, Whoever I Am"
2020	God Friended Me	Abe	Episode: "A New Hope"
2020–2023	Hunters	Simon Wiesenthal	3 episodes
2020	Cosmos: Possible Worlds	J. Robert Oppenheimer	Episode: "A Tale of Two Atoms"
2023	Extrapolations	David Goldblatt	Episode: "2047: The Fifth Question"

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1963	Barefoot in the Park	Telephone Man
1972–1973	The Hot l Baltimore	Bill Lewis	Obie Award for Best Performance
1976	Knock Knock	Multiple roles	Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play
1977–1978	Chapter Two	George Schneider	Nominated—Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play
1980	Talley's Folly	Matt Friedman	Nominated—Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play Nominated—Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play
1985–1988	I'm Not Rappaport	Nat	Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play
1992–1993	Conversations with My Father	Eddie	Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play
1996	A Thousand Clowns	Murray Burns
1998–1999	Art	Marc
2002	I'm Not Rappaport	Nat
2004	Sixteen Wounded	Hans