Daniel Stern (actor)

Daniel Jacob Stern (born August 28, 1957) is an American film and television actor, comedian, director and screenwriter. He is known for his role as Marvin "Marv" Merchants in Home Alone (1990) and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), Phil Berquist in City Slickers (1991) and City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold (1994), the voice of Adult Kevin Arnold on the television series The Wonder Years and the voice of "Dilbert" on the animated series of the same name.
== Early life ==
Stern was raised in Bethesda, Maryland, to a social worker father and a mother who managed a day care center.[1] His family is Jewish. His brother is a television writer David M. Stern. During his years at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, Stern starred in several theater productions, including playing C.C. Baxter in Promises, Promises and Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof. Stern applied for a job as a lighting engineer for a Shakespeare Festival in Washington, D.C., but was hired as a walk-on in their production of The Taming of the Shrew, starring Glenn Close.[citation needed] He dropped out of high school in his senior year and soon moved to New York. After taking acting lessons at HB Studios with Austin Pendleton and Herbert Berghof, Stern began his acting career in Off Broadwayand Broadway productions, including True West with Gary Sinise and How I Got That Story at Second Stage Theatre with Bob Gunton. He acted in numerous productions at The Public Theater, Ensemble Studio Theater, Cherry Lane Theater, and Manhattan Theater Club.
== Career ==
In 1979, Stern made his film debut as Cyril in Breaking Away. The following year he played a student who raised objections during Jill Clayburgh's proof[2] of the snake lemma in the film It's My Turn. His breakthrough role as Laurence "Shrevie" Schreiber came in Barry Levinson's Diner. He had another early film role in the 1984 horror film C.H.U.D., as the soup kitchen C.H.U.D. hunter. He appeared in two films with Woody Allen, Stardust Memories and Hannah and Her Sisters.
Stern has played characters in a number of comedic roles, such as Phil Berquist in City Slickers and City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold, and Marvin "Marv" Murchins the burglar in the first two Home Alone films, Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, with Joe Pesci. However, he declined to play the character once again in the fourth installment of the franchise, believing the script to be an insult to the original motion picture. He also starred as Max in Bushwhacked. He provided the voice of the narrator on the TV series The Wonder Years, which starred Fred Savage as Kevin Arnold. As narrator, Stern played the adult Kevin Arnold, remembering his youth.[3] Stern and Savage were also featured together in Little Monsters, in which Stern played the father of Savage's character. In the late 1990s, Stern took on a more serious role in the black comedy Very Bad Things with Christian Slater, Cameron Diaz and Jon Favreau. Stern provided the voice for the main character of the Dilbert animated TV series, based on the comic strip by Scott Adams.
Stern directed several episodes of The Wonder Years and the 1993 feature film Rookie of the Year, and in recent years directed two episodes of the TV series, Manhattan.
Stern created, wrote and starred in the CBS television show Danny.
He wrote the off-Broadway hit "Barbra's Wedding", which was produced by The Dodgers and Manhattan Theater Club. It starred John Pankow and Julie White and ran for six months. Mr. Stern also appeared in the play at Garry Marshall's Falcon Theater.
Stern was originally offered the role of Dale Gribble in King of the Hill but he was replaced by Johnny Hardwick when his salary agreement went low.[citation needed]
== Personal life ==
Stern works as an artist, specializing in bronze sculpture. He has created sculptures for public art projects in San Diego, Pasadena, Palm Desert, Temple City and Agoura Hills. He is an artist in residence at Studio Channel Islands Art Centre in Camarillo. He has also done many private commissions, gallery exhibitions and art fairs.[4] He is the father of California State Senator Henry Stern and daughters Ella and Sophie Stern.
== Filmography ==
=== Film ===
Year	Title 	Role 	Notes
1979	Breaking Away 	Cyril 	
1979	Starting Over 	Student 2 	
1980	A Small Circle of Friends 	Crazy Kid: Draft Inductee 	
1980	Stardust Memories 	Actor 	
1980	One Trick Pony 	Hare Krishna 	
1980	It's My Turn 	Cooperman 	
1981	Honky Tonk Freeway 	Hitchhiker 	
1982	I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can 	Jim 	
1982	Diner 	Laurence 'Shrevie' Schreiber	
1983	Blue Thunder 	Officer Richard Lymangood 	
1983	Get Crazy 	Neil Allen 	
1983	Daniel 	Artie Sternlicht 	
1984	C.H.U.D. 	A.J'The Reverend' Shepherd 	
1984	Frankenweenie 	Ben Frankenstein 	Short film
1985	Key Exchange 	Michael Fine 	
1986	Hannah and Her Sisters 	Dusty 	
1986	The Boss' Wife 	Joel Keefer 	
1987	Born in East L.A. 	Jimmy 	
1988	The Milagro Beanfield War 	Herbie Platt 	
1988	D.O.A. 	Hal Petersham 	
1989	Leviathan 	Buzz "Sixpack" Parrish 	
1989	Little Monsters 	Glen Stevenson 	
1989	Friends, Lovers, & Lunatics 	Mat 	
1990	Coupe de Ville 	Marvin Libner 	
1990	My Blue Heaven 	Will Stubbs 	
1990	Home Alone 	Marvin "Marv" Merchants 	
1991	City Slickers 	Phil Berquist 	
1992	Home Alone 2: Lost in New York 	Marvin "Marv" Merchants 	
1993	Rookie of the Year 	Phil Brickma 	Also director
1994	City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold	Phil Berquist 	
1995	Bushwhacked 	Max Grabelski 	
1996	Celtic Pride 	Mike O'Hara 	
1998	Very Bad Things 	Adam Berkow 	
2000	How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog 	Guest at costume party 	Uncredited
2001	Viva Las Nowhere 	Frank Jacobs 	
2006	The Last Time 	John Whitman 	
2008	Otis 	Will Lawson 	
2009	Whip It 	Earl Cavendar 	
2010	The Next Three Days 	Meyer Fisk 	
2012	A Christmas Story 2 	The Old Man 	
2018	Game Over, Man! 	Mitch 	
=== Television ===
Year 	Title 	Role 	Notes
1984 	Samson and Delilah 	Micah 	Television film
1984 	The Ratings Game 	Skip Imperali 	Television film
1985 	Hometown 	Joey Nathan 	10 episodes
1986 	Comedy Factory 	Leon 	Episode: "Man About Town"
1988 	Weekend War 	Garfield 	Television film
1988–93 	The Wonder Years 	Adult Kevin Arnold (voice)	Uncredited; 114 episodes
1990 	The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson	William Cline 	Television film
1991 	The Simpsons 	Narrator 	Episode: "Three Men and a Comic Book"
1997 	Gun 	Harvey Hochfelder 	Episode: "The Shot"
1998 	Hey Arnold! 	Mr. Packenham (voice) 	Episode: "Tour de Pond/Teachers' Strike"
1998 	Tourist Trap 	George W. Piper 	Television film
1999 	Partners 	Sam 	Television film
1999–2000 	Dilbert 	Dilbert (voice) 	30 episodes
2001 	Danny 	Danny 	9 episodes
2003 	Regular Joe 	Joe Binder 	5 episodes
2009 	Family Guy 	Narrator (voice) 	Episode: "FOX-y Lady"
2009 	Monk 	Sheriff Franklin 	Episode: "Mr. Monk and the UFO"
2010 	Battle of the Bulbs 	Bob Wallace 	Television film
2013 	Workaholics 	Travis Rockne 	Episode: "Alice Quits"
2013; 2015	Getting On 	Richard James 	2 episodes
2014 	House of Lies 	Robert Tretorn 	2 episodes
2014–15 	Manhattan 	Glen Babbit 	15 episodes
2017 	Love 	Marty Dobbs 	Episode: "Marty Dobbs"
== Awards and nominations ==
Year	Result 	Award 	Category 	Film or series
1992	Nominated	American Comedy Awards	Funniest Supporting Actor	City Slickers
Category:American male film actors