Brad Garrett

Brad H. Gerstenfeld (born April 14, 1960), known professionally as Brad Garrett, is an American stand-up comedian and actor.

Possessing a distinctive deep voice, he has appeared in numerous television and film roles in both live-action and animation mediums.

Garrett was born Brad H. Gerstenfeld on April 14, 1960, to Barbara and Alvin "Al" Gerstenfeld in Oxnard, California.

He is Jewish.

Garrett has two brothers, Jeff and Paul.

He attended George Ellery Hale Middle School and graduated from El Camino Real High School, both in the Woodland Hills section of Los Angeles, California.

Garrett attended UCLA for less than two months before dropping out to pursue his comedy career.

Before comedy Garrett was known for being on the rear cover of ELO's eighth studio album Discovery.

Garrett was initially successful as a stand-up comedian in the early 1980s.

Taking advantage of that success in the late 1980s, Garrett began appearing in television and film, in minor and guest roles.

His first major role was Robert Barone on the CBS sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond.

In the early 1980s, he started doing standup at various comedy clubs in Los Angeles, including The Improv in Hollywood and The Ice House in Pasadena.

In 1984, he became the first $100,000 grand champion winner in the comedy category of the TV show Star Search.

This led to his first appearance, at age 23, on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, making him one of the youngest comedians ever to perform on the show.

His appearance with Carson brought Garrett more national attention, and soon he was appearing as an opening act for such headliners as Diana Ross and Liza Minnelli.

He also opened in Las Vegas for Frank Sinatra, David Copperfield, Smokey Robinson, Sammy Davis, Jr., the Beach Boys, The Righteous Brothers and Julio Iglesias.

After achieving a strong measure of success with stand-up comedy, Garrett began performing on TV.

From 1985 to 1986, he was the voice of Hulk Hogan (in a voice similar to Rodney Dangerfield) for the cartoon series Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n Wrestling.

He was featured on Family Feud during Ray Combs's tenure in a "Funny Men vs. Funny Women Week" during November sweeps.

He also appeared for a week on the game show Super Password in 1987.

He also appeared on Hollywood Squares including a moment when he impersonated Bill Cosby during a question about Jell-o.

He then appeared in the short-lived summer comedy First Impressions (CBS, 1988), in which he was a divorced father who makes a living doing impressions, in a one-time spot as a bank loan officer on Roseanne (ABC), and The Pursuit of Happiness (NBC, 1995–96), in which he was the hero's gay best friend.

Prior to these roles, Garrett had also had a minor part on Transformers, voicing the Decepticon base Trypticon in season three and as an ill-fated thug in Suicide Kings.

In 1990, Garrett appeared as a semi-regular panelist on the revival of Match Game.

The series debuted September 13, 1996, and ran for nine seasons.

On the May 2, 1996 episode of the sitcom Seinfeld, called "The Bottle Deposit", Garrett played a rogue auto mechanic who steals Jerry Seinfeld's car.

He soon won the role of Ray Romano's brother Robert Barone on the family-oriented comedy Everybody Loves Raymond, and in 1998, he and Romano appeared together in their respective roles on a Season 1 episode of The King of Queens, titled "Road Rayge", in which Robert is jealous of his brother spending so much time with Doug Heffernan (the main character played by Kevin James).

Garrett has also made an appearance on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air playing a hitman who attempts to kill Will Smith's character.

Garrett also works as a voice actor, such as on Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series, 2 Stupid Dogs, The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper, Project Geeker, Biker Mice from Mars, Toonsylvania, A Bug's Life, Finding Nemo, Ratatouille, Asterix and the Vikings, Superman: The Animated Series, and Justice League as Lobo.

In 2002, he gave an Emmy-nominated and critically lauded performance as Jackie Gleason in the television film Gleason.

His role on Everybody Loves Raymond won him five Emmy Award nominations, and the 2002, 2003 and 2005 Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.

In 2003, he was also nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie for Gleason.

With his Raymond castmates, he won the 2003 Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series.

Garrett also played the leading role of Eddie Stark on the Fox sitcom 'Til Death from 2006 to 2010.

From 2006 to 2014, he played the Easter Island Head in the Night at the Museum trilogy.

From 2018 to 2020, he starred in the ABC sitcom Single Parents.

In 2021, Garrett also helped create Disney+'s Big Shot with David E. Kelley and Dean Lorey.

He is also known for voicing the Big Dog on 2 Stupid Dogs.

Garrett has won three Primetime Emmy Awards, with three other nominations.

He is still prominent within stand-up comedy and owns a comedy club at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, called Brad Garrett's Comedy Club, where he performs regularly.