Jeff Garlin

Jeffrey Garlin (born June 5, 1962) is an American stand-up comedian and actor.

He is best known for playing Murray Goldberg, patriarch of the eponymous family in the ABC sitcom The Goldbergs, and Jeff Greene on the HBO sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm.

He also played Marvin on Mad About You and Mort Meyers on Arrested Development for Fox and Netflix.

He has also appeared in ParaNorman, WALL-E, Toy Story 3, and Safety Not Guaranteed, among other films.

Garlin was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Gene and Carole (née Crafton) Garlin.

He grew up in Morton Grove, Illinois, where his father owned a plumbing supply business called Bilko and his mother was active in community theater.

He has a younger brother, Michael.

Garlin is Jewish and attended Hebrew school.

Garlin says he has wanted to be a comedian since the age of eight, when he saw Jimmy Durante perform in Chicago.

Garlin attended Melzer Elementary School in Morton Grove, Illinois.

He enjoyed playing sports at school, but had to stop after being diagnosed with Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome, a heart ailment.

When Garlin was in sixth grade, his father sold his supply business and the family relocated to South Florida.

He graduated from Nova High School in Davie, Florida, in 1980.

He attended Broward Community College, followed by an aborted stint studying film at the University of Miami, where he first began to perform stand-up comedy.

While living in Wrigleyville, Chicago during the 1980s, Garlin was briefly roommates with Conan O'Brien, who was then a comedy writer.

Nine years after making an uncredited début as Gut Gut in Spring Break (1983), Garlin earned his first film credit in 1992, in Dolly Parton's comedy Straight Talk.

He had a small role in RoboCop 3 as "Donut Jerk" after a member of the casting crew witnessed Garlin eating a doughnut while leaving Krispy Kreme with an additional two dozen doughnuts.

In 1984, aged 22, Garlin moved back to Chicago to pursue a stand-up comedy career.

He performed with the comedy troupe The Second City.

He worked in the box office with Stephen Colbert.

From 1997 to 1999, Garlin spent three seasons on NBC's Mad About You in the role of Marvin.

He co-stars in and executive produces the HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm.

He had a recurring role on the series Wizards of Waverly Place as Uncle Kelbo, appearing in three episodes over the first three seasons.

He also had a cameo appearance in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me in 1999.

Other cameo appearances include Run Ronnie Run!, After the Sunset, Fat Albert, and Sleepover.

He appeared in Steven Soderbergh's Full Frontal (2002) and with Eddie Murphy in Daddy Day Care (2003).

In 2005, he had a small role in Fun with Dick and Jane.

His feature directorial debut, I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With (which he also wrote), premiered to favorable reviews at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival.

It opened in September 2007.

The film co-starred Sarah Silverman and Bonnie Hunt.

In 2008, Garlin appeared in The Rocker as Stan, and also played Ed Lawson in Strange Wilderness.

He lent his voice to the Disney/Pixar films Toy Story 3 and Toy Story 4, as Buttercup.

He remains close to O'Brien, and after O'Brien was removed as host of The Tonight Show in 2010 so that Jay Leno could return, Garlin stated that he would not be a guest on the show again.

Garlin was hired by comedians Denis Leary and Jon Stewart to help develop their specials.

He worked as a stage director for their shows and edited the scripts.

He worked with Larry David in this same way.

He continues to do standup, where he says he improvises a lot on stage, and feels very relaxed, "maybe too relaxed."

Garlin has a variety of television and film appearances to his credit, as an actor and a stand up, including Dr. Katz, Arrested Development, Everybody Loves Raymond, Late Show with David Letterman, Tom Goes to the Mayor, The Life and Times of Tim, The Daily Show, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and Entourage.

He appeared as Sid, alongside Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler, in the 2010 comedy action film The Bounty Hunter.

He played Ed Burch in Laggies, released in 2014.