Brad Garrett Biography

Brad Garrett (born Brad H. Gerstenfeld; April 14, 1960) is an American actor and stand-up comedian. He has appeared in numerous television and film roles.

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

Garrett's film roles include Stuart Little 2, Finding Nemo, Garfield, The Amateurs, The Pacifier, Night at the Museum, Tangled, and Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil. Garrett also played the leading role of Eddie Stark on the Fox television series 'Til Death from 2006 to 2010.

Garrett has won three Primetime Emmy Awards, with three other nominations. Garrett is still prominent within stand-up comedy and is also a professional poker player. Garrett's is recognized for his height and deep, gravelly voice.

Early life

Garrett was born in Woodland Hills, California. He is the son of Barbara (née Colton), a homemaker, and Al Gerstenfeld, a hearing aid salesman. He has two older brothers, Jeff and Paul. He attended George Ellery Hale Middle School in Woodland Hills and graduated from El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills. He attended UCLA for less than two months before dropping out to pursue his comedy career.

Career

In one of his earliest public appearances, Garrett can be seen as the menacing palace guard on the back cover of the Electric Light Orchestra album Discovery released in 1979. In this, Garrett is seen dressed in middle-eastern traditional clothing, akin to that of the fictional character Aladdin, drawing his scimitar.

Garrett started out at various improv 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 a lot of 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 decided to change gears and try his luck with performing on TV. He was the voice of wrestling legend Hulk Hogan 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 memorable 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. Though 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. He soon won the role of Ray Romano's brother Robert Barone on the long-running family-oriented comedy hit Everybody Loves Raymond. 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's distinctive deep voice has landed him prolific work as a voice actor, such as on the animated series the Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series, 2 Stupid Dogs, The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper, Project Geeker, Steven Spielberg Presents: Toonsylvania, A Bug's Life as Dim the Rhino Beetle, Asterix and the Vikings, Superman the Animated Series and Justice League Unlimited As Lobo, Finding Nemo, Disney's One Saturday Morning and as Auguste Gusteau in Pixar's Ratatouille. His role on Everybody Loves Raymond won him five Emmy nominations, and the 2002, 2003 and 2005 Emmy Awards for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy.

In 1990, Garrett appeared as a semi-regular panelist on the revival of Match Game. On the May 2, 1996 episode of the sitcom Seinfeld, called "The Bottle Deposit", Garrett played a deranged auto mechanic who steals Jerry Seinfeld's car.

In 2003, he was also nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a 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. He won the fifth season championship of Celebrity Poker Showdown, and played in the 2005, 2006 and 2007 World Series of Poker. Garrett was hoping to do a spinoff with his character Robert Barone from Everybody Loves Raymond when the show ended its nine-year run on TV in 2005, but he withdrew in October 2005 due to inaction from CBS that led to a number of the writers from "Raymond" leaving and taking other jobs.

In 2005, Garrett appeared on Broadway playing Murray the Cop in the revival of Neil Simon's The Odd Couple with Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick. He understudied Lane in the role of Oscar Madison, and substituted for him in January, 2006, during Mr. Lane's illness. In 2006, Fox network announced they would pick up a new sitcom called 'Til Death starring Brad Garrett in the lead role. The plot revolves around a long married couple whose new next door neighbors are a pair of feisty newlyweds. Joely Fisher plays Garrett's wife in the series. He also appeared onstage on American Idol season six (2007) during judging on week 11, to which Ryan Seacrest said, "And the next person off American Idol is"?Brad, you're out."

In the fall of 2008, Garrett starred in, and was the executive producer for, an online reality show called Dating Brad Garrett. In 2008, Garrett hosted a celebrity roast of Cheech & Chong, which was aired on TBS.

In 2009, Garrett entered the main event at the World Series of Poker, losing on the second day of the event. Garrett has starred in commercials for 7-Up, where he portrays a more happy, cheerful version of himself because of the soda.

In June 2010, he opened Brad Garrett's Comedy Club in the Tropicana Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. In December 2010, he was one of the narrators during performances of the Candlelight Processional at Epcot.

In June 2011, I Kid with Brad Garrett, a candid kids show, premiered on TLC. On December 12, 2011, Garrett closed his club at the Tropicana. He is starting a new club with the same name across the street at MGM.

Personal life

In 1998, Garrett proposed to his then-girlfriend, Jill Diven, on the set of Everybody Loves Raymond, and they were married on May 18, 1999. Garrett is Jewish and Diven is Roman Catholic. Their first child Maxwell Bradley Garrett was born on October 14, 1998; their second child, daughter Hope Violet Garrett, was born in January 2000. Garrett and Diven separated in 2005, and Diven filed for divorce in July 2006.

Although he portrays a very deep, husky voice in Everybody Loves Raymond and most of his voice-acting work, he has a higher-pitched natural voice, as heard in the show Til' Death, during Everybody Loves Raymond outtakes and bloopers (as well as the show's pilot episode), and his various appearances as himself.

In 2007, Garrett struck a TMZ photographer's camera, which the photographer claimed hit him in the face. The Los Angeles District Attorney declined to file assault charges against Garrett for the incident.

Garrett was the grand marshal for the Auto Club 500 on February 24, 2008.

Garrett appeared on Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? and played for his charity, the Maximum Hope Foundation (named after his kids). He answered every single question correctly winning $25,000 and walked away with that after being asked to play for $250,000 with the bonus subject being U.S. History.

Filmography

Television

• The Transformers (1986"1987) (voice of Trypticon)
• Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n Wrestling (1985"1987) (voice of Hulk Hogan)
• First Impressions (1988) (canceled after 8 episodes)
• Where's Waldo? (1991"1992) (voice of Wizard Whitebeard)
• Roseanne (1991) (as Doug)
• Eek! The Cat (1992"1997) (voice)
• Goof Troop (1992"1993) (guest voice)
• Mighty Max (1993) (voice of Spike)
• Batman: The Animated Series (1993) (voice of Goliath)
• Biker Mice from Mars (1993"1996) (voice of Grease Pit)
• Bonkers (1993"1994) (voice of Louie the Louse)
• 2 Stupid Dogs (1993"1995) (voice of Big Dog)
• Hollyrock-a-Bye Baby (1993) (voice)
• Seinfeld (1993 and 1995) (as a Kramer tryout [uncredited]; as Tony, the insane mechanic)
• The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1994) (as John 'Fingers' O'Neill)
• Tales from the Crypt (1996) (voice of Drinky Pig)
• Bump in the Night (animated series) (voice of Big Mike)
• The Pursuit of Happiness (1995) (canceled after 13 episodes)
• The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper (1996) (voice of Fatso, until the end of season 2)
• Earthworm Jim (1996) (voice of the Lord of Nightmares)
• The Tick (1996) (voice)
• Timon & Pumbaa (1996) (voice of Boss Beaver)
• Project G.e.e.K.e.R. (1996"1997) (voice of Noah)
• Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series (1996"1997) (voice of Grin)
• Everybody Loves Raymond (1996"2005)
• King Of Queens
• Nightmare Ned (1997) (canceled after 12 episodes) (voice)
• Don King: Only in America (1997)
• Bear in the Big Blue House (1997) (voice of Small Possum)
• Toonsylvania (1998) (voice of Phil)
• The Batman/Superman Movie (1998) (voice)
• Superman: The Animated Series and Justice League (voice of Lobo)
• Mickey Mouse Works (1999"2000) (voice)
• Hooves of Fire (1999) (voice in U.S. version)
• Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (2000"2001) (voice of Torque)
• Club Land (2001)
• Disney's House of Mouse (2001"2004) (voice)
• Gleason (2002)
• Legend of the Lost Tribe (2002) (voice in U.S. version)
• Ozzy & Drix (2002) (Voice of Ernst Strepfinger)
• Tom and Jerry: Blast Off to Mars (2005) (voice of Commander)
• 'Til Death (2006"2010)
• Comics Unleashed (2007) (himself)
• Monk (2008) (as Honest Jake)
• Cheech and Chong: Roasted (2008) (host)
• Special Agent Oso (2010) (as Professor Buffo)
• Glory Daze (2010) (as Father of Joel Harrington)
• I Kid with Brad Garrett (2011) (himself)
• How to Live with Your Parents (for the Rest of Your Life) (2013) (as Max Green)

Film

• Jetsons: The Movie (1990)
• Porco Rosso (1992)
• Casper (1995)
• A Delicatessen Story (1996)
• Spy Hard (1996)
• George B. (1997)
• Suicide Kings (1997)
• Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World (1998)
• Postal Worker (1998)
• A Bug's Life (1998)
• Hercules: Zero to Hero (1999)
• Sweet and Lowdown (1999)
• An Extremely Goofy Movie (2000)
• Façade (2000)
• Stuart Little 2 (2002)
• The Country Bears (2002)
• Bleacher Bums (2002)
• Finding Nemo (2003)
• The Trailer (2003)
• Garfield (2004)
• The Amateurs (2005)
• The Pacifier (2005)
• Tarzan II (2005)
• Asterix and the Vikings (2006)
• Night at the Museum (2006)
• Music and Lyrics (2007)
• Underdog (2007)
• Ratatouille (2007)
• Christmas Is Here Again (2007)
• Unstable Fables: 3 Pigs and a Baby (2008)
• Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009)
• Tangled (2010)
• Hoodwinked 2: Hood vs. Evil (2011)
• Not Fade Away (2012)
• The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (2013)
• Planes (2013)

Video games

• Storybook Weaver (1994)
• Fallout (1997)
• Storybook Weaver Deluxe (2004)