People

Stephen Tobolowsky

Acting · follow into films and chains

Biography

Stephen Harold Tobolowsky is an American character actor. He is known for film roles such as insurance agent Ned Ryerson in Groundhog Day and amnesiac Sammy Jankis in Memento, as well as such television characters as Commissioner Hugo Jarry in Deadwood, Bob Bishop in Heroes, Sandy Ryerson in Glee, Stu Beggs in Californication and White Famous, "Action" Jack Barker in Silicon Valley, Dr. Leslie Berkowitz in One Day at a Time, Principal Earl Ball in The Goldbergs, and Dr. Schulman in The Mindy Project. Tobolowsky was born on May 30, 1951, in Dallas, Texas. He studied geology at Southern Methodist University but switched to theater after being cast in a production of "The Crucible." He later attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he graduated with a degree in drama. Tobolowsky began his acting career in the early 1980s, appearing in films such as The Philadelphia Experiment (1984), Nobody's Fool (1986), and Spaceballs (1987). He also had a recurring role on the television series Seinfeld (1989-1998). Tobolowsky's breakthrough role came in 1993, when he played Ned Ryerson in the comedy Groundhog Day. His performance in the film was critically acclaimed, and he has since become one of the most recognizable character actors in Hollywood. Tobolowsky has continued to work steadily in film and television over the years. He has appeared in numerous other films, including Memento (2000), Mulholland Drive (2001), and The Informant! (2009). He has also had recurring roles on the television series Deadwood (2004-2006), Heroes (2006-2007), Californication (2007-2014), and Silicon Valley (2014-2019). In addition to his acting career, Tobolowsky is also a writer and a podcaster. He has written two books, The Dangerous Animals Club (2002) and The Tobolowsky Files (2017). He also hosts the podcast The Tobolowsky Files, in which he tells stories about his life and career.

Notable films

Where to start

Highlights from credits and KinoChain journeys.

Memento

Appears in a KinoChain journey

Groundhog Day

Appears in a KinoChain journey

Thelma & Louise

Appears in a KinoChain journey

The Insider

Appears in a KinoChain journey

Basic Instinct

As Dr. Lamott

The Lorax

As Uncle Ubb (voice)

Spaceballs

As Captain of the Guard

Freakier Friday

As Mr. Elton Bates

Chains

KinoChain journeys

Public chains that pass through their films — or name them as a bridge.

Browse all chains

No Map. No Plan. Just Go

From American Honey to Nomadland, a journey through films where the open road promises freedom, and sometimes delivers it.

8 films

The Open Road Reclaimed - Women Who Drive Away

From the dust of the American West to the neon of Tokyo, these eight films trace a lineage of women who take to the road not to flee, but to find themselves.

5 films

Pure-Hearted Heroes

Sixty years after Batman '66 taught us that heroism can be bright, sincere, and utterly without irony, this chain celebrates films whose protagonists believe, s...

7 films

The Weight of Command: Eight Faces of Authority

From courtroom to battlefield, from boardroom to the Oval Office, these eight performances explore the many masks of power and the human cost of wearing them.

8 films

Unmasked: Living in the Aftermath of Exposure

The secret is out, and the thrill of anonymity is gone. This collection skips the suspense of a secret identity to focus on the unglamorous aftermath of total e...

7 films

The DVDs That Changed Everything

In the late 1990s, home video underwent a seismic shift driven by a double revolution: an unprecedented jump in technical quality, and an unprecedented access t...

10 films

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