Brad Garrett

Brad Garrett, born Brad H. Gerstenfeld on April 14, 1960, in Oxnard, California, is an American actor and stand-up comedian who works under a professional name he adopted early in his career. He grew up in the Woodland Hills section of Los Angeles, where he attended George Ellery Hale Middle School and graduated from El Camino Real High School. He enrolled at UCLA but left after less than two months to pursue comedy full time. He has two brothers, Jeff and Paul, and is Jewish.

Garrett's entry into entertainment came through stand-up comedy in the early 1980s, when he performed at Los Angeles venues including The Improv in Hollywood and The Ice House in Pasadena. In 1984, he became the first grand champion winner in the comedy category of Star Search, taking home $100,000. That victory led to an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, which Garrett made at age 23, placing him among the youngest comedians to perform on that program. The Carson appearance expanded his profile considerably, and he subsequently worked as an opening act for headliners including Diana Ross, Liza Minnelli, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Smokey Robinson, David Copperfield, the Beach Boys, The Righteous Brothers, and Julio Iglesias.

Television work followed his stand-up success. From 1985 to 1986, he voiced Hulk Hogan in the animated series Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling. He appeared on game shows including Super Password in 1987 and Hollywood Squares, and had roles in the short-lived CBS comedy First Impressions in 1988 and the NBC series The Pursuit of Happiness from 1995 to 1996. He also voiced the Decepticon base Trypticon in season three of Transformers and appeared on Roseanne and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. On the May 2, 1996, episode of Seinfeld, he played a rogue auto mechanic who steals Jerry Seinfeld's car. In 1990, he appeared as a semi-regular panelist on the revival of Match Game.

The role that defined Garrett's television career was Robert Barone on the CBS sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, which premiered on September 13, 1996, and ran for nine seasons. The performance earned him five Emmy Award nominations and wins for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 2002, 2003, and 2005. Alongside his castmates, he also received the 2003 Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series. In 2002, he portrayed Jackie Gleason in the television film Gleason, a performance that earned him an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie in 2003.

Following Everybody Loves Raymond, Garrett starred as Eddie Stark in the Fox sitcom 'Til Death, which ran from 2006 to 2010, with Joely Fisher playing his wife. From 2018 to 2020, he starred in the ABC sitcom Single Parents, and in 2021 he helped create Disney+'s Big Shot alongside David E. Kelley and Dean Lorey.

Garrett's voice work spans several decades and numerous productions. He voiced the Big Dog on 2 Stupid Dogs and has contributed to animated films including A Bug's Life (1998), Finding Nemo (2003), Ratatouille (2007), Tangled (2010), Planes (2013), and Christopher Robin (2018), in which he voiced Eeyore. Additional voice credits include Casper (1995), An Extremely Goofy Movie (2000), The Country Bears (2002), Garfield (2004), Tarzan II (2005), Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil (2011), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016), and the upcoming Elio (2025).

In 2005, Garrett made his Broadway debut in the revival of Neil Simon's The Odd Couple, playing Murray the Cop alongside Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick. He also understudied Lane in the role of Oscar Madison and stepped into that part in January 2006 during Lane's illness.

Garrett has maintained an active presence in stand-up comedy throughout his career and owns Brad Garrett's Comedy Club at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, where he performs regularly. He has won three Primetime Emmy Awards in total, with three additional nominations across his career.