Josh Mostel

Josh Mostel is an American actor born on December 21, 1946, in New York City, the son of comic actor Zero Mostel and Kathryn Celia Mostel, née Harkin, an actress, dancer, and writer. He began his performance career as a boy soprano at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and later graduated from Brandeis University.

Mostel's Broadway career spans from 1971 to 1996, beginning with his debut in Unlikely Heroes. His subsequent stage credits include A Texas Trilogy: The Last Meeting of the Knights of the White Magnolia, The Flowering Peach, the 1989 revival of The Threepenny Opera, in which he played Money Matthew, and the original 1992 production of My Favorite Year, where he portrayed the frazzled head writer. His performance in My Favorite Year earned him a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical in 1993. Additional Broadway credits include Getting Away With Murder.

His film work includes a notable performance as Herod in Jesus Christ Superstar (1973), as well as roles in Harry and Tonto (1974), Sophie's Choice (1982), City Slickers (1991), Billy Madison (1995), and Big Daddy (1999). He also appeared as Ollie, a trader described as the best on the street and one of Gordon Gekko's traders, in Wall Street. In 1979, Mostel appeared in the television series Delta House, the small-screen adaptation of Animal House, playing Blotto Blutarsky, the brother of the character Bluto originated by John Belushi in the film.

Mostel is a native of New York City and maintains a summer home on Monhegan Island. His brother, Tobias Mostel, is a painter, ceramic artist, and professor of art at Florida State University and Tallahassee Community College.