Judd Hirsch

Judd Seymore Hirsch, born March 15, 1935, in the Bronx, New York, is an American actor whose career has spanned Broadway, television, and film for more than six decades. The son of Sally (née Kitzis) and Joseph Sidney Hirsch, an electrician, Hirsch grew up in both Brooklyn and the Bronx and graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School in 1952. He earned a degree in physics from City College of New York before serving six months in the United States Army Reserve in 1958 at Fort Leonard Wood as a surveyor. He subsequently worked as an engineer for Westinghouse. His transition into acting came through study at HB Studio in New York City, and he graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1962.

Hirsch's Broadway career ran from 1963 to 2004 and includes productions such as Talley's Folly, A Thousand Clowns, I'm Not Rappaport, Conversations With My Father, and Sixteen Wounded. He received the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play twice: in 1986 for I'm Not Rappaport, a production by Herb Gardner, and again in 1992 for Conversations With My Father, also a Gardner play. Earlier in his stage career, he earned the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play in 1976. Additional stage credits include The Hot l Baltimore.

On television, Hirsch rose to national prominence playing Alex Rieger in the sitcom Taxi, which ran from 1978 to 1983. He won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series twice for that role, in 1981 and 1983. Following Taxi, he starred in the NBC sitcom Dear John from 1988 to 1992, playing John Lacey, and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy for that performance in 1989. From 2005 to 2010, he co-starred on the CBS drama Numb3rs as Alan Eppes. His additional television work includes series regular roles on Forever from 2014 to 2015 and Superior Donuts from 2017 to 2018, a recurring role on The Goldbergs, a guest appearance on The Big Bang Theory in 2016 as Alfred Hofstadter, and a portrayal of Simon Wiesenthal in the Amazon Prime Video series Hunters in 2020. In 2025, he appeared alongside Linda Lavin in Mid-Century Modern.

Hirsch's film work includes a leading role in the 1983 drama Without a Trace, appearances in Teachers and The Goodbye People in 1984, and a supporting role in the 1988 Sidney Lumet drama Running on Empty. He portrayed the father of Jeff Goldblum's character in the 1996 blockbuster Independence Day, a role he reprised in the 2016 sequel Independence Day: Resurgence. In 2001, he played a Princeton University professor in the Academy Award–winning film A Beautiful Mind. He received his first Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Ordinary People in 1980, a film that won the Academy Award for Best Picture that year. In 2023, at the age of 87, he received a second Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Steven Spielberg's The Fabelmans, making him the second-oldest acting nominee in Oscar history and setting the record for the longest gap between nominations. Additional film credits include Tower Heist, The Meyerowitz Stories, Uncut Gems, and Hollywood Stargirl.

Hirsch has a brother named Roland. He was married to Elisa Sadaune from 1963 to 1967; their son, Alex, was born in 1966. His second marriage, to fashion designer Bonni Sue Chalkin on December 24, 1992, produced a daughter, Montana, and a son, London; that marriage ended in 2005. He is currently married to actress Kathryn Danielle Hirsch.