Paul Lazar

Paul Lazar is an American actor and theatre director whose career has spanned stage and film across several decades. He made his Broadway appearance in 2022 in Macbeth.

Lazar began his involvement in New York theater during the 1980s as a member of the Irondale Ensemble Project. Around 1983 he met Annie-B Parson, who would become his wife and longtime collaborator. In 1991, the two co-founded Big Dance Theater in Brooklyn alongside Molly Hickok, a troupe with which Lazar has remained associated. Lazar and Parson also have a son together. As of 2015, Lazar has held a teaching position in acting at Rutgers University.

His film work began in the early 1980s with an appearance in Streamers (1983), followed by Married to the Mob (1988). He gained wider recognition through his role in The Silence of the Lambs (1991). His screen credits also include Philadelphia (1993), Beloved (1998), and The Manchurian Candidate (2004). Lazar collaborated with director Bong Joon-ho on two productions, The Host (2006) and Snowpiercer (2013). Additional film appearances include The Debt (1993), Trapped in Paradise (1994), The Stars Fell on Henrietta (1995), Lulu on the Bridge (1998), Mickey Blue Eyes (1999), and Anamorph (2007). His television work includes a 1988 episode of Miami Vice and a 2002 episode of Sex and the City.