Bob Balaban is an Academy Award-nominated American actor, author and director. One of his earliest appearances was in 1969’s Midnight Cowboy. Other early roles in the 1970s were in Catch-22 and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. In 1979 he received a Tony Award nomination for his role in The Inspector General. During the 1980s he appeared in films such as 2010, and directed the Randy Quaid picture, Parents.
Balaban has had supporting roles in films such as Absence of Malice, Bob Roberts, The Majestic, Lady in the Water and Christopher Guest’s films: Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind and For Your Consideration. Balaban had a recurring role as the fictional president of NBC and eventually Elaine’s love interest on Seinfeld. In 2001, Balaban produced the Robert Altman picture Gosford Park, for which he received an Oscar nomination for Best Picture.
Balaban is the author of a series of several children’s novels featuring a bionic dog named “McGrowl”. His latest novel is The Creature From the seventh Grade: Boy or Beast , which tells the tale of Charlie Drinkwater, a young boy who finds that he has morphed into a giant mutant dinosaur sometime between his first period science class and third period English.
