Stephen Tobolowsky

Schulman in The Mindy Project. Tobolowsky has a monthly audio podcast, The Tobolowsky Files, of autobiographical stories of his acting and personal life. He has also authored three books: The Dangerous Animals Club, Cautionary Tales, and My Adventures with God.

Tobolowsky was born on May 30, 1951, in Dallas. He and his family are of Russian Jewish descent. Tobolowsky grew up creating imaginative games with his brother, and his story The Dangerous Animals Club paints a picture of how unsupervised children in the 20th century could amuse themselves. He showed talent at baseball, but a serious childhood illness ended his career as an athlete before it began. He graduated from Justin F. Kimball High School and Southern Methodist University. He received a master's degree from the University of Illinois in 1975. Tobolowsky is a cousin of Dallas attorney Ira Tobolowsky, who was murdered in his home in 2016 by a disgruntled former litigant. George Tobolowsky, Ira's brother and Stephen's cousin, is a sculptor. Stephen Tobolowsky also played in a band called A Cast of Thousands, which had two songs, "Red, White and Blue" and "I Heard a Voice Last Night", on a compilation of local Dallas bands called A New Hi. Both of these songs featured Steve Vaughan on guitar, who would be later known as Stevie Ray Vaughan.

Tobolowsky has appeared in over 200 films, plus many television projects. He has also worked in the theater, directing and acting in plays in New York City, San Francisco and Los Angeles. He directed one film, Two Idiots in Hollywood, based on his play of the same name. He also co-wrote the film True Stories with David Byrne and Beth Henley. While writing True Stories, he told Byrne about his supposed psychic abilities, which inspired Byrne to write the song "Radio Head" for the film. Tobolowsky was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play for the 2002 revival of Morning's at Seven. On October 29, 2009, Tobolowsky started a new podcast on /Film called The Tobolowsky Files, where he tells stories, in a similar fashion to Stephen Tobolowsky's Birthday Party (2005). The show was picked up by Public Radio International in 2012.

Selected stage appearances