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Lugar y fecha de nacimiento. David Paymer (1954 - ) Actor Also: Writer, stand-up comic Born: August 30, 1954, Long Island, NY Education: University of Michigan, MI (theater and psychology) This droopy-eyed character actor of stage, screen, and TV has fared well playing less than entirely sympathetic behind-the-scenes politicos, businessmen and low-level professionals. Paymer landed the role of Sonny Latieri in the national touring company of Grease, which he reprised on Broadway. As Sonny, he was seen on stage by producers who were casting the comedy feature THE IN-LAWS (1979). They wanted an authentic New Yorker to play a cab driver and the Long Island-born and raised Paymer fit the bill. His comic turn in that 1979 feature was small but memorable. In Los Angeles, Paymer teamed up with his older brother, Steve, to write and perform stand-up comedy material at the Improv and the Comedy Store. He worked regularly in TV sitcoms, dramas, and cop shows and alternated between small roles in features, guest appearances on TV series, and a number of TV-movies. Paymer's small screen gigs include stints as a recurring character on Diff'rent Strokes y Cagney and Lacey; a regular on the short-lived cop/family drama Downtown (CBS, 1986-87), as Michael Nouri's boss, and on the first season of The Commish (ABC) as Michael Chiklis' nervous, freeloading brother-in-law. He proved so hilariously miscast as Richard Kimble in a spoof of The Fugitive on a 1988 guest shot on It's Garry Shandling's Show that he reteamed with the comic for some episodes of Shandling's The Larry Sanders Show. TV would have played an even larger role in Paymer's career had not Fate intervened. In 1982, he was cast as Dr. Wayne Fiscus in the pilot for the hit medical drama St. Elsewhere (NBC) but was replaced at the 11th hour by Howie Mandel. Paymer gained widespread notice and an Oscar nod for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Billy Crystal's underrated fictional showbiz biopic EL COMICO DE LA FAMILIA (1992). As Stan Yankelman, the sweet, menschy brother/manager of the acerbic Buddy Young Jr. (Crystal), he ages from a vigorous youth to a long-suffering old man whose life has been devoted to his brother's mediocre comic career. Paymer's previous feature credits included AIRPLANE II: THE SEQUEL (1982), HOWARD THE DUCK (1986), NO WAY OUT (1987), and AMIGOS...SIEMPRE AMIGOS (1991). In the latter—his first collaboration with Crystal—Paymer and Josh Mostel portrayed ice cream moguls Ira and Barry Shalowitz. They reprised the roles for the inevitable 1994 sequel EN BUSCA DEL ORO PERDIDO (1994). The Oscar nomination brought Paymer bounteous work opportunities. He received excellent notices for Robert Redford's EL DILEMA - QUIZ SHOW (1994) playing an unapologetic Dan Enright, creator-producer of the hit TV game show Twenty One, who rigs the game to deliver telegenic winners to his sponsors. Paymer returned in three notable 1995 films: Barry Sonnenfeld's EL NOMBRE DEL JUEGO (1995) (as a small-time money launderer who makes a big score), Rob Reiner's MI QUERIDO PRESIDENTE (1995) (as a presidential pollster) and Oliver Stone's NIXON (1995) (as hapless press secretary Ronald Ziegler). The following year found him supporting Al Pacino's charismatic mayor in CITY HALL (1996) as a yarmulke-wearing, poker-playing political fixer; playing a small role as an assistant medical examiner in John Dahl's UNFORGETTABLE; and a workaholic ad man forced to drive a bankrobbing Tom Arnold and a van full of kids in CARPOOL. When not acting, he writes scripts with his brother and teaches acting at the Film Actors Workshop.
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