Jeff Garlin
Jeff Garlin is an actor, born 1962.
Garlin is a Chicago stand-up who became famous playing a manager. As Jeff Greene on Curb Your Enthusiasm he spent a decade as Larry David's representative, enabler and reluctant conscience, which in practice meant improvising against the most contrarian man on television and finding the exact beat at which to fold. It is harder than it looks, and almost nobody else on that show could reliably close a scene.
The second sitcom was the mainstream one. Murray Goldberg on The Goldbergs is a bellowing suburban father in his underwear, a broad part played straight for years, and it is a fair summary of the range: warmth delivered at volume, with exasperation always sitting closer to the surface than anger.
Animation likes him for the same reason. The captain in the Pixar film about a rubbish-collecting robot is a soft, well-meaning man discovering he has a spine. Buttercup across Toy Story 3 and 4 is a stuffed unicorn with a mean streak, and Otis in Cars 2 and Perry Babcock in ParaNorman work the same seam. Live action has mostly used him in single scenes, through Arrested Development, Mad About You, Never Have I Ever and Safety Not Guaranteed.
The filmography also holds a couple of small comedies he carries himself, unshowy things about failing to become an adult in the Midwest. They are the nearest thing to a personal statement in a career otherwise spent supporting other people's.
Movies (40)
- Toy Story 5 (2026)
- WALL·E (2008)
- Toy Story 4 (2019)
- Toy Story 3 (2010)
- Cars 2 (2011)
- Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)
- ParaNorman (2012)
- Senseless (1998)
- Daddy Day Care (2003)
- RoboCop 3 (1993)
- Hawaiian Vacation (2011)
- The Bounty Hunter (2010)
- After the Sunset (2004)
- Sleepover (2004)
- Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)
- Studio 666 (2022)
- BURN·E (2008)
- Bounce (2000)
- Fat Albert (2004)
- The Rocker (2008)
- The Love Bug (1997)
- Laggies (2014)
- Full Frontal (2002)
- Straight Talk (1992)
- Strange Wilderness (2008)
- I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With (2006)
- I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With (2006)
- Handsome: A Netflix Mystery Movie (2017)
- Handsome: A Netflix Mystery Movie (2017)
- Dealin' with Idiots (2013)
TV (14)
- The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (2005)
- Conan (2010)
- Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000)
- The Goldbergs (2013)
- Arrested Development (2003)
- Mad About You (1992)
- Late Night with Conan O'Brien (1993)
- Never Have I Ever (2020)
- Wizards of Waverly Place (2007)
- Tom Goes to the Mayor (2004)
- Mad About You (2019)
- Too Late with Adam Carolla (2005)
- Talkshow with Spike Feresten (2006)
- MLB Network Presents (2015)
Where to start with Jeff Garlin
Everything rests on Curb Your Enthusiasm, and there is no sensible alternative starting point. Pick any season; the pleasure is watching him absorb an impossible conversation and then decide, visibly, that it is not worth the fight.
For the family-friendly version, WALL·E gives him the most touching thing he has voiced, and Toy Story 3 the funniest. The Goldbergs is the broad network Garlin, best sampled rather than binged. If you want the small-scale, self-directed side, I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With is a modest Chicago comedy with real melancholy under it, and Safety Not Guaranteed shows what he does with four minutes and a straight face.
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Twenty years of being the most patient man in the room while Larry David makes everything worse, which is a harder job than it looks. The Goldbergs was the long sitcom lead that followed it.
The Pixar work
A substantial voice career that most people never connect to the face. The captain in WALL-E is the best of it, a man who has never stood up and decides to, and Buttercup runs across three Toy Story films.
The films he made and the rest
He has written and directed two features, both small and both about men who are stuck. Safety Not Guaranteed and Laggies are the good supporting parts in other people's independent films.