Judd Hirsch

Judd Hirsch has been on screen since the mid-seventies, with Rhoda and Delvecchio behind him and a 2026 film still on the schedule. Born in New York City in 1935, he became a national figure as Alex Rieger on Taxi between 1978 and 1983, the sane man in a garage full of lunatics. Dear John followed from 1988 to 1992, and Numb3rs gave him Alan Eppes from 2005 to 2010. Two Primetime Emmys for lead actor in a comedy series sit on his record.

His real skill is listening, which almost nothing rewards on camera. Dr. Berger in Ordinary People is a therapist who mostly waits, and the film's most famous scenes work because Hirsch refuses to hurry any of them. Arthur Pope in Running on Empty is a father whose politics have cost his son an ordinary life, and Hirsch plays the man's certainty and his guilt in the same breath.

Later he became the loud old man and clearly enjoyed it. Julius Levinson in Independence Day and its 2016 sequel is the definitive comic version, followed by Mr. Simon in Tower Heist, Gooey in Uncut Gems, L.J. Shapiro in The Meyerowitz Stories, Simon Wiesenthal in Hunters and Uncle Boris in The Fabelmans, who arrives to tell a family what art is going to cost them.

He has not stopped. Showing Up came in 2023, Mid-Century Modern and The Best You Can in 2025.