Bob Balaban

Robert Elmer Balaban, commonly known as Bob Balaban, with a diverse career span in being an actor, director, producer, and author. Balaban was born to a Jewish family on August 16, 1945, in Chicago with cinematic history in his blood as his father, Elmer Balaban, owned several movie theatres and was a pioneer in cable television. His acting career spans many decades with his beginnings on stage creating the role of Linus in the original off-Broadway production, You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown in 1967. His cinematic career includes notable appearances in films such as Midnight Cowboy (1969), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Altered States (1980), 2010 (1984), Deconstructing Harry (1997), and Capote (2005).

He worked with prominent directors and in renowned films like Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom (2012), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), Isle of Dogs (2018) and The French Dispatch (2021) and Christopher Guest's comedy films. In 1979, he received a Tony Award nomination for his role in The Inspector General. He also directed movies like Parents, The Last Good Time and produced Gosford Park for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. Recognised as a foundation in the theatre industry, he had connections in Paramount Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Alongside acting, Bob turned to writing developing a series of children's novels with a bionic dog named McGrowl as the leading character.