Kevin Elliot Pollak

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Pollak

Kevin Elliot Pollak (born October 30, 1957) is an American actor, impressionist, and comedian. He started performing stand-up comedy at the age of 10 and touring professionally at the age of 20. In 1988, he landed a role in Willow, and began his acting career. Pollak is an avid poker player, hosting weekly home games with some of Hollywood's A-list celebrities. He finished 134th out of 6,598 entrants in the 2012 World Series of Poker, his winnings totaling to $52,718.

Contents [show] Early life[edit] Pollak was born in San Francisco, California, the youngest son of Elaine B Harlow (Klein) and Robert H "Bobby" Pollak. He has one older brother, who lives with his family in Boston, Massachusetts.[3] He attended high school at Pioneer High School in San Jose, California.

Career[edit]

Pollak in April 2011 Acting[edit] As an actor, Pollak's most notable roles are usually playing the best friend or confidant characters to the leading men, as he did in Ricochet (1991), A Few Good Men (1992), End of Days (1999), and The Wedding Planner (2001). However, he has also played a wide variety of parts, such as a criminal in The Usual Suspects (1995) and a gangster in The Whole Nine Yards (2000). He also briefly hosted Celebrity Poker Showdown in its first season. His most substantial role to date was in Deterrence (1999), in which he played the main character, a Vice President who must take over for a deceased President and deal with a nuclear crisis.

In December 2006, he played Karl Kreutzfeld in the Sci Fi Channel miniseries The Lost Room. Through 2008, he had a recurring role as a District Attorney on the television series Shark. In March 2008, Pollak played himself in the web series The Writers Room on Crackle.[4] In 2010, he portrayed Sheriff Tom Wagner in Choose.[5]

In January 2010, Pollak was scheduled to host Our Little Genius on FOX, but the series was pulled before it could air on television. Pollak was then seen hosting Million Dollar Money Drop, again on the FOX network at the end of 2010.

In 2014, Pollak began a recurring role as Alvin Biletnikoff on the CBS sitcom Mom. However, his time on the show was cut short by the death of his character.

Directing[edit] Pollak's directorial debut was on the horror web series Vamped Out, featured on the internet television platform Babelgum.[6] Jason Antoon, Seana Kofoed, Samm Levine and Pollak all acted in the ensemble cast. The screenbook was based on a simple joke that Antoon and Pollak had between them.[7] Most recently, Pollak's feature film directorial debut, the comedy documentary Misery Loves Comedy, premiered at The 2015 Sundance Film Festival. The film sold North American rights to Tribeca Film, a US distribution company.

Pollak is currently directing the comedy film The Late Bloomer.[8]

Stand-up[edit] As a comedian, Pollak's most famous work was his 1992 HBO special Stop With the Kicking, directed by fellow comedian David Steinberg and produced by comedy writer Martin Olson. In July 2009, The Littlest Suspect, his most recent comedy special, was aired on Showtime.

Celebrity impressions[edit] Alan Arkin Albert Brooks Gabriel Byrne Johnny Carson Christopher Lloyd Robert De Niro Peter Falk Dudley Moore Jack Nicholson Al Pacino Keanu Reeves Paul Reiser Arnold Schwarzenegger William Shatner Jason Statham Christopher Walken Robin Williams Michael Richards Kevin Pollak's Chat Show[edit] Main article: Kevin Pollak's Chat Show In April 2009, Pollak partnered with Jason Calacanis on a weekly Internet talk show, Kevin Pollak's Chat Show. Guests for the show include film directors Kevin Smith and Mike Binder, comedian Jimmy Pardo, and actors Nia Vardalos, Illeana Douglas, Bryan Cranston, Dana Carvey, Matthew Perry, Jon Hamm, Paul Rudd, Adam Carolla, Anthony Cumia, and Jason Lee.

The guest interviews are very in-depth and typically longer than an hour in duration, sometimes exceeding two hours. Common topics include the guests' childhoods, how they got into the business they are in (typically show business), how they got inspired to start certain creative endeavors, and unique experiences they have had while working. Viewers can interact via chat room during the show, and sometimes questions for the guest posed in the chat room are answered live.

The show's self-described "Paul Shaffer" is actor Samm Levine.

Recurring segments and bits on the show include:

"The Larry King Game", which requires the guest to do a bad Larry King impression, reveal something about oneself (in the persona of Larry King) and then go to the phones and say a funny-sounding city "Tweet Five," where Pollak reads the guest five questions from a Twitter user, usually in a this-or-that style "Who Tweeted", in which a host (typically Samm Levine) reads tweets from the Twitter accounts of three female celebrities (the list of actresses varies, but typically includes Demi Moore (or, more recently, Justin Bieber), Tyra Banks, and Paris Hilton) and Pollak and his guest compete against each other game-show-style to guess who authored each tweet. "You're Not Bufferng", in which Pollack freezes mid-statement during his interview as though the show has paused due to internet lag, but he's actually still live. He then breaks his pause and says, "You're not buffering." Although a simple gag, it's humorous and characterizes Pollack's dry humor. In 2012, Pollak began a new podcast called Talkin Walkin in which he spends an hour or more with a new guest in character as Christopher Walken. After three episodes, the show was rated in the top 5 of all comedy podcasts by iTunes.[citation needed]

Filmography[edit] Year Title Role Notes 1983 The Right Stuff Dwight D. Eisenhower (voice) Uncredited[9] 1987 Million Dollar Mystery Officer Quinn First credited role in a motion picture 1988 Willow Rool 1990 Coming of Age Brian Brinker Television series 1990 Avalon Izzy Kirk 1991 L.A. Story Frank Swan 1991 Another You Phil 1991 Morton & Hayes Chick Morton Television series 1991 Ricochet Larry Doyle 1992 The Opposite Sex and How to Live with Them Eli 1992 A Few Good Men Lt. Sam Weinberg 1993 Indian Summer Brad Berman 1993 Wayne's World 2 Jerry Segel 1993 Grumpy Old Men Jacob Goldman 1994 ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter Spinlok Disney World Ride (has since been replaced with Stitch's Great Escape!) 1994 Clean Slate Rosenheim 1995 The Usual Suspects Todd Hockney National Board of Review Award for Best Cast 1995 Miami Rhapsody Jordan Marcus 1995 Canadian Bacon Stu Smiley 1995 Casino Phillip Green 1995 Grumpier Old Men Jacob Goldman 1995 Chameleon Matt Gianni 1995 The Drew Carey Show Mr. Bell Television series, 1st season only 1996 House Arrest Ned Beindorf 1996 That Thing You Do! Victor 'Boss Vic Koss' Kosslovich 1997 Truth or Consequences, N.M. Gordon Jacobson 1997 Perversions of Science Television series, one episode 1998 Buffalo '66 TV Sportscaster 1998 Ruby Bridges Dr. Robert Coles 1998 From the Earth to the Moon Joe Shea Nominated - Satellite Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film 1998 Hoods Rudy 1999 Outside Ozona Wit Roy 1999 Deal of a Lifetime Jerry 1999 She's All That Wayne Boggs 1999 The Sex Monster Dr. Jerry Berman 1999 Deterrence President Walter Emerson 1999 End of Days Bobby Chicago Nominated — Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actor (Action/Science-Fiction) 1999 Work with Me Jordan Better television series 2000 The Whole Nine Yards Janni Pytor Gogolak 2000 Steal This Movie! Gerry Lefcourt 2001 The Wedding Planner Dr. John Dojny 2001 3000 Miles to Graceland Damitry 2001 Dr. Dolittle 2 Riley/Alligator 2002 Stolen Summer Rabbi Jacobsen 2002 Frank McKlusky, C.I. Ronnie Rosengold 2002 Juwanna Mann Lorne Daniels 2002 Mother Ghost Dr. Norris 2002 The Santa Clause 2 Cupid 2003 Rolling Kansas Agent Brinkley Uncredited 2003 Blizzard Archimedes 2004 Seven Times Lucky Harlan 2004 The Whole Ten Yards Lazlo Gogolak 2004 Our Time is Up Dr. Stern 2005 Hostage Walter Smith 2005 Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3D Director (Voice) 2005 The Aristocrats Himself 2006 The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause Cupid 2006 The Lost Room Karl Kreutzfeld Mini-series 2007 Numb Tom 2007 Shark D.A. Leo Cutler Television series 2008 Otis Eli 2008 Picture This Tom Gilbert Straight to DVD 2008 Tortured Dr. Shaw Straight to DVD 2008 Entourage Mr. Bob Levine Television series, episode 503 - The All Out Fall Out 2009 2:13 Dr. Simmons 2009 Middle Men Curt Allmans 2010 Columbus Circle Klandermann Co-writer & co-executive producer 2010 Cop Out Hunsaker 2010 Vamped Out Elliot Finke Web series (also director, creator, writer, and producer) 2011 Choose Sheriff Tom Wagner 2011 Red State ASAC Brooks 2011 The Big Year Eli 2012 Geezers! Kevin Post-production 2012 Chez Upshaw Heaton Upshaw filming 2012 Men at Work Pavel Television series, episode 105 - Toilet of Eden 2012 The Magic of Belle Isle Joe Viola 2013 Grace Unplugged Mossy 2014 Comedy Bang! Bang! Various Television series, 2 episodes 2014 Mom Alvin Biletnikoff[10] Television series 2015 Borealis[11] Tubby 2015 Transformers: Robots in Disguise Fracture Television series References[edit] Jump up ^ Pollak, Kevin; Carvey, Dana (May 31, 2009). Kevin Pollak's Chat Show. Interview with Kevin Pollak. Jump up ^ Pollak, Kevin; Azaria, Hank (August 23, 2009). Kevin Pollak Chat Show. Interview with Kevin Pollak. Jump up ^ SMART MOUTH KEVIN POLLAK FEELS AT HOME WHETHER IT'S STAND-UP COMEDY IN A CLUB OR DRAMATIC TURNS ON THE SCREEN Jump up ^ "Fresh Chicken and Roadents Populate New Comedy Site". TV Guide. 2008-03-31. Retrieved 2009-03-02. Jump up ^ You Have 60 Seconds to 'Choose' Who Dies: Your Mom or Dad? Jump up ^ Vamped Out – Babelgum Jump up ^ Exclusive: Kevin Pollak Talks Vamped Out Jump up ^ Kilday, Gregg (August 25, 2015). "Johnny Simmons Starring in Kevin Pollak's 'The Late Bloomer'". hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved August 27, 2015. Jump up ^ [1] Kevin Pollak's Chat Show #125 Harry Shearer Jump up ^ "Kevin Pollak to Play Anna Faris' Father on CBS' 'Mom' (Exclusive)". TV Guide. 2013-12-10. Retrieved 2013-12-16. Jump up ^ "Borealis (programme note)". Calgary International Film Festival. Retrieved 2015-10-12.