As actor, director, writer and composer of "Waiting For Guffman," CHRISTOPHER GUEST gave new meaning to the phrase "working overtime." Performing as the flamboyant Corky St. Clair, Guest was also behind-the-scenes supervising a talented team of actors, and co-writing the musical, "Red, White and Blaine."
Guest made his professional acting debut in 1966 at New Haven's Long Wharf Theatre, and later went to England, where he worked on the BBC production of "Alice in Wonderland." Returning to New York, he enrolled at Bard College and a year later, joined the NYU School of the Arts.
He made his off-Broadway theater debut in 1969, appearing in "Little Murders" (which also featured Fred Willard), followed by an off-Broadway production of National Lampoon's "Lemmings," for which he received an Obie nomination for best musical score.
Working as a writer since 1970, Guest helped create 59 radio shows for the "National Lampoon Radio Hour." His TV writing credits include "The TV Show" with Rob Reiner, "The Chevy Chase Special," "The Lily Tomlin Show" for which he received an Emmy Award. "A Nice Place to Visit" and an NET special starring the original members of Second City, among several others.
His record albums, which have received three Grammy nominations are "That's Not Funny, That's Sick," "Radio Dinner," "Goodbye Pop," "Lemmings," "The Best of the National Lampoon" and "Cold Turkey."
Guest made his motion picture acting debut in 1972 in "The Hot Rock," and has since appeared in more than a dozen feature films including "A Few Good Men," "The Princess Bride" "Little Shop of Horrors," "This is Spinal Tap" and "The Long Riders." His movies for television include "A Piano for Mrs. Cimino," "It Happened One Christmas" and the mini-series "Blind Ambition." In 1984, Guest joined the ensemble cast of "Saturday Night Live" for one year.
Guest made his motion picture directing debut in 1989 on "The Big Picture" starring Kevin Bacon and the HBO movie "Attack of the 50 Ft Woman" starring Daryl Hannah. He is currently directing a feature starring Chris Farley and Matthew Perry called "Edwards and Hunt: The First American Roadtrip."
Guest continues to make appearances as Nigel Tufnel, guitarist for the band "Spinal Tap."
EUGENE LEVY is Dr. Pearl, a dentist who trades his drill for a taste of show business and will never be the same.
Levy won two Emmy Awards and national fame with his palette of riotous characters on the television series "SCTV." As a co-writer and performer, he conceived and created numerous original characters including news broadcaster Earl Camembert and comic Bobby Bittman.
Levy can most recently be seen in the comedies "Multiplicity," starring Michael Keaton and "Father of the Bride II," starring Steve Martin.
Other film credits include "Running," "Going Berserk," "Splash," "Club Paradise," "Armed and Dangerous," "Speed Zone," "Once Upon A Crime," "Stay Tuned," "Partners ‘N Love," "I Love Trouble" and "Sodbusters."
Levy was raised in Hamilton, Canada, a steel town near Toronto. He enrolled at McMaster University, and met future "SCTV" colleagues Dave Thomas and Martin Short as well as Ivan Reitman and celebrity illusionist Doug Henning.
After college, he worked as "the coffee boy" on Reitman's first feature film "Foxy Lady," then earned several cameo roles. He made his starring debut opposite Andrea Martin in Reitman's horror comedy "Cannibal Girls."
Levy appeared in the Toronto production of "Godspell," and later replaced Victor Garber in the lead. Several months later, he became a member of Toronto's Second City troupe, which eventually landed its own television show "SCTV."
He made his directing debut in 1988 on the "SCTV 15th Anniversary Special" for Showtime. Subsequently, he served as writer and executive producer for Showtime's "The Enigma of Bobby Bittman" and "I, Martin Short, Goes Hollywood." He directed the 1994-95 season of NBC's Martin Short series, and has served as executive producer, writer and performer on HBO's "The Last Polka" and "Maniac Mansion" for Lucasfilm Television.
CATHERINE O'HARA is Sheila Albertson, a travel agent who hopes that "Red, White and Blaine" will propel her and her husband to Hollywood.
O'Hara made her professional acting debut in 1974 with the celebrated Second City improvisational company. Two years later, she and a number of her Second City colleagues created the television show "SCTV," which won several Emmy Awards for writing.
She has since guest starred on several television shows and directed an episode of "Dream On" for HBO. O'Hara made her feature film debut for director Martin Scorsese as an ice cream truck driver in the 1985 film "After Hours." She is perhaps best known as Macaulay Culkin's mother in "Home Alone" and "Home Alone II - Lost in N.Y." Other film credits include "Heartburn," "Beetlejuice," "Dick Tracy," "Little Vegas," "There Goes the Neighborhood," "Tall Tale," "Wyatt Earp," "A Simple Twist of Fate," "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "Last of the High Kings," scheduled for release this fall.
FRED WILLARD is Ron Albertson, a travel agent, who has never left his hometown of Blaine, Missouri, but has high hopes of acting in Hollywood - someday.
Willard is an alumnus of Second City and was a founding member of Ace Trucking Company. He has; hosted "Saturday Night Live," appeared many times on "Late Night With David Letterman," played a really smart pig on "Fairy Tale Theatre," played his own evil twin on both "SCTV" and "Lois and Clark," married Martin Mull on "Roseanne," married Mary Kay Place in "The History of White People In America," played a priest on "Golden Girls" (as Frank Bonner’s brother), played Orville Wright (as Frank Bonner’s brother) in "A.J.’s Time Travel," and played Frank Bonner’s brother on "WKRP in Cincinnati."
Willard befriended Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Dan Quayle and a cast of hundreds of puppets on "D.C. Follies," danced a fine waltz with Kevin Scanell in the Academy Award Winning short film, "Ray’s Mate Heterosexual Dance Hall," was killed by a vampire in "Salem’s Lot," sparred with Mike Tyson on "D.C. Follies," showed Steve Garvey the correct way to hold a bat on "Fernwood 2Night," was Joe Namath’s best friend on the "Love Boat," played baseball with the Chicago Cubs on "Real People," performed his rock-n-roll songs on the "Midnight Special," sang a tribute to Elvis at The House of Blues, sang an Elvis song on "Saturday Night Live" and played an Elvis impersonator in "Elvis and Juliet."
PARKER POSEY is Dairy Queen counter girl Libby Mae Brown who wins over director Corky St. Clair with her audition performance of "Teacher's Pet."
Born in Laurel, Mississippi, 27 year old Parker Posey studied drama at SUNY Purchase in New York. Near the end of her senior year, Posey landed the role of Tess, a conniving teenager in the CBS daytime drama "As The World Turns." She segued from soap opera actress to film star as part of an ensemble cast in Richard Linklater’s widely acclaimed "Dazed and Confused" where she played Darla, a tyrannical high school senior.
Parker has continued to be seen in a steady stream of independent movies, including Greg Araki’s "The Doom Generation," Rory Kelly’s "Sleep With Me," Noah Baumback’s "Kicking and Screaming" and Hal Hartley's "Amateur" and "Flirt." Parker also starred in the critically acclaimed "Party Girl" which burst onto the scene at the Sundance Film Festival. She can also be seen in the American Playhouse production, "Armisted Maupin’s Tales of City" and Peter Cohn’s upcoming comedy "Drunks."
Parker is especially excited to be seen playing opposite Anne Meara in "The Daytrippers," produced by Steven Soderberg and directed by Greg Mottola, due to be released early next year. Parker will also be seen in Richard Linklater's "subUrbia" in January 1997.
Parker just completed principle photography on "House of Yes," which Mark Waters directed and "Clockwatchers" opposite Toni Collette and Lisa Kudrow.
Parker just completed writing her first screenplay "Dumb In Love" with Rory Kelly.
Actor-director BOB BALABAN portrays high school music teacher Lloyd Miller, who is silently steaming about the town's choice of Corky St. Clair as the director of "Red, White and Blaine."
It is only fitting that today Balaban finds himself as a filmmaker. His interest in the medium began at an early age and was complimented by the fact that he came from a family of showmen. His father was the youngest of the seven brothers who owned the Balaban & Katz chain of 175 theaters. His uncle, Barney Balaban, was a longtime president of Paramount Pictures, and his grandfather, Sam Katz, who was head of production at MGM for many years.
Following a year and a half at Colgate University, Balaban transferred to NYU Film School. Encouraged by a friend, he auditioned for an off-Broadway musical and won the original role of Linus in the hit, "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown." He later appeared in Neil Simon's "Plaza Suite" and David Mamet's "Speed the Plow" and won a Tony Award nomination for his portrayal of the 95 year-old servant in "The Inspector General."
Balaban made his motion picture debut in "Midnight Cowboy" as the young man who propositions Jon Voight in a 42nd St. movie theater. He left NYU as a senior to take a role in Mike Nichols' 1970 film "Catch-22."
Among his numerous film credits are "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (as Francois Truffaut's interpreter), "Altered States," "Prince of the City" "Absence of Malice," "Whose Life is it, Anyway?," "2010," while he has had unbilled roles in such films as "Little Man Tate," "Alice" and "City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly’s Gold." He is currently before the cameras for the independent film "Clockwatchers," and in September he begins production in Woody Allen’s "Fall 96."
Television audiences came to know Balaban as the NBC executive who was relentlessly pitched by Jerry Seinfeld and Jason Alexander on "Seinfeld." He recently starred in the Emmy-nominated HBO film "The Late Shift" as NBC Chief Warren Littlefield.
Balaban transitioned to directing with a witty short called "SPFX 1140," which was in the New Director Series at Lincoln Center/Museum of Modern Art. He followed this with the pilot episode for the long-running television series "Tales from the Darkside." He has since directed the black comedy, "Parents" and the acclaimed "The Last Good Time" starring Armin Mueller-Stahl and Olivia d’Abo, which won best film and best director at the Hamptons Film Festival two years ago.
A respected veteran of comedy, LEWIS ARQUETTE portrays Clifford Wooley, a retired taxidermist who Corky casts as the play's narrator.
Arquette was not only a member and guiding spirit of the acclaimed improvisational comedy troupe "Sills and Company" but was also a member of "The Committee," the 1960s improv group which specialized in political satire.
The son of Cliff Arquette, creator of television's Charley Weaver character, Arquette attended Hollywood High and was encouraged to study in New York by his friend, James Dean. He performed in many theatrical productions including "Generation" on Broadway with Henry Fonda and "Story Theatre."
His film credits include "The Linguini Incident" (co-starring his daughter Rosanna), "Tango and Cash," "The China Syndrome," "Airplane," "Johnny Got His Gun" and "The Jerk." He was a regular on "The Waltons" and "The Jonathan Winters Show" and has made numerous guest appearances in episodic television.
His children, however, have made him the most proud. His daughters, Rosanna and Patricia are both internationally acclaimed film stars, and his three sons, Richmond, Alexis and David have done their share of leads in independent films and on television.
MATT KEESLAR is Johnny Savage, the good-looking local mechanic, persuaded by Corky to join the cast of "Red, White and Blaine."
Keeslar most recently appeared in "The Stupids" starring Tom Arnold and starred as Danny in Castle Rock Entertainment’s "The Run of the Country."
Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the twenty-two year old became interested in acting when he joined his local community theater in his early teens. Keeslar enrolled in the prestigious Julliard School in New York and after being seen in the schools production of John Guare's "Moon Over Miami" was signed by a leading New York agent. Keeslar was chosen to play the lead character of Danny in "The Run of the Country" after director Peter Yates went on an exhaustive search in Ireland, England, Los Angeles and New York to find the perfect actor.
Keeslar’s first film appearance was in Penny Marshall's "Renaissance Man" and he can be seen in Robert Redford's critically-acclaimed "Quiz Show." He also played the son of Susan Sarandon and Sam Shepard in "Safe Passage." His television credits include "The Dan Jansen Story" and "A Streetcar Named Desire."
