Dan Hedaya (born July 24, 1940) is an American character actor. He often plays sleazy villains or uptight, wisecracking individuals; two of his best-known roles are as a cuckolded husband in the Coen Brothers crime thriller Blood Simple, and the scheming Nick Tortelli on the sitcom Cheers.

[edit] Life and career

Hedaya was born in Brooklyn, New York, to a Sephardic Jewish family from Syria.^[1][2][3] His father immigrated from Aleppo.^[4] Hedaya was raised in Bensonhurst, and worked as a junior high school teacher for many years before deciding to pursue acting full-time.^[4]

Alongside a successful career in the movies, Hedaya has held several TV roles, including Carla Tortelli's ex-husband Nick on the sitcom Cheers and its short-lived spinoff The Tortellis. He played the estranged father of Mallory Keaton's boyfriend, Nick, on the sitcom Family Ties. More recently, he played an Italian-American priest in the controversial and quickly cancelled NBC series The Book of Daniel. Adding to his list of television credits is his performance as the long-lost father of Adrian Monk on Monk. He also guest starred in 1997 and 2005 as a wise cracking lawyer on the medical drama ER.

In films, Hedaya has played the evil dictator Arius in 1985's Commando, Mel Horowitz, the father of Alicia Silverstone's Cher in the 1995 film Clueless. He played Julian Marty in the first Coen Brothers feature, Blood Simple. His physical similarity to Richard Nixon led to him being cast as the former president for the film Dick.

[edit] Filmography

• The Good Student (2006) .... Gabrial
• Monk (2006) .... Jack Monk
• Robots (2005) .... Mr.Gunk (voice)
• Pizza My Heart (2005) .... Vinnie Montebello
• Swimfan (2002) .... Coach Simkins
• Quicksand (2002) .... General Stewart
• Mulholland Drive (2001) .... Vincenzo Castigliane
• Shaft (2000) .... Detective Jack Roselli
• The Crew (2000) .... Mike 'The Brick' Donatelli
• Yes, Dear (2000) .... Don Ludke
• The Hurricane (1999) .... Detective Sgt. Della Pesca Paterson PD
• Dick (1999) .... President Richard M. 'Dick' Nixon
• A Civil Action (1998) .... John Riley
• A Night at the Roxbury (1998) .... Kamehl Butabi
• Alien Resurrection (1997) .... General Perez
• A Life Less Ordinary (1997) .... Gabriel
• Marvin's Room (1996) .... Bob
• Ransom (1996) .... Jackie Brown
• The First Wives Club (1996) .... Morton Cushman
• Daylight (1996).... EMS Officer Frank Kraft
• Nixon (1995) .... Trini Cardoza
• Clueless (1995) .... Mel Horowitz
• To Die For (1995) .... Joe Maretto
• The Usual Suspects (1995) .... Sgt. Geoffrey 'Jeff' Rabin
• For Love or Money (1993) .... Gene Salvatore
• Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993) .... Tournament Director
• Rookie of the Year (1993) .... Larry Fisher
• Benny & Joon (1993) .... Thomas
• The Mighty Ducks (1992) .... Sunny Young
• The Addams Family (1991) .... Tully Alford
• Joe Versus the Volcano (1990) ... The dour boss, Frank Waturi
• Pacific Heights (1990) ... The banker
• A Smoky Mountain Christmas (1986) .... Harry
• Running Scared (1986) .... Captain Logan
• Wise Guys (1986) .... Anthony Castelo
• Commando (1985) .... Arius
• Blood Simple (1984) .... Julian Marty
• Reckless (1984) .... Peter Daniels
• The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984) .... John Gomez
• I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can (1982) .... Dr. Klein
• Endangered Species (1982) .... Peck
• True Confessions (1981) .... Howard Terke
• The Seduction of Joe Tynan (1979) .... Alex Heller
• The Twilight Zone (1 episode)
  • Act Break/The Burning Man/Dealer's Choice (15 November 1985) - Nick (segment "Dealer's Choice")

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Dan Hedaya at the Internet Movie Database