Edgar Oliver

Edgar Oliver (born October 31, 1956) is an American stage and film actor, poet, performance artist and playwright. He is considered a "legend" of the downtown New York theatre scene and is known for his distinctive accent and diction.

Edgar Oliver was born in Savannah, Georgia. His father died before he was born of a morphine overdose. He and his older sister Helen (a painter) were raised by their mother Louise, residing on 36th Street. Louise died when he was 27 years old.

Both Oliver siblings attended the 37th Street School for elementary school. He attended George Washington University.

At a live The Moth event, recorded on January 25, 2006, Oliver recalled how he and his sister Helen escaped their eccentric mother by running away to Paris using their trust money from their deceased father. Their mother chased them in her car when they tried leaving. They ran away the first summer after they started college at George Washington University.

On April 30, 2011, at another The Moth event, he related further adventures of his, when he, Helen, and a friend Jason traveled to Tangier, Morocco, to (eventually) meet author Paul Bowles.

Oliver first started performing in New York City at the Pyramid Club in the mid-1980s. Notable New York City productions include his roles in Edward II with Cliplight Theater and numerous productions at the Axis Theatre Company including A Glance at New York (which played at the Edinburgh Festival) and his autobiographical one-man show East 10th Street: Self Portrait With Empty House, which enjoyed an extended run with Axis.

His film credits include the Independent Spirit Award-winning The Jimmy Show and the multiaward-winning Henry May Long. He appeared in the Jared Hess film Gentlemen Broncos and had the leading role as a Futurist performance artistin the comedy feature That's Beautiful Frank. He is also a frequent storyteller for The Moth radio program.

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