Peter Scolari | |
---|---|
Born |
Peter Thomas Scolari September 12, 1955 New Rochelle, New York, U.S. |
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1978–present |
Spouse(s) | Debra Steagal Cathy Trien Tracy Shayne (2013–present) |
Children | 2 |
Peter Thomas Scolari (born September 12, 1955) is an American television, film, and stage actor. He is best known for his roles as Michael Harris, the hyperactive, scheming producer of Dick Loudon (played by Bob Newhart) on Newhart, a role he played from 1984 to 1990. During and after Newhart, he and Julia Duffy, who played his wife in the series have remained close friends. Before that, he played Henry Desmond in Bosom Buddies. After that sitcom, he and Tom Hanks, who played his best friend and roommate in the series have remained close friends. Scolari received three Emmy nominations for his work on Newhart and won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his recurring role as Tad Horvath on Girls in 2016.
Scolari was born in New Rochelle, New York on September 12, 1955.
Scolari's first ongoing role was in his first short-lived 1980 sitcom Goodtime Girls, as the juggling neighbor of the title characters. He was then cast co-starring with then-unknown Tom Hanks, in another short-lived cult sitcom Bosom Buddies, as two young creative professionals who disguise themselves as women to get an affordable apartment in a women-only building. After Bosom Buddies was cancelled in 1982, and still struggling as an actor, Scolari joined the cast of Newhart, opposite Bob Newhart, in 1984, where he played Michael Harris, the yuppie local TV producer, until the series' conclusion in 1990. He remains close to Newhart, after the show's cancelation and are golf buddies.
Following central roles in the unsuccessful series Family Album and Dweebs, Scolari spent three seasons playing inventor Wayne Szalinski, a role originated on film by Rick Moranis, in the TV adaptation of the Disney film Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. He later had a recurring role as the father of Lena Dunham's character on HBO's Girls.