Michael stuhlbarg

Born in the Californian town of Long Beach, Michael Stuhlbarg studied at the Juilliard Academy, one of the great New York performing arts schools. He completed his drama studies in London and Los Angeles, before making his stage debut in various productions. For his work in the play “The Pillowman” he received a Best Actor Award from the New York Critics Association.

At the end of the 1990s, he shot a few episodes for television and made his film debut with a very minor role in A Price Above Rubies , a drama starring Renée Zellweger . Tim Blake Nelson gave him a much larger role in his haunting drama His The Gray Area , where he was one of the Jews helping the Nazis in the Auschwitz gas chambers.

Since then, Stuhlbarg survived playing very minor characters. For example, he played a lawyer in Web of Lies . His first leading role came somewhat by chance, when he decided to audition to play a supporting character in the prologue to The Coen Brothers’ A Serious Guy.

The character in question had to speak Yiddish, and although Stuhlbarg did not know the language, he learned the entire scene phonetically. The Coens liked the actor, but ultimately decided to cast an actor who knew the language. They did not forget about Stuhlbarg, and a few months later they called him for another casting. This time they were looking for the ideal role to play Larry Gopnik or his brother Arthur.

Since he did not know what role he would be given, he learned the dialogues for three sequences of each one. Ultimately, the Coens saw him as more appropriate for Larry, who was the film’s central character. Definitely a risky decision for the brothers, who often have other big stars, even for supporting roles.

After A Serious Guy, Stuhlbarg has signed on to be one of the regular characters in the series Boardwalk Empire , where he will play a mobster from the era of prohibition. The series stars Steve Buscemi , and is produced by a true gangster connoisseur, none other than Martin Scorsese .