Richard Dreyfuss

Cast · Writer

Born

October 29, 1947 · Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Birth name

Richard Stephen Dreyfus

Richard Dreyfuss is an American actor whose career rose with the New Hollywood wave of the 1970s. He gained international fame with American Graffiti (1973), Jaws (1975), and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), and won the Academy Award for Best Actor for The Goodbye Girl (1977). Nominated again for Mr. Holland’s Opus (1995), Dreyfuss has worked extensively in film, television, and theater. He portrayed historical figures such as Dick Cheney in W. (2008) and Bernie Madoff in Madoff (2016). Beyond acting, he founded The Dreyfuss Civics Initiative to promote civics education.