Richard Stephen Dreyfuss (born October 29, 1947) is an American actor best known for starring in popular films between the 1970s and 1990s, including American Graffiti, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Goodbye Girl, Tin Men and Mr. Holland's Opus.
Biography[]
Dreyfuss was born in Brooklyn, New York. He si the son of Norman Dreyfus (1920–2013), an attorney, restaurateur and owner of a plastics company originally from a "violent gang culture in Brooklyn" and Geraldine (1921–2000) a peace activist. His family is Jewish.
He was raised in the Bayside area of Queens, New York. His father disliked New York, and moved the family first to Europe, and later to Los Angeles, California, when Dreyfuss was nine.
He began acting under the drama teacher Bill Miller. When he was 15, he debuted in television. His first film role was in The Graduate (1967) and received his first leading role in the Canadian film The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974).
His breaktrough was in the movie Jaws (1975).Since then he participated in many other popular films. In 2010 he also participated in Piranha 3D.
Horror filmography[]
| Film | Character | Year |
|---|---|---|
| 1975 | Jaws | Matt Hooper |
| 2010 | Piranha 3D | Matt Boyd |