Michael Lerner

Biography

Michael Lerner is an American actor, born in Brooklyn, New York, to Romanian Jewish parents Blanche and George Lerner. He grew up in Bensonhurst and Red Hook and has a brother, Ken Lerner, who is also in the acting profession. Lerner graduated from Brooklyn College and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art before beginning his career in the late 1960s at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. His television appearances in the 1970s included roles in shows like The Brady Bunch, The Odd Couple, and M*A*S*H. He made his film debut in 1970 with Alex in Wonderland and gained recognition for his role as Jack Lipnick in the Coen Brothers' Barton Fink, earning an Academy Award nomination. Lerner's later work includes roles in Elf, Poster Boy, and various television series, as well as a notable appearance in a Heineken commercial in the 1990s.