With over 50 years of credits, two Tony Awards, a pair of Emmys, a Golden Globe and now his second Oscar nomination for best supporting actor in Steven Spielberg. The Fabelmans – more than 40 years since the last one, for 1980s Ordinary people – Judd Hirsch is one of the most respected and hard working actors out there. But his reasoning for always working is very simple: “When I’m working, I’m alive – and when I’m not, I’m, uh, just me, just hanging out – out “
It’s been one thing throughout Hirsch’s career, but he’s quick to remember that it took him a while to succeed. “I didn’t get on the boards until about 30,” he says of when he started getting roles on stage, screen and TV. But his true breakthrough still took time. “I was 42 when I did that Taxi“, he describes his time as Alex Reiger, the world-weary but kind-hearted cabbie on the sitcom that ushered in Hirsch’s golden age and most of his awards and nominations .
But the actor has remained consistently busy and last year shot the upcoming Kelly Reichardt Showing up and appeared for a few unforgettable minutes as Sammy Fabelman’s Uncle Boris in Spielberg’s less obvious biopic.
“I never got an answer from Steven as to why he dumped me. i do [Boris’] age, but I don’t talk like him,” he says, “The interesting thing is The Fabelmans, everyone’s name is fictional. But I’m the only one who is real – that was his uncle’s real name. I found it.”
In true Hirsch fashion, he didn’t take time off after that The Fabelmans. He had just returned to work with a major role there Mordecaiheartwarming indie about a senior Polish Jew trying to navigate a changing contemporary world, which reunites Hirsch with Taxi co-star Carol Kane. Hirsch refers to a particular scene from their TV days when Kane – playing Simka Gravas, the immigrant wife of Andy Kaufman’s Latka – suggests that Alex and Simka try to make up for her husband cheating on her with another female cabbie. “Carol flops down on a sofa and says, ‘I’ll squeeze like a grape until I get out of here,’ and that’s where the chemistry started with us.” Hirsch says the two have remained friends ever since. “We move every month. “
After all these years of steady work, Hirsch has more than a few friends in the industry like Kane, and he also has a lot of insight. He can and has played many leading roles, but he has a philosophy about supporting roles that has earned him two Oscar nominations. “It’s a complete work that has no obligation to produce a film,” he says. “But it’s an undeniable part of a movie, and without it the movie wouldn’t be as good.”
This story first appeared in the March 1 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
