Actor and director Albert Brooks: biography, filmography

Albert Brooks is a popular American actor, director, screenwriter. As an actor, he starred in more than two dozen films and acted as a director in nine projects. Brooks became famous first of all for his work in the comic genre. Albert Brooks, whose photo regularly flashes in various publications, has remained in demand for many years, and his works are relevant.

Biography

Who is Albert Brooks? The real name of the actor is Albert Lawrence Einstein. This man was born on 22.07.1947 in Beverly Hills in Los Angeles, California. Albert's parents were actors. Mother - Thelma Leeds, father - Harry Park. Brooks is Jewish by birth, although he was born in America. One of the actor's grandfathers comes from Austria, one of the grandmothers is a native of Russia.

At school, Albert studied with such well-known personalities as Rob Rainer and Richard Dreyfus.

After graduating from high school, Albert went to get knowledge at the Carnegie Mellon University. He did not study there for long - just a year, because studying interfered with his career as a comedian. In the same period, Albert changed his name from Einstein to Brooks, so that he would not be confused with a famous physicist.

Actor of the Conversational Genre

To build a career guy started with work on the radio, in a variety show and with speeches on a talk show. Comic successfully released on his vinyl records two of his programs: "Comedy minus one" and "The Star buys" in 1973 and in 1975. Brooks' program "Comedy minus one" was nominated for a "Grammy."

Producer

The spoken genre quite quickly bothers Brooks, and he decides to try his hand at directing.

On PBS, his short pseudo-documentary film "School of famous comedians" is published. In the same 1975, the newly-made director produces six shorts for the first season of the new TV show "Saturday Night Live". The company NBC makes this transfer. In two of the six short films produced by Brooks, the main roles were performed by well-known actors of the comedy genre R. Prior and J. Carlin. So began the career of director comedian Albert Brooks.

Films "Taxi Driver" and "Real Life"

In the big movie Albert first played in 1976. In Martin Scorsese's drama "Taxi Driver", Robert de Niro played the main role, Albert Brooks also got the role of Tom, an employee of the office of Senator Palantine. The film achieved significant success at the box office, received the "Golden Palm Branch" at the Cannes Film Festival. However, this role of Brooks was not too noticeable, and he did not receive special fame from the audience.

All the attention was given, of course, to the director and the protagonist of the film. Several comments from journalists about this role, Albert still received. Journalist Jeffrey Anderson from the American site Combustible Celluloid called Tom from the Taxi Driver emasculated, and Peter Bradshaw, working for The Guardian - braked and suffering from hopeless love. The film's screenwriter later in the conversation mentioned that the character that Albert was playing was the only one in the film whom he could not understand.

Scorsese allowed Brooks to improvise on the set. Participation in "Taxi Driver" made a deep impression on the actor, and after the shooting, returning to Los Angeles, he himself returned to directing. The film, which he shot, was called "Real Life". This work is a full-length comedy film in which Brooks was not only a director, but also played the main role. In "Real Life" Albert plays himself, directed by Albert Brooks, who wants to receive not only an Oscar, but also a Nobel Prize. Critics took the movie positively. In the reviews they wrote that this picture is the most ridiculous of all, shot by Brooks. Later, Albert thought about making a reality show based on the film, but this idea was never realized.

Other jobs

Next was a series of works in comedy projects, where Albert was the director, co-author, actor. Brooks characters in them were of the same type: neurasthenics with various obsessions. In 1981, the director made another feature-length comedy film "The Modern Novel." Albert played in it a desperate lover of filmmakers who tried to reconcile with the girl. Rent this picture was limited. It was shown only in several American cities, and it earned little. Critics took Brooks's new work with optimism. In the press Albert was compared to Luis Buñuel, and the journalist of the site MovieMartyr.com wrote that Brooks showed all his talents in this film.

The most outstanding picture in the Brooks filmography is considered to be "Lost in America", released in 1985. In 2000, this picture fell into the list of "one hundred most ridiculous films in the last hundred years."

In 1987, for the role in the film "Telenovosti" Albert was nominated for an Oscar. After that, many more paintings were produced with the participation of Albert Brooks. The critics spoke about these roles more often than not, recognizing not only the comedic, but also the dramatic talent of the actor.

In what films did Albert Brooks play for his acting career?

Filmography

From 1969 to 1974 - the series "Love in American".

From 1970 to 1975 - the series "Strange Couple."

From 1971 to 1974 - "New show of Dick Van Dyke."

1976 - "Taxi Driver".

1979 - "Real life" (Real life).

1980 - "Private Benjamin".

1981 - "The Modern Novel."

1983 - The Twilight Zone.

1984 - "It's not yours."

1985 - "Lost in America".

1987 - "Telenovosti".

1989 - The Simpsons.

1991 - "Defending Your Life."

1994 - "I will do everything".

1994 - The Scout.

1996 - "Mother".

1997 - "Intensive Therapy".

1998 - "Out of sight".

1999 - "The Muse".

2001 - "My first man".

2003 - "Wedding party".

From 2005 to 2012 - "Durman" (Shoals).

2005 - "In search of a comedy in the Muslim world".

2011 - "Drive."

2012 - "Love in an adult".

2014 - "The Most Cruel Year".

A family

Albert Brooks has a wife. Her name is Kimberly Schlein. They bring up a son and daughter. Brooks live together in Los Angeles.