Paul Reiser made his name as a stand-up and in TV sitcoms, but he has also carved out a nice little film career along the way. While he plays the lead in most of his TV efforts, his film roles, more often than not, are as bit-players in the larger scheme of things - just like the one he plays alongside Michael Douglas and Liv Tyler in One Night At McCool's, which opens today. Reiser (above, with Helen Hunt) was born on March 30, 1957, in New York City and grew up surrounded by the comedy world of Greenwich Village. But education came first, and he earned himself a degree in music at the State University of New York at Binghamton. As soon as the book work was done, Reiser honed his skills as a stand-up in New York and then made his way on to the big screen in Barry Levinson's excellent 1982 effort Diner (alongside other fresh-faced up-and-comers Kevin Bacon, Daniel Stern, Mickey Rourke and Ellen Barkin. Oh, and Steve Guttenberg - but some actors are best left forgotten). He progressed through Beverly Hills Cop (1984) and was the dirty double-crosser in Aliens (1986). Television then came calling. First it was My Two Dads (from 1987-1990). He hit paydirt (or just plain dirt, depending on which side of the fence you stand) in 1992 with the long-running comedy Mad About You. That effort - where he is both star and producer - has brought him Emmy award nominations since 1994. It also kick-started the career of Oscar-winner Helen Hunt. Reiser's film work continued throughout with such titles as Mr Write (1994) and The Story Of Us (1999).
