Richard Dreyfuss

Richard Stephen Dreyfuss (born October 29, 1947) is an American actor and producer recognized for his prominent roles in 1970s cinema, including Curt Henderson in American Graffiti (1973), Matt Hooper in Jaws (1975), and Roy Neary in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), as well as for his Academy Award-winning performance as Elliot Garfield in The Goodbye Girl (1977).

Dreyfuss's early career featured television appearances and stage work before his film breakthrough, followed by a diverse range of roles in comedies, dramas, and historical films such as The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974) and Mr. Holland's Opus (1995), for which he received another Best Actor Oscar nomination.

The Dreyfuss family was of Ashkenazi Jewish descent, with paternal grandparents who were recent immigrants from Hungary and Poland, and maternal ancestry tracing to Russian Jews; this heritage shaped a household emphasizing intellectual and activist pursuits amid post-war American assimilation pressures. Dreyfuss's early years were spent in working-class neighborhoods of Brooklyn and Queens, where economic instability influenced family dynamics, including his father's varied business ventures in plastics and real estate alongside legal work.

Dreyfuss attended Beverly Hills High School, where he first developed an interest in film during his freshman year. He began acting in his youth through productions at the Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills Arts Center and the Westside Jewish Community Center, guided by drama teacher Bill Miller. While still in high school, he secured his first professional stage role at the Gallery Theater in Los Angeles.