Biography:

Alan Rosenberg (born October 4, 1951) is an American actor of both stage and screen, and current president of the Screen Actors Guild, the principal motion picture industry on-screen performers' union.

Rosenberg was born and raised in Passaic, New Jersey. Alan's late brother, Mark, was a political activist in the 1960's, later a film producer; while his first cousin is musician Donald Fagen.

Alan's German Jewish parents gave him enough money to apply to graduate school, but while studying at Case Western Reserve University he became New York state's backgammon champion in 1982. Rosenberg said on graduating in 1972, that he found another passion, poker, and had gambled away most of the money his parents sent him, and could only afford one application to Yale School of Drama. Rosenberg dropped out halfway through his second year, after his heart was broken by classmate Meryl Streep.

Career:

Rosenberg is perhaps best known for his character Eli Levinson which appeared in both the series Civil Wars and the popular L.A. Law. He is also well known for his character Ira Woodbine in the sitcom, Cybill. More recently he was seen in the legal drama The Guardian as "Alvin Masterson".

Rosenberg supplied the voice of the bounty hunter Boba Fett on NPR's adaptation of The Empire Strikes Back.

In 1995, he received an Emmy Award nomination for a guest-starring role in the hit drama ER.

In 1999 he began a recurring role on as the hospital legal council, Stuart Brickman, on Chicago Hope. Halfway through their final season he was added to the opening titles as a series regular.

He was elected the 24th president of Screen Actors Guild (SAG) on September 23 2005. Rosenberg succeeds Melissa Gilbert, who served as president since 2001 and chose not to run for a third two-year term. Rosenberg received 39.99 percent (10,748 total votes) of the nationwide vote of the Guild’s general membership, defeating Morgan Fairchild and Robert Conrad. Fairchild received 34.72 percent (9,332 total votes) and Conrad received 25.29% percent (6,797 total votes). Rosenberg formally assumed the office of Guild president on September 25, and will serve a two-year term.

In 2005 he appeared as shady defense attorney "Adam Novak" in an episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation co-starring alongside his real life wife Marg Helgenberger. Novak was portrayed as a womanizer who encountered Catherine (Helgenberger) in a bar and later became the prime suspect in two homicides. His character appeared once again in the 2007 episode Leaving Las Vegas as a lawyer defending a client who turned out to be guilty of two separate crimes, and yet the evidence failed to pin him down, resulting to a not guilty verdict which annoyed Catherine so much that she began to undergo further investigation.

In 2006, he appeared in a very small part as Bruce Steinerman, the divorce attorney of James Wilson in the TV-series House, M.D., adding yet another legal character to his CV.

In 2007 he started hosting a Public Television program, "Life: Part 2", produced in St. Paul, Minnesota. He moderates panel discussions about issues that baby boomers face as they age.

Personal life:

Originally married to actress Robin Bartlett, Rosenberg met Marg Helgenberger in New York while guest-starring on her soap "Ryan's Hope." The two conversed for hours between shots on the motel-room set.

Four years later, the newly divorced Rosenberg walked into a West Hollywood bank and spotted Helgenberger in line - they exchanged telephone numbers. Within two months the actors were living together, and eloped in 1989 to avoid upsetting a Jewish relative. Their son, Hugh, was born the following year.

Filmography: