Jewogle - Harvey Fierstein

Biography:

Harvey Forbes Fierstein (born June 6, 1952) is an American Tony Award-winning and Emmy Award-winning actor, playwright, and screenwriter.

Personal life:

Fierstein was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Jacqueline Harriet (née Gilbert), a school librarian, and Irving Fierstein, a handkerchief manufacturer. He is Jewish.

Playwriting career:

The gravelly-voiced actor perhaps is known best for the play and film Torch Song Trilogy, which he wrote and starred in. The 1982 Broadway production won him two Tony Awards, for Best Play and Best Actor in a Play, two Drama Desk Awards, for Outstanding New Play and Outstanding Actor in a Play, and the Theatre World Award, and the film earned him an Independent Spirit Award nomination as Best Male Lead.

Fierstein also wrote the book for La Cage aux Folles (1983), winning another Tony Award, this time for Best Book of a Musical, and a Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Book. Legs Diamond, his 1988 collaboration with Peter Allen, was a critical and commercial failure, closing after 72 previews and 64 performances. His other playwriting credits include Safe Sex, Spookhouse, and Forget Him.

Fierstein has developed a new musical titled A Catered Affair in which he will star with Faith Prince, Leslie Kritzer and Tom Wopat. It premiered at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre on September 20, 2007 and will move to Broadway in the spring of 2008, beginning previews on March 25 and opening officially on April 17.

Acting:

Fierstein made his acting debut at La MaMa, E.T.C. in Andy Warhol's only play, Pork. In addition to Torch Song Trilogy, and La Cage aux Folles, Fierstein's Broadway acting credits include Edna Turnblad in Hairspray (2003), for which he won another Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (joining Tommy Tune as the only people to win the award in four different categories), and Tevye in the 2005 revival of Fiddler on the Roof.

Fierstein continued to appear at La MaMa and other venues but also, having some aspirations to become a painter, enrolled at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. He received a B.F.A. degree from Pratt in 1973.

Fierstein's film roles include Woody Allen's Bullets Over Broadway, Robin Williams' maskmaker brother in Mrs. Doubtfire, a Parade of Hope spokesman in Death to Smoochy, Garbo Talks, Duplex, and the blockbuster hit Independence Day. He also narrated the documentary The Times of Harvey Milk, for which he won a News & Documentary Emmy Award. He also voiced the role of Yao in Walt Disney's Mulan (1998), a role he later reprised for the video game Kingdom Hearts II and the direct-to-DVD sequel Mulan II.

On television, Fierstein was featured as the voice of Karl, Homer's assistant, in the "Simpson and Delilah" episode of The Simpsons, and the voice of Elmer in the 1999 HBO special based on his children's book The Sissy Duckling, which won the Humanitas Prize for Children's Animation. Additional credits include Miami Vice, Murder, She Wrote, the Showtime TV movie Common Ground (which he also wrote), and Cheers, which earned him an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. On May 31, 2006, her last day as anchor, he sang a tribute to Katie Couric on the Today Show. He appeared as Heat Miser in the television movie remake of The Year Without a Santa Claus in December 2006.