Childhood & Early Life
Jeffrey Lynn Goldblum was born on October 22, 1952, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, in a Jewish family, to Harold L. Goldblum and Shirley as one of their four children. His father was a doctor, while his mother was a radio broadcaster and an entrepreneur of a kitchen appliances firm.
He was a member of an orthodox synagogue during his childhood. He attended ‘Taylor Allderdice High School’ in Pittsburgh. He had a passion for acting from young age and took up drama at the ‘Carnegie Mellon University’ during summer sessions.
At 17, he moved to New York to pursue acting. He joined the famous ‘Neighbourhood Playhouse’ and attended acting classes under Sanford Meisner, while working on stage.
He is a skilled piano player. According to him, he would have become a musician if not an actor.
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Career
His first stage performance in Broadway was in the musical ‘Two Gentlemen of Verona.’
He made his film debut in 1974 in ‘Death Wish’ where he essayed the role of a rapist called ‘Freak # 1.’ Moving on, he did small roles in films, such as ‘California Split’ (1974), ‘Special Delivery’ (1976), ‘Next Stop, Greenwich Village’ (1976), ‘Annie Hall’ (1977), and ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’ (1978).
At the same time, he made appearances in television as well. He was seen in series, such as ‘Columbo’ (1975), ‘The Blue Knight’ (1976), and ‘Starsky & Hutch’ (1977).
His first television movie was ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’ (released in 1980). In the same year, he played ‘Lionel Whitney’ in the television detective series ‘Tenspeed and Brown Shoe.’
His film career started taking off in the 1980s. In 1983, he received favourable reviews for his role ‘Michael Gold’ in the film ‘The Big Chill.’ It was followed by his performance in the cult classic film ‘The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension’ in 1984. In 1985, he landed lead roles in two films: ‘Silverado’ and ‘Into The Night.
He landed his breakthrough role ‘Seth Brundle’ in the 1986 film ‘The Fly.’ His performance in the film fetched him the ‘Saturn Award’ for ‘Best Actor.’ He also received nominations for ‘National Society of Film Critics Award’ for ‘Best Actor’ and ‘New York Film Critics Circle Award’ for ‘Best Actor.’
He continued landing major roles in films like ‘Vibes’ and ‘Earth Girls Are Easy’ in 1988 and ‘The Tall Guy’ in 1989.
In the 1990s, he was featured in some of the biggest blockbusters of the time. In 1993, he essayed the role of ‘Dr. Ian Malcolm’ in Steven Spielberg’s science fiction film ‘Jurassic Park.’ He reprised his role as ‘Malcolm’ in the film’s sequel ‘The Lost World: Jurassic Park’ in 1997. Meanwhile, in 1996, he played ‘David Levinson’ in the film ‘Independence Day.’
He co-established and remained a teacher at the North Hollywood, Los Angeles acting school ‘Playhouse West’ in the 1980s. In 1996, he directed a short film titled ‘Little Surprises’ which featured many actors from the school. The film was nominated for the ‘Academy Award’ for ‘Best Live Action Short Film.’
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He was one of the jury members at the 1999 ‘Cannes Film Festival.’
He received critical acclaim for playing supporting roles in films like ‘Igby Goes Down’ (2002) and ‘The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou’ (2004). The latter received nomination for ‘Broadcast Film Critics Association Award’ for ‘Best Cast Boston Society of Film Critics Award.’
In the 2000s, he appeared in many television series, including ‘Crank Yankers’ (2003 to 2005), ‘Raines’ (2007), and ‘Tim and Eric Awesome Show and Great Job!’ (2007) among others. In 2005, his role in the series ‘Will & Grace’ won him a nomination for ‘Primetime Emmy Award’ for ‘Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series.’ From 2009 to 2010, he appeared as ‘Senior Detective Zach Nichols’ in the television series ‘Law & Order: Criminal Intent.’
He is the founding member of the theatre company ‘The Fire Dept’ which is based in New York.
In 2006, he produced the film ‘Pittsburg’ in which he appeared as himself. Some of his other films in the 2000s include ‘Perfume’ (2001), ‘Adam Resurrected’ (2009), ‘The Switch’ (2010), and ‘Le Week-End’ (2013) among others.
In 2010, he played a prominent role as ‘Jerry Barnes’ in the comedy film ‘Morning Glory’ which also starred Diane Keaton and the legendary actor Harrison Ford.
In 2016, he reprised his role as ‘David Levinson’ in Roland Emmerich's epic science fiction disaster film ‘Independence Day: Resurgence,’ a sequel to the 1996 film ‘Independence Day.’
Goldblum played ‘The Grandmaster’ in Marvel’s superhero film ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ in 2017.
In 2018, he reprised his role as ‘Dr. Ian Malcolm’ in the film ‘Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.’ The same year, he also played ‘Dr. Wallace Fiennes’ in ‘The Mountain.’
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He is a skilled jazz pianist and has performed solo. He has also performed along with actor Peter Weller for the jazz band ‘The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra.’
He is also noted for his work in the theater. His Broadway works include ‘El Grande de Coca Cola’—one of his first stage works, ‘The Moony Shapiro Songbook,’ ‘The Pillowman,’ and ‘Seminar’ among others. He has performed in ‘The Prisoner of Second Avenue’ in Broadway, and ‘The Music Man’ at the ‘Pittsburg Civic Light Opera.’
He has lent his voice for several video games. He has voiced: ‘Count Dracula’ in ‘Goosebumps: Escape from Horrorland’ (1996) ‘David Levinson’ in ‘Independence Day’ (1997), ‘Dr. Ian Malcolm’ in ‘Chaos Island: The Lost World’ (1997), ‘Nero’ in ‘Call of Duty: Black Ops III’ (2015), and ‘Dr. Ian Malcolm’ in ‘Jurassic World Evolution’ (2018).
He has lent his voice for many U.S. commercials, including ads for ‘iBook’ and ‘iMac.’ He has also lent his voice for ‘Procter & Gamble’ and ‘Toyota’ ads. At present, he serves as a spokesperson for the website ‘apartments.com.’
Personal Life & Legacy
He married actress Patricia Gaul on July 4, 1980, but they divorced in 1986. They had starred in the film ‘Silverado’ (1985).
On November 1, 1987, he got married to actress Geena Davis, his co-star from ‘Transylvania 6-5000’ (1985) and ‘The Fly’ (1986). After their marriage, the couple appeared together in the 1988 film ‘Earth Girls Are Easy.’ They divorced on October 17, 1990.
From 1995 to 1997, he was engaged to Laura Dern.
In early 2014, he got engaged to Emilie Livingston, an Olympic gymnast. On November 8, 2014, they got married. On July 4, 2015, they welcomed their son Charlie Ocean. Their second child was born on April 7, 2017.
