Lyle Trachtenberg is an American former actor and IATSE union organizer. He is best known as the former husband of actress, comedian, and television personality, Whoopi Goldberg. A native Californian, Trachtenberg harboured acting aspirations while he was growing up. After graduating from high school, he took admission in the University of California, Los Angles in 1976. He graduated in 1980 and subsequently became an active member of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, a labour union that currently represents over a hundred thousand technicians, craftspersons and artisans working in the entertainment industry. He quickly rose through the ranks to become an influential organiser by the mid-1990s. During this period, he garnered some notoriety for the union’s disruptive behaviours on the sets of various independent films. Over the years, he has received credits for his association with a number of projects. He made an appearance as an actor in the 1998 comedy film Beach Movie. Trachtenberg was Goldberg’s third and most recent husband. They were married from 1994 to 1995. Through Goldberg, he is the former stepfather of her daughter, Alexandrea "Alex" Martin.