Dan Hedaya

File:Dan Hedaya.jpg

Dan Hedaya as Detective Jack Roselli in Shaft.

Dan Hedaya (July 24, 1940) is a prolific American character actor.

Biography

He was born in Brooklyn, New York, to a Sephardic Jewish family from Syria. Hedaya was a junior high school teacher for many years before deciding to pursue acting full-time.

Alongside a successful career in the movies, Hedaya has held several TV roles, most notably that of Carla Tortelli's charmingly sleazy ex-husband Nick on the sitcom Cheers. More recently, he played an Italian-American priest in the controversial and quickly cancelled NBC series The Book of Daniel. Adding to his list of television credits is his performance as the long-lost father of Adrian Monk on Monk in a special presentation of the show that aired in November, 2006.

Younger audiences may recognize Dan Hedaya best for his role as Alicia Silverstone's character's father Mel Horowitz in the 1995 hit movie Clueless.

Selected filmography

• Robots (2005) .... Mr.Gunk (voice)
• Pizza My Heart (2005) .... Vinnie Montebello
• Swimfan (2002) .... Coach Simkins
• Quicksand (2002) .... General Stewart
• Mulholland Dr. (2001) .... Vincenzo Castigliane
• Shaft (2000) .... Detective Jack Roselli
• The Crew (2000) .... Mike 'The Brick' Donatelli
• The Hurricane (1999) .... Detective Sgt. Della Pesca Paterson PD
• Dick (1999) .... President Richard M. 'Dick' Nixon
• A Civil Action (1998) .... John Riley
• A Night at the Roxbury (1998) .... Kamehl Butabi
• Alien: Resurrection (1997) .... General Perez
• A Life Less Ordinary (1997) .... Gabriel
• Marvin's Room (1996) .... Bob
• Ransom (1996) .... Jackie Brown
• The First Wives Club (1996) .... Morton Cushman
• Nixon (1995) .... Trini Cardoza
• Clueless (1995) .... Mel Horowitz
• To Die For (1995) .... Joe Maretto
• The Usual Suspects (1995) .... Sgt. Geoffrey 'Jeff' Rabin
• For Love or Money (1993) .... Gene Salvatore
• Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993) .... Tournament Director
• Rookie of the Year (1993) .... Larry Fisher
• Benny & Joon (1993) .... Thomas
• The Mighty Ducks (1992)
• The Addams Family (1991) .... Tully Alford
• Joe Versus the Volcano (1990) ... The PHB, Frank Waturi
• Wise Guys (1986) .... Anthony Castelo
• Commando (1985) .... Arius
• Blood Simple (1984) .... Julian Marty
• Endangered Species (1982) .... Peck
• True Confessions (1981) .... Howard Terke
• The Seduction of Joe Tynan (1979) .... Alex Heller

Trivia

• He's been doing 150 push-ups every morning since he was 6 years old .

External links

• Dan Hedaya at IMDb