Fisher Stevens

Stephen Fisher (born November 27, 1963), known professionally as Fisher Stevens, is an American actor, director, producer and writer. As an actor, he is best known for his portrayals of Ben Jabituya/Jahveri in Short Circuit (1986) and Short Circuit 2 (1988). He is also a documentary filmmaker, having won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature as one of the producers of The Cove (2009). He also directed the documentaries Crazy Love (2007) and Before the Flood (2016).

Stevens is known for his roles in films such as Reversal of Fortune (1990), Bob Roberts (1992), Hackers (1995), Anything Else (2003), and Hail, Caesar! (2016). He has acted in the Wes Anderson films The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), Isle of Dogs (2018), The French Dispatch (2021), and Asteroid City (2023).

In television he portrayed Chuck Fishman in CBS series Early Edition (1996–2000), Marvin Gerard on NBC's The Blacklist (2015–2022), Gabriel Kovac in CBS's The Good Fight (2017–2020), and Hugo Baker in the HBO drama series Succession (2019–2023).

Early life

Stevens was born in Chicago, the son of Jewish parents Sally and Norman Fisher.<ref name="Lipton">Template:Cite web</ref> Stevens grew up in the Chicago, Illinois, area, living in Hyde Park, Highland Park, and Evanston<ref name="Johnson 11">Template:Cite news</ref> and describes himself as a "white Jewish kid from Chicago."<ref name="latimes-ethnic" />

His parents divorced when he was 13, after which he moved to New York with his mother. At age 16, Stevens landed his first film role, acting in the horror film The Burning. He completed one year at New York University before deciding to pursue acting full time.<ref name="Johnson 11"/> He adopted the stage name "Fisher Stevens" upon joining the Screen Actors Guild because the Guild had several existing actors named "Steven Fisher".<ref>Template:Citation</ref>

Career

File:Fisher Stevens 002.jpg

Stevens in 2006

Stevens co-founded the Naked Angels Theater Company with longtime friends Rob Morrow, Nicole Burdette, Pippin Parker, Charles Landry, Nancy Travis and Ned Eisenberg in 1986. He co-founded Greene Street Films, a film production company located in Tribeca, New York City, in 1996. Stevens performed as Edgar Allan Poe on Lou Reed's album The Raven in 2003. He is a harmonica player.Template:Cn

As an actor, Stevens is known for his roles as Chuck Fishman on Early Edition, Seamus O'Neill on Key West, Eugene "The Plague" Belford in Hackers, Iggy Koopa in Super Mario Bros., Hawk Ganz in The Flamingo Kid, and his role as the Indian robotics scientist Ben Jabituya/Jahveri in Short Circuit and Short Circuit 2, respectively.<ref name="latimes-ethnic">Template:Cite news</ref> His television credits include Columbo, Frasier, Friends, Law & Order, Key West, Damages, The Mentalist and Lost. He appeared on two episodes of the television series Numbers.<ref>Template:IMDb name</ref>Template:Bcn

Stevens has a Broadway and Off-Broadway career spanning nearly three decades. In 1988, he and John Leguizamo appeared in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream where he played Demetrius<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He played Jigger Craigin in the 1994 Lincoln Center revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel. He had an early success in the 1982 Broadway production of Torch Song Trilogy playing David Beckoff, the adopted son of Arnold Beckoff, the gay protagonist played by the show's writer Harvey Fierstein, and the original Broadway production of Brighton Beach Memoirs, where he succeeded Matthew Broderick in the starring role of Eugene Jerome. Throughout his career, he has acted in and directed more than 50 stage productions.<ref name="Biography">Template:Cite web</ref>

File:FisherStevens07TIFF.jpg

Stevens in 2007

In 2010, Stevens co-founded a new media and documentary film company, Insurgent Media, with Andrew Karsch and Erik H. Gordon.Template:Cn

In June 2010, Stevens made his major theatrical directing debut with John Leguizamo's one-man show, Ghetto Klown (originally called Klass Klown), which eventually ran on Broadway from March to July 2011.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The two had appeared together in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at The Public Theater about 20 years earlier. On July 13, 2012, PBS debuted Tales From a Ghetto Klown, a documentary about the development of the show which prominently features Stevens.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2010, Stevens and director Louie Psihoyos won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 82nd Academy Awards for co-producing The Cove.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

He is a signatory of the Film Workers for Palestine boycott pledge that was published in September 2025.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Personal life

Stevens dated actress Michelle Pfeiffer from 1989 until 1992.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Stevens later dated longtime filmmaking partner and producer Alexis Bloom. The couple married in 2017 in a private ceremony. They have two children.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Stevens is a survivor of Hodgkin lymphoma.<ref name="Lipton" />

Filmography

Actor

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1981	The Burning	Woodstock
1983	Baby It's You	Stage Manager
1984	The Brother from Another Planet	Card Trickster
	The Flamingo Kid	Henry "Hawk" Ganz
1985	My Science Project	Vince Latello
1986	Short Circuit	Ben Jahveri
	The Boss' Wife	Carlos Delgado
1988	Short Circuit 2	Ben Jahveri
1989	Bloodhounds of Broadway	"Hotfoot" Harry
1990	Point of View	Performer
	Reversal of Fortune	David Marriott
1991	The Marrying Man	Sammy
	Mystery Date	Dwight
1992	Lift	Joe	Short
	Bob Roberts	Rock Bork
	Hero	Director of Channel 4 Crash Feature	Cameo
1993	When the Party's Over	Alexander Midnight
	Super Mario Bros.	Iggy Koopa
1994	Nina Takes a Lover	Paulie
	Only You	Larry Corvatch
1995	Cold Fever	Jack
	Hackers	Eugene "The Plague" Belford
1996	The Pompatus of Love	Sitcom Star
1997	Four Days in September	Mowinkel
1999	Taxman	Kenneth Green
	The Tic Code	Morris
2000	Sam the Man	Sam Manning
	Lisa Picard Is Famous	Himself
2001	3 A.M.	Haplin
	Prison Song	Prosecutor
	Piñero	Public Theatre Cashier
2002	Undisputed	James "Ratbag" Kroycek
2003	Kill the Poor	Stuffed Shirt
	Uptown Girls	Himself
	Anything Else	Manager
	Easy Six	Officer Donny
	Reply	Blu (voice)
2004	On the Couch	Gary	Short
2005	Factotum	Manny
	Undiscovered	Garret Schweck
	Slow Burn	Alan Turlock
2006	Kettle of Fish	Bruce
2007	Red Angel	David	Short
	Awake	Dr. Puttnam
2010	Fake	Tom Kozinski
	Rio Sex Comedy	Fish
	Rising Stars	Mo
	The Experiment	Dr. Archaleta
	Henry's Crime	Eddie's Vibes
2012	One for the Money	Morty Beyers
	LOL	Roman
2013	Movie 43	Vrankovich / Minotaur	Alternate version
2014	The Grand Budapest Hotel	M. Robin
	Mission Blue	Himself	Documentary
	United Passions	Carl Hirschmann
2016	Hail, Caesar!	Communist Writer
2018	Isle of Dogs	Scrap (voice)
2019	Motherless Brooklyn	Lou
2021	Palmer	Additional voices
	The French Dispatch	Story Editor
	Sing 2	Additional voice
2023	Asteroid City	Detective 1
	Coup!	Upton Sinclair
2025	Song Sung Blue	Template:TBA
TBA	In the Grey	Template:TBA	Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1980	One Life to Live	Unknown
1983	Ryan's Hope	Henry Popkin
1984	CBS Schoolbreak Special	Gary Gordon	Episode: "The Alfred G. Graebner Memorial High School Handbook of Rules and Regulations"
1986	Tall Tales & Legends	Indian Chief	Episode: "Ponce de Leon"
	Saturday Night Live	Smoker	Episode: "Steve Guttenberg/The Pretenders"
1989	Columbo	Alex Brady	Episode: "Murder, Smoke and Shadows"
1990	The Young Riders	"Bulldog"	Episode: "Bull Dog"
1991	General Motors Theatre	Wally Zuckerman	Episode: "It's Called the Sugar Plum"
1993	Key West	Seamus O'Neill	13 episodes
1995	Friends	Roger	Episode: "The One with the Boobies"
	Homicide: Life on the Street	Jonathan Heine	Episode: "Autofocus"
	Law & Order	Ross Fineman	Episode: "Angel"
1996	The Right to Remain Silent	Dale Meyerson	Television movie
1996–2000	Early Edition	Chuck Fishman	48 episodes
2000	The Hunger	Max Armstrong	Episode: "The Suction Method"
2001	Frasier	Dr. Sheldon Morey	Episode: "The Wizard and Roz"
	100 Centre Street	Ben Berkowitz	Episode: "Queenie's Running"
	Jenifer	Dr. Aaron Sanders	Television movie
2002	Is It College Yet?	(voice)	Television movie
	Hack	Donnie Franco	Episode: "Favors"
2003	The Lives They Lived	Narrator	Television movie
2004	Hope & Faith	Nick Spinelli	Episode: "The Diner Show"
	Dr. Vegas	Charlie	Episode: "Dead Man, Live Bet"
2004–2007	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Performer	2 episodes
2008	It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia	Lyle Korman	Episode: "Paddy's Pub: The Worst Bar in Philadelphia"
2008–2010	Lost	George Minkowski	6 episodes
2009	Medium	Neal Greybridge	Episode: "Medium is the Message"
	Numb3rs	John Buckley	2 episodes
	The Grean Teem	Jack Fisher	Television movie
2010	Ugly Betty	Mr. Z	Episode: "Back in her Place"
	The Mentalist	Tolman Bunting	Episode: "Season 2 Episode 21"
2011	Californication	"Zig" Semetauer	Episode: "Monkey Business"
	Damages	Therapist	4 episodes
2012–2016	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Alvin Gilbert / Ted Scott	2 episodes
2015	Elementary	Marty Ward	Episode: "Under My Skin"
2015–2022	The Blacklist	Marvin Gerard	15 episodes
2016	The Night Of	Saul	3 episodes
2017	Red Oaks	Jerry	Episode: "Summer in the City"
	Vice Principals	Brian Biehn	4 episodes
2017–2020	The Good Fight	Gabriel Kovac	3 episodes
2019–2023	Succession	Hugo Baker	19 episodes
2022	Would I Lie to You?	Himself	Episode: "Banana Bread"
2024	Ripley	Edward T. Cavanagh	Episode: "VII Macabre Entertainment"
	Evil	Demon of Grief (voice)	Episode: "How to Build a Coffin"
	Sing: Thriller	Police Officer	Television short

Director

Year	Title	Notes
1995	Call of the Wylie
1996	Phinehas
1998–1999	Early Edition	2 episodes
2002	Just a Kiss
2007	Crazy Love	Co-directed with Dan Klores
2010–2011	John Leguizamo - Ghetto Klown	Opened on Broadway March 2011
2012	Stand Up Guys
2016	Before the Flood	<ref name="TIFF-b4-the-flood">Template:Cite web</ref>
	Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds
2019	And We Go Green
2021	Palmer
2023	Beckham

Producer

Year	Title	Notes
2000	Sam the Man
2001	The Château
	Piñero
2002	Swimfan
2003	Uptown Girls
2004	Yes
2005	Slow Burn
2006	A Prairie Home Companion
	Once in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos
	Wedding Daze
2007	Crazy Love
	Meet Bill
	Feast of Love
	Awake
2008	The Midnight Meat Train
2009	The Grean Teem
	Balls Out: Gary the Tennis Coach
	Tenderness
	The Cove	Academy Award for Best Documentary
2011	Blank City
	Hollywood Renegade
	Bad Trip
	Mission Blue
2012	Beware of Mr. Baker
2015	Racing Extinction
2016	Sky Ladder: The Art of Cai Guo-Qiang
	Before the Flood
2020	Tiger King
2023	Beckham
	We Are Guardians

Writer

• Sam the Man (2000, story)
• The Grean Teem (2009, story)

Narrator

• Secondhand Souls: A Novel by Christopher Moore
• A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore
• Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore
• The Highest Tide: A Novel by Jim Lynch

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
Template:Center	Academy Award	Best Documentary Feature	The Cove	Template:Won
Template:Center	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Documentary Series	American Masters	Template:Nom
Template:Center		Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking	Racing Extinction	Template:Nom
Template:Center			Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds	Template:Nom
		Outstanding Directing for a Documentary Program		Template:Nom
Template:Center		Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series	Tiger King	Template:Nom
Template:Center		Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series	Beckham	Template:Won
		Outstanding Directing for a Documentary Program	Beckham: What Makes David Run	Template:Nom
Template:Center	Cannes Film Festival	Golden Eye	Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds	Template:Nom
Template:Center	Toronto International Film Festival	People's Choice Award	Before the Flood	Template:Nom
Template:Center	Saturn Award	Best Guest-Starring Performance in a Network or Cable Television Series	The Blacklist	Template:Nom
2022	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Ensemble in a Drama Series	Succession	Template:Won	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2024				Template:Won	<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref>

External links

• Template:IBDB name
• Template:IMDb name
• Template:Iobdb name