Albert Lawrence Einstein, credited professionally as Albert Brooks (born July 22, 1947 in Beverly Hills, California) is an American comedian, actor, writer and director who's been active since the late 1960s. Most people from the older generation will know him best for his appearances in Taxi Driver and Broadcast News. The new generation knows him as the voice of Marlin the clownfish in Finding Nemo and its sequel Finding Dory, and as Bernie in Drive.
He contributed several short films that ran as part of the very first episodes of Saturday Night Live in 1975-76. He's also well-known for several one-shot roles on The Simpsons, usually credited as "A. Brooks". He played Hank Scorpio in the critically-acclaimed episode "You Only Move Twice", and Big Bad Russ Cargill in The Simpsons Movie.
He's the son of Harry Einstein, whose character Parkyakarkus was a famed comedy figure during The Golden Age of Radio, and the younger brother of Bob Einstein (aka Super Dave Osborne). No relation to the legendary physicist.
Filmography:
- Real Life (1979) as Himself
- Modern Romance (1981) as Robert Cole
- Lost in America (1985) as David Howard
- Defending Your Life (1991) as Daniel Miller
- Mother (1996) as John Henderson
- The Muse (1999) as Steven Phillips
- Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World (2005)
- Marcus Welby, M.D. (1 episode, 1969) as College Student (uncredited)
- Insight (1 episode, 1969) as Hank
- Hot Wheels (1969) as Mickey Barnes/Kip Chogi (voice)
- The Odd Couple (2 episodes, 1970) as Rudy
- Love, American Style (1 episode, 1971) as Christopher Leacock
- The New Dick Van Dyke Show (1 episode, 1972) as Dr. Norman
- Saturday Night Live (4 episodes, 1975) as Various
- Taxi Driver (1976) as Tom
- Private Benjamin (1980) as Yale Goodman
- Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) as Cab Driver
- Terms of Endearment (1983) as Rudyard Greenway (voice)
- Unfaithfully Yours (1984) as Norman Robbins
- Broadcast News (1985) as Aaron Altman
- The Simpsons
- "The Call of the Simpsons" (1990) as Cowboy Bob (voice)
- "Life on the Fast Lane" (1990) as Jacques (voice)
- "Bart's Inner Child" (1993) as Brad Goodman (voice)
- "You Only Move Twice" (1996) as Hank Scorpio (voice)
- "The Heartbroke Kid" (2005) as Tab Spangler/Jacques (voice)
- The Simpsons Movie (2007) as Russ Cargill (voice)
- "500 Keys" (2011) as Hank Scorpio (voice)
- "Bull-E" (2015) as Dr. Raufbold (voice)
- "Yokel Hero" (2021) as Music Manager (voice)
- "Pin Gal" (2023) as Jacques (voice)
- I'll Do Anything (1994) as Burke Adler
- The Scout (1994) as Al Percolo
- Critical Care (1997) as Dr. Butz
- Dr. Dolittle (1998) as Jacob the Tiger (voice)
- Out of Sight (1998) as Richard Ripley
- My First Mister (2001) as Randall – "R"
- Finding Nemo (2003) as Marlin (voice)
- Finding Dory (2016) as Marlin (voice)
- The In-Laws (2003) as Jerry Peyser
- Weeds (4 episodes, 2008) as Lenny Botwin
- Drive (2011) as Bernie Rose
- This Is 40 (2012) as Larry
- A Most Violent Year (2014) as Andrew Walsh
- The Little Prince (2015) as The Businessman (voice)
- Concussion as Dr. Cyril Wecht (2015)
- The Secret Life of Pets (2016) as Tiberius (voice)
- I Love You, Daddy (2017) as Dick Welker
- Curb Your Enthusiasm (1 episode, 2021) as Himself
Provides examples of:
- Creator Provincialism: He was born and raised in Los Angeles and his works are often set there.
- Deadpan Snarker: Pretty much any character he plays is this.
- Deconstructive Parody: He's made fun of the reality show genre (Real Life), the romantic comedy (Modern Romance), the road trip movie (Lost in America), the family movie (Mother), America's Moral Myopia (Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World), and everything else (The Simpsons).
- Eagleland: In any of his movies, America will always be Flavor 2.
- Stage Name: His real name is Albert Einstein. This probably marks one of the few times someone has changed their name to something less notable.
- Vocal Evolution: His voice has gotten noticeably raspier over the years. It can be a little jarring to see him in Taxi Driver where his voice is rather nasally and compare it to something like Defending Your Life where it had gotten considerably deeper.
- What Could Have Been: He was offered the role of Manny in the first Ice Age.