Jeffrey Todd Garlin

Jeffrey Todd Garlin (born June 5, 1962) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is best known for playing Jeff Greene on the HBO show Curb Your Enthusiasm. He also played Marvin on Mad About You (1997-1999), Mort Meyers on Arrested Development for Fox and Netflix and Murray Goldberg, the patriarch of the eponymous family in the ABC sitcom The Goldbergs.

He has also appeared in Para Norman, WALL-E, Toy Story 3 and Safety Not Guaranteed, among other films.

Early life

Garlin was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Gene and Carole (née Crafton) Garlin. He grew up in Morton Grove, Illinois, where his father had a family plumbing supply business called Bilko and his mother was active in community theater. He has a younger brother, Michael. Garlin is Jewish and attended Hebrew school.

Garlin says he has wanted to be a comedian since the age of eight, when he saw Jimmy Durante perform in Chicago. Garlin attended Melzer Elementary School in Morton Grove, Illinois. He enjoyed playing sports at school, but had to stop, because he has Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome, a heart ailment

When Garlin was in sixth grade, his father sold his supply business and the family relocated to South Florida. He graduated from Nova High School, Davie, Florida in 1980. He attended Broward Community College, followed by a stint at the University of Miami studying film, but eventually dropped out. He began performing stand up comedy there.

Personal life:

Garlin married Marla Beth Cahan on July 24, 1994. The couple have two sons, James (b. 1996) and Duke (b. 2000) In September 2018, the couple announced their intention to divorce after 24 years of marriage.

Garlin is a fan of the Chicago Cubs. Every year on his birthday he attends a game with his friend Kevin Cronin, lead singer of REO Speedwagon.

Garlin practices transcendental meditation, which he does twice a day. He says it has helped him with symptoms of ADHD.

For a few years Garlin lived with talk-show host Conan O'Brien. O'Brien has said that sometimes Garlin woke him up in the middle of the night and made him perform skits

Garlin's dog on the television show The Goldbergs lives with him in real life.

Health:

When he was in his late 20s, Garlin had surgery in Oklahoma City to correct a heart condition called Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome, which is a defect in an accessory electrical conduction pathway in the heart that results in tachycardia. Garlin said he was an early recipient of the surgery, which millions of people have since undergone.

In February 2000, before filming began on Curb Your Enthusiasm, he had a stroke at the age of 37. During the early episodes of Season One, he had noticeably slurred speech that later improved. He also has type II diabetes, which he controls with diet and exercise.

Garlin has written about his problems with food and has discussed his weight problems publicly. In an October 2011 interview, Garlin said: "I think people look at fat people as having a lack of willpower when willpower has nothing to do with it. I didn’t change my life until I approached everything like an addict. I haven’t had sweets in almost three years because I know if I have one cookie, just like if an alcoholic has his first drink, I’m off to the races and I’m back eating sugar again.

Career : Standup;

In 1984, aged 22, Garlin moved back to Chicago to pursue a stand up comedy career. He performed with the comedy troupe The Second City. He worked in the box office with Stephen Colbert.

While living in Wrigleyville, Chicago during the 1980s, Garlin was briefly roommates with Conan O'Brien who was then a comedy writer. He remains close to O'Brien, and after O'Brien was removed as host of The Tonight Show in 2010 so that Jay Leno could return, Garlin stated that he would not be a guest on the show again.

Garlin was hired by comedians Denis Leary and Jon Stewart to help develop their specials. He worked as a stage director for their shows and edited the scripts. He worked with Larry David in this same way. He continues to do standup, where he says he improvises a lot on stage, and feels very relaxed, "maybe too relaxed.