Victor Garber

Victor Joseph Garber (born March 16, 1949)[1] is a Canadian-American actor and singer known for his work in television, film, and theatre. He started his career on the Broadway stage playing: Jesus in Godspell; Anthony Hope in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street; and John Wilkes Booth in Assassins. He would later go on to earn four Tony Award nominations for his performances in Deathtrap, Little Me, Lend Me a Tenor, and Damn Yankees. Garber is also known for his film appearances in the comedies Sleepless in Seattle (1993), The First Wives Club (1996), and Legally Blonde (2001). Garber earned three Screen Actors Guild Award nominations for his performances in the historical drama films Titanic (1997), Milk (2008), and Argo (2012). Garber is also known for the role Jack Bristow in the television series Alias as well as his appearances in Frasier, Modern Family, Glee, Nurse Jackie, Louie, The Good Wife, Damages and Schitt's Creek. He was a series regular on Legends of Tomorrow as Dr. Martin Stein, having previously played the same role in a recurring capacity on The Flash and on the web series Vixen.

For the American politician, see Victor Garber (politician).

Victor Garber
Garber in 2006
Born	Victor Joseph Garber (1949-03-16) March 16, 1949 London, Ontario, Canada
Alma mater	University of Toronto
Occupation	Actor, singer
Years active	1958–present
Spouse(s)	Rainer Andreesen ( m. 2015)
Parent(s)	Hope Wolf Joe Garber

Early life

Garber was born in London, Ontario, Canada, and is of Russian-Jewish descent. His father was Joseph "Joe" Garber (died 1995), and his mother, Bessie Hope Wolf (died 2005), was an actress, singer, and the host of At Home with Hope Garber.[2] He has a brother, Nathan, and a sister, Alisa.

Garber began acting at the age of nine, and studied at the University of Toronto's Hart House at age 16.[3]

Garber attended Ryerson Elementary School. He also was enrolled in the children's program of the Grand Theatre; and, at age 16, he was accepted at a six-week summer theatre training program at the University of Toronto taught by Robert Gill.[3] In New York, he studied acting at HB Studio[4]

Career

Music

In 1967, after a period working as a solo folk singer, he formed a folk group called The Sugar Shoppe with Peter Mann, Laurie Hood and Lee Harris. The group enjoyed moderate success, breaking into the Canadian Top 40 with a version of Bobby Gimby's song "Canada" (1967).[5] Three other Sugar Shoppe songs made the lower reaches of the Canadian Top 100 in 1967 and '68. The band had performed on The Ed Sullivan Show and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson before breaking up.[6]

Theatre

He played Jesus in Toronto's 1972 production of Godspell.[7] In 1985 he appeared in Noises Off at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles.[8]

He appeared on Broadway in the original productions of Deathtrap, Sweeney Todd and Noises Off (1983), and in the original Off-Broadway cast of Assassins, as well as the 1990s revival of Damn Yankees. In 1986, Garber appeared at Circle in the Square opposite Uta Hagen in "You Never Can Tell".[9] He has been nominated for four Tony Awards and opened the Tony Awards program in 1994 (the year he was nominated for the Tony Award for Damn Yankees).[10] In 1998, he co-starred on Broadway in the Tony Award-winning play Art with Alan Alda and Alfred Molina. In 2005, he played the role of Frederic in the Los Angeles Opera production of A Little Night Music. He played Ben in a critically praised Encores! staged concert production of Follies (2007) opposite Donna Murphy.[11] In mid-2007, he played Garry Essendine in a production of Noël Coward's Present Laughter at Boston's Huntington Theatre.[12] He reprised the role on Broadway in the Roundabout Theatre production, which opened in January 2010.[13]

In January 2018, Garber replaced David Hyde Pierce as Horace Vandergelder in the Tony-winning Broadway revival of Hello, Dolly! at the Shubert Theatre opposite Bernadette Peters. Garber began performances on January 20 prior to the press opening on February 22.[14][15]

Garber received the 2018 Theatre World John Willis Award for Lifetime Achievement.[16]

Film

His earlier film work includes Godspell (1973) as Jesus (the part he originally played in the 1972 Canadian stage production), Sleepless in Seattle (1993). In James Cameron's Titanic (1997) he essayed a Mid-Ulster accent to play the shipbuilder Thomas Andrews. Other movie appearances include Annie (1999), Legally Blonde (2001), and Tuck Everlasting (2002).[3] In 2009, he took on the role of the DC Comics supervillain Sinestro in the direct-to-video animated film Green Lantern: First Flight. The same year, Garber played a Klingon interrogator in J. J. Abrams' Star Trek film; however, his scenes were deleted from the finished film.[17] He starred opposite Goldie Hawn, Diane Keaton, and Bette Midler in The First Wives Club as film producer Bill Atchison, husband of Goldie Hawn's character, Elise Eliot, in 1996.

In 2010, Garber had an uncredited cameo in The Town, directed by Ben Affleck, as a bank manager. Garber also appeared in the film Ice Quake. In late 2012, he appeared in Affleck's film Argo, about the Iran hostage crisis; Garber portrayed Canadian Ambassador to Iran Kenneth D. Taylor. He also co-starred in 2014 thriller Big Game.[18]

He narrated the 2017 film They Shall Not Perish.[19]

Television

On television, he has had roles on American and Canadian shows. Garber's first leading role on television show was in CBS's 1985 summer series I Had Three Wives.[20] He had a recurring guest role on CTV's E.N.G. (1991–93). He portrayed Jack Bristow, the father of main character Sydney Bristow on ABC's Alias, earning three Emmy nominations. He next starred on the television series Justice (2006) on Fox and ABC's Eli Stone. He appeared as Olivier Roth in four episodes of the Canadian science drama ReGenesis. He appeared in the Fox series Glee in the third episode titled "Acafellas", as Will's father. He played Dr. Martin Stein / Firestorm on The Flash beginning in 2015 before being spun off onto Legends of Tomorrow where he was a series regular for two seasons and half of the third. Aside from the two crossovers, Garber made an independent return to The Flash in the season three episode "Duet" as the unnamed husband of gangster Diggsy Foss in the dreamworld scenario. He has also recurred as Admiral Halsey on The Orville.

Personal life

Garber prefers to keep his personal life private and has largely stayed out of the tabloids.[2] He referred publicly to being gay in 2012.[21] In 2013, he said "I don't really talk about it, but everybody knows."[22] Garber has been in a relationship with Canadian artist and model Rainer Andreesen since 2000.[21] On October 10, 2015, Andreesen announced on his Instagram page that he and Garber were married in Canada.[23] Garber has Type 1 diabetes; he was diagnosed in 1962 at the age of 12.[24]

Garber is friends with his Alias co-star Jennifer Garner and officiated at her wedding to Ben Affleck.[25]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1973	Godspell	Jesus Christ
1974	Monkeys in the Attic	Eric
1981	In the Research of Path of Life	Benjamin Lonergan
1988	The Legendary Life of Ernest Hemingway	Ernest Hemingway
1992	Singles	Child's Father	Uncredited cameo
	I'll Never Get to Heaven	Eric Hoskins
	Light Sleeper	Tis Brooke
1993	Sleepless in Seattle	Greg
	Life with Mikey	Brian Spiro
1994	Exotica	Harold Brown
	Mixed Nuts	Irate Neighbour	Voice role
1995	Jeffrey	Tim
	Kleptomania	Morgan Allen
1996	The First Wives Club	Bill Atchison
1997	Titanic	Thomas Andrews
	The Absolution of Anthony	Father Carson	Short
1998	How Stella Got Her Groove Back	Isaac	Uncredited cameo
2001	Legally Blonde	Professor Callahan
	Call Me Claus	Taylor
2002	Tuck Everlasting	Robert Foster
	Home Room	Det. Martin Van Zandt
2008	Milk	Mayor George Moscone
2009	Green Lantern: First Flight	Sinestro	Voice role
	Star Trek	Klingon Interrogator	Deleted scene
2010	You Again	Mark
	The Town	Assistant Bank Manager	Uncredited cameo
2011	Kung Fu Panda 2	Master Thundering Rhino	Voice role
	The Entitled	Bob Vincent
	Take Me Home	Arnold
2012	Argo	Ken Taylor
	Moving Day	Wilf Redmond
2013	I'll Follow You Down	Sal
2014	Big Game	Vice President
2015	Self/less	Martin O´Neill
	Consumed	Dan
	Sicario	Dave Jennings
2017	Rebel in the Rye	Sol Salinger
2019	Dark Waters	Phill Donnelly
2020	Happiest Season	Ted	Post-production
TBA	The Gettysburg Address	William L. Saunders	Voice role; post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1974	Jack: A Flash Fantasy	Jack of Hearts	Television film
	ABC Afterschool Special	Christian de Neuvillette	Voice role, Episode: "Cyrano"
1975	Hallmark Hall of Fame	Marquis de Lafayette	Episode: "Valley Forge"
1976	Great Performances	Arthur	Episode: Ah, Wilderness
1977	The Best of Families	Teddy Wheeler	Miniseries
1978	Tartuffe	Valere	Television film
1983	Charley's Aunt	Jack Chesney	Television film
1985	I Had Three Wives	Jackson Beaudine	Lead role, 5 episodes
	Tales from the Darkside	Ambrose Cavender	Episode: "The Tear Collector"
	Private Sessions	Jerry Sharma	Television film
1986	The Twilight Zone	Dr. Kevin Carlson	Episode: "A Day in Beaumont"
	Roanoak	John White	Television film
	Guiding Light	Det. Frank Minnelli	Unknown episodes
1987–91	The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd	Dennis Widmer	10 episodes
1988	Liberace: Behind the Music	Liberace	Television film
1991	Grand Larceny	Judge Keeler	Television film
	E.N.G.	Adam Hirsch	10 episodes (1991–1993)
1992	The First Circle	Lew Rubin	Television film
	I'll Fly Away	Warren	Episode: "Fragile Truths"
	The Powers That Be	Mack Novitz	Episode: "Oh, Mack"
1993	Alex Haley's Queen	Digby	Miniseries
	Dieppe	Lord Louis Mountbatten	Television film
	Woman on the Run: The Lawrencia Bembenek Story	Frank Marrocco	Television film
1994	Kung Fu: The Legend Continues	Blackwell	Episode: "The Innocent"
1995	Law & Order	Paul Sandig	Episode: "Savages"
	Almost Perfect	Howard Guthrie	Episode: "You Like Me, You Really Like Me"
1996	Hostile Advances: The Kerry Ellison Story	Jack Gilcrest	Television film
	F/X: The Series	Andrew Price	Episode: "The Brotherhood"
	The Outer Limits	Dr. Ben McCormick	Episode: "Out of Body"
1997	Cinderella	King Maximillian	Television film
	Let Me Call You Sweetheart	Geoff Dorso	Television film
	Liberty! The American Revolution	John Dickinson	6 episodes
1999	Summer's End	Narrator	Voice role, television film
	Invisible Child	Tim Beeman	Television film
	Annie	Oliver "Daddy" Warbucks	Television film
	External Affairs	Harry Raymond
2000	Love and Murder	Inspector Philip Millard	Television film
	Frasier	Ferguson	Episode: "Taking Liberties"
	The Outer Limits	Dr. Edward Normandy	Episode: "Glitch"
2001	Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows	Sidney Luft	Television film
	The Wandering Soul Murders	Inspector Philip Millard	Television film
	A Colder Kind of Death	Inspector Philip Millard	Television film
	Laughter on the 23rd Floor	Kenny Franks	Television film
	Call Me Claus	Taylor	Television film
2001–06	Alias	Jack Bristow	Main cast (Season 1–5): 105 episodes
2002	Torso: The Evelyn Dick Story	J.J. Robinette	Television film
2003	The Music Man	Mayor Shinn	Television film
	It's All Relative	Jerry / Joffrey	Episode: "The Doctor Is Out"
2004	Will & Grace	Peter Bovington	Episode: "Saving Grace, Again: Part 2"
2006	Justice	Ron Trott	13 episodes
2007	American Masters	Narrator	Episode: "Novel Reflections: The American Dream"
	Ugly Betty	Professor Barrett	Episode: "Grin and Bear It"
	ReGenesis	Oliver Roth	5 episodes (2007–2008)
2008	Eli Stone	Jordan Wethersby	26 episodes
2009	The Last Templar	Monsignor De Angelis	Miniseries
	Everything She Ever Wanted	Walter Allanson	Miniseries
	Glee	Will's Father	Episode: "Acafellas"
	Nurse Jackie	Neil Nutterman	2 episodes
	Rex	Paul	Television film
	Web Therapy	Kip Wallice	Web series, 8 episodes (2009, 2013–2014)
	America Before Columbus	Narrator	Television Documentary, National Geographic
2010	Ice Quake	Colonel Bill Hughes	Television film
	Republic of Doyle	Garrison Steel	4 episodes (2010–2013)
2011	Stargate Universe	Ambassador Ovirda	Episode: "Seizure"
	Suits	Phillip Hardman	Pilot (scenes cut in US release)
	Murdoch Mysteries	Detective Malcolm Lamb	Episode: "Tattered and Torn"
	Flashpoint	Dr. Larry Toth	3 episodes
	30 Rock	Eugene Gremby	Episode: "Respawn"
	Law & Order: LA	Walter Calvin	Episode: "Angel's Knoll"
	William & Catherine: A Royal Romance	Charles, Prince of Wales	Television film
	Charlie's Angels	Charles "Charlie" Townsend	Voice role (8 episodes)
	Web Therapy	Kip Wallice	Main role, 19 episodes (2011–2015)
2012	The Big C	Willie Wanker	Episode: "Family Matters"
	Damages	Bennett Herreshoff	3 episodes
	The Firm	Judge Walter A. Dominic	Episode: "Chapter 6"
2013	Deception	Robert Bowers	Main role (11 episodes)
	The Hunters	Mason Fuller	Television film
2014	The Good Wife	Judge Loudon Spencer	Episode: "We, the Juries"
	Sleepy Hollow	Mr. Crane	Episode: "Bad Blood"
	Louie	Louie's Lawyer	Episode: "Model"
	Blue Bloods	Donald Stein	Episode: "Under the Gun"
2014–19	Power	Simon Stern	16 episodes
2015	Motive	Neville Montgomery	Episode: "6 Months Later"
	The Slap	Narrator	Miniseries, 8 episodes
2015–17	The Flash	Martin Stein / Firestorm	11 episodes
		Digsy Foss's husband	Season 3 episode: "Duet"
2016–17	Legends of Tomorrow	Martin Stein / Firestorm	Main role (seasons 1–3)
		Eobard Thawne	Season 2 episode: "The Chicago Way"
		Sir Henry Stein	Season 3 episode: "Return of the Mack"
2016	Vixen	Martin Stein / Firestorm	Voice role, web series, Episode: "Episode #2.1"
2017	Modern Family	Charles Dumont	Episode: "Do It Yourself"
	Difficult People	John Passias	Episode: "Cindarestylox"
2017-19	The Orville	Admiral Halsey	6 episodes
2017	Supergirl	Martin Stein / Firestorm	Season 3 Episode: "Crisis on Earth-X, Part 1"
	Arrow		Season 6 Episode: "Crisis on Earth-X, Part 2"
2018	Spirit Riding Free	James Sr.	Episode: " Lucky and the Train Tycoon"
2019	Tales of the City	Sam Garland	7 episodes
2020	Schitt's Creek	Clifton Sparks	Episode: "Sunrise, Sunset"
2020	Family Law

Theatre

Source: Playbill[26]

Year	Production	Role	Venue
1972	Godspell	Jesus	Off-Broadway
1973	Ghosts	Performer	Roundabout Theatre Company, Off-Broadway
1975	Joe's Opera	Performer	Off-Broadway
1976	Cracks	Performer	Off-Broadway
1977	The Shadow Box	Mark	Morosco Theatre, Broadway
1977	Tartuffe	Valère	Circle in the Square Theatre, Broadway
1978	Deathtrap	Cliff Anderson	Biltmore Theatre, Broadway
1979	Sweeney Todd	Anthony Hope	Uris Theatre, Broadway
1981	They're Playing Our Song	Vernon Gersch	Imperial Theatre, Broadway
1982	Little Me	Various roles	Eugene O'Neill Theatre, Broadway
1983	Noises Off	Gary LeJuene	Brooks Atkinson Theatre, Broadway
1986	You Never Can Tell	Valentine	Circle in the Square Theatre, Broadway
1988	The Devil's Disciple	Richard Dudgeon
1988	Wenceslas Square	Performer	Off-Broadway
1989	Love Letters	Andrew	Promenade Theatre, Off-Broadway
1989	Assassins	John Wilkes Booth	Playwright Horizons Theatre, Off-Broadway
1989	Lend Me a Tenor	Max	Royale Theatre, Broadway
1992	Two Shakespearean Actors	Edwin Forrest	Cort Theatre, Broadway
1994	Damn Yankees	Applegate	Marquis Theatre, Broadway
1995	Arcadia	Bernard Nightingale	Vivian Beaumont Theatre, Broadway
1998	'Art'	Serge	Royale Theatre, Broadway
2010	Present Laughter	Garry Essendine	American Airlines Theatre, Broadway
2018	Hello, Dolly!	Horace Vandergelder	Shubert Theatre, Broadway

Awards and Nominations

Year	Award	Category	Title	Result	Ref.
2001	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series	Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows	Nominated	[27]
		Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series	Frasier	Nominated
2002		Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series	Alias	Nominated
2003				Nominated
2004				Nominated
2005		Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series	Will & Grace	Nominated
1997	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Cast in a Motion Picture	Titanic	Nominated	[28]
2008			Milk	Nominated
2012			Argo	Won
1978	Tony Awards	Best Featured Actor in a Play	Deathtrap	Nominated	[29]
1982		Best Actor in a Musical	Little Me	Nominated
1989		Best Actor in a Play	Lend Me a Tenor	Nominated
1994		Best Actor in a Musical	Damn Yankees	Nominated
1984	Drama Desk Award	Outstanding Ensemble	Noises Off	Won
1987		Outstanding Actor in a Play	You Never Can Tell	Nominated

References

1. "Victor Garber profile at". FilmReference.com. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
2. Snook, Raven (January 13, 2010). "Has Victor Garber found his Tony role?". Time Out. Archived from the original on January 22, 2010. Retrieved January 13, 2010.
3. Profile of Victor Garber, Toronto Star. Retrieved April 24, 2014.
4. HB Studio Alumni
5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on November 20, 2012. Retrieved June 5, 2012.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
6. CANOE – JAM! Music – Pop Encyclopedia – Sugar Shoppe Archived May 26, 2012, at Archive.today, jam.canoe.ca. Retrieved April 24, 2014.
7. "Toronto's Legendary Production of GODSPELL". godspell1972.wordpress.com.
8. Sullivan, Dan. "Stage Review : Laughter Is Loudest Part Of 'Noises Off'" Los Angeles Times, February 12, 1985
9. Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library. "Production still, Lise Hiboldt, Uta Hagen and Victor Garber" The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1986. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e3-fbc5-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99
10. "Tony Award 1994" tonyawards.com. Retrieved September 5, 2017
11. Rooney, David. "Review: ‘Follies’" Variety, February 9, 2007
12. Present Laughter huntingtontheatre.org, May 18, 2007.
13. Jones, Kenneth. "I'll See You Again": 'Present Laughter' Concludes Broadway Run" Playbill, March 21, 2010
14. McPhee, Ryan. "Bernadette Peters Is Broadway's New 'Hello, Dolly!' Headliner Beginning January 20" Playbill, January 20, 2018
15. Stasio, Marilyn. "Broadway Review: Bernadette Peters in ‘Hello, Dolly!’" Variety, February 22, 2018
16. Gans, Andrew. "Bernadette Peters and Glenda Jackson Among Presenters for 2018 Theatre World Awards" Playbill, May 30, 2018
17. "Star Trek Movie Deleted Klingon Scene Available Online + DVD/Blu-ray Debuts in Some Countries". TrekMovie.com. October 27, 2009. Retrieved April 24, 2014.
18. Samuel Jackson Hunts a ‘Big Game’
19. "Armenian Genocide Documentary 'They Shall Not Perish' Now Streaming on Netflix". Asbarez. January 2, 2018. Retrieved September 12, 2019.
20. "Victor Garber". Turner Classic Movies (TCM). Retrieved June 23, 2017. He landed his first leading role in a series with "I Had Three Wives" (CBS, 1985), playing a private investigator who receives help from a trio of ex-wives (Shanna Reed, Teri Copley and Maggie Cooper).
21. Drucker, Hal (April 13, 2012). "Victor Victorious: Victor Garber on success, family and friends". Forever Young Information. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
22. D'Zurilla, Christie (January 15, 2013). "Victor Garber's gay, he confirms – but didn't you know already?". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
23. Andreesen, Rainer (October 10, 2015). "rainerarts: YES WE DID! #justgotmarried #elopedintofino #canada @therealvictorgarber #after16years". Instagram. Retrieved October 12, 2015.
24. "INTERVIEW: Actor Victor Garber Doesn't Let Type 1 Diabetes Define Him". April 6, 2017.
25. Smith, Krista (February 26, 2016). "Jennifer Garner's Frank Talk About Kids, Men, and Ben Affleck". Vanity Fair.
26. "Victor Garber Broadway" Playbill. Retrieved September 5, 2017
27. "Victor Garber - Emmy Awards, Nominations, and Wins". Emmys.com. Retrieved May 2, 2020.
28. "Victor Garber - Awards". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved May 2, 2020.
29. "Victor Garber - Artist". Playbill.com. Retrieved May 2, 2020.

External links

• Victor Garber on IMDb
• Victor Garber at the Internet Broadway Database
• Victor Garber at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Victor Garber at the TCM Movie Database
• Victor Garber at AllMovie