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Paul Reiser (born March 30, 1957) is an American actor who portrays Dr. Sam Owens in Season 2 and Season 4 of Stranger Things. He makes a guest appearance as Dr. Owens in Season 3.

Stranger Things[]

The casting of Paul Reiser as Dr. Owens was announced on November 7, 2016.[1] Reiser previously played the villainous character Burke in Aliens, a 1986 James Cameron film that the Duffer Brothers named as an influence for Season 2.[2]

Biography[]

Early Life[]

Reiser was born in New York City in 1957, the son of Helen (born 1919), a homemaker, and Sam Reiser, a wholesale health food distributor. His family is of Romanian-Jewish descent; he has three sisters. Reiser attended the East Side Hebrew Institute and graduated from Stuyvesant High School. He earned his bachelor's degree at Binghamton University, where he majored in music (piano, composition).

During his university years, Reiser was active in student theater productions at the Hinman Little Theater, an on-campus community theater organization located in Hinman College, Reiser's dorm community. It was later renamed the Hinman Production Company. He found his calling as a comedian while performing in New York clubs during university summer breaks.

Career[]

After developing his skills as a stand-up comedian, Reiser had a breakout role in 1982 when he appeared in Diner, a coming-of-age film directed by Barry Levinson. Reiser's character, Modell, a closet stand-up comedian, effectively brought Reiser's abilities to the attention of Hollywood. He followed this success by playing a detective in Beverly Hills Cop (1984), a role he reprised in its sequel, Beverly Hills Cop II (1987). Reiser also had roles in James Cameron's Aliens (1986), in which he played the villainous Carter Burke; The Marrying Man (1991) and Bye Bye Love(1995).

Reiser starred as one of two possible fathers of a teenage girl in the TV sitcom My Two Dads (1987–90), and later came to prominence in North America as Paul Buchman in Mad About You (1992–99), a comedy series he co-created, in which Helen Hunt co-starred as his on-screen wife. He was also the co-composer of the show's theme song, "The Final Frontier" (with Don Was), and performed the piano for the theme's recording. Reiser's role in Mad About You earned him nominations for an Emmy, a Golden Globe, an American Comedy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. For the show's final season, Reiser and Hunt received $1 million ($1.5 million today) per episode. After signing onto a Mad About You revival in 2018,  it was picked up as a 12-episode limited series by Spectrum Originals in March 2019.[10]

In 2001, Reiser played a dramatic role as a man desperate to locate his biological mother, after learning he has a serious illness, in the British TV film My Beautiful Son. In 2002, Reiser made a guest appearance as himself on Larry David's HBO sitcom, Curb Your Enthusiasm. In the TV comedy film Atlanta (2007), Reiser appears as one half of a couple who, after meeting at a funeral, are unable to stay away from each other. In 2010, Reiser collaborated with the singer Julia Fordham to create a CD album titled Unusual Suspects, which includes the song "UnSung Hero", dedicated to American soldiers serving in Afghanistan. The two embarked on an acoustic tour after its release.  Reiser also co-wrote the song, "No There There" with Melissa Manchester for her 2015 album, You Gotta Love the Life.[ Early in his career, Reiser was the opening act for Manchester, she warned him that music audiences can be rough on comedians and that the last comedian that opened for her, left the stage in tears. Reiser reflects about this warning and on how he then bombed at the Concord Hotel. The story is detailed the chapter, "Don't Worry if They Suck", by Paul Reiser, in I Killed: True Stories of the Road from America's Top Comics (2010), By Ritch Shydner, Mark Schiff.

Reiser scripted and starred in the semi-autobiographical comedy series The Paul Reiser Show, which aired on NBC as a mid-season replacement during the 2010–11 TV season. "This is nice", commented Reiser on the Stephanie Miller radio program, "because you get to sit around and root for other shows to fail." However, due to the lack of lead time and promotion by NBC prior to its debut (as well as poor scheduling), the low-rated show was canceled on April 22, 2011, with only two episodes aired. He co-created (but did not star in) the 2017 dramedy There's... Johnny!, set backstage at The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson in 1972. Originally created for Seeso, the seven-episode season was released on Hulu after Seeso's collapse

Reiser has written three books: Couplehood, about the ups and downs of being in a committed relationship; Babyhood, about his experiences as a first-time father; and Familyhood (released in May 2011), a collection of humorous essays. Couplehood is unique in that it starts on page 145; Reiser explained this as his method of giving the reader a false sense of accomplishment. In 1996, Reiser appeared on Late Show with David Letterman in the middle of writing Babyhood. Since he had not yet decided on a title, he presented a prop book, titled simply "Book" and with the same cover as that of Couplehood.

Personal Life[]

Reiser married Paula Ravets on August 21, 1988. They have two sons: Ezra Samuel (born 1995) and Leon (born 2000). He is the cousin of screenwriter and producer Will Reiser, who is known for writing the semi-autobiographical comedy-drama film 50/50 (2011).

Reiser's first cousin is the legal scholar Richard Epstein.

Filmography[]

Film[]

Year Title Role
1982 Diner Modell
1984 Beverly Hills Cop Jeffrey
1986 Odd Jobs Max
Aliens Carter Burke
1987 Beverly Hills Cop II Det. Jeffrey Friedman
Cross My Heart Bruce Gaynor
1990 Crazy People Stephen Bachman
1991 The Marrying Man Phil Golden
1992 3½ Blocks from Home Himself
1993 Family Prayers Dan Linder
1994 Mr. Write Charlie Fisher
1995 Bye Bye Love Donny
1999 Get Bruce Unknown
The Story of Us Dave
Pros & Cons Prison Man #1
2001 One Night at McCool's Carl
2002 Purpose Ben Fisher
2005 The Thing About My Folks Ben Kleinman
The Aristocrats Himself
2009 Funny People Himself
2014 Whiplash Jim Neiman
Life After Beth Noah Orfman
2015 Concussion Dr. Elliot Pellman
2016 Joshy Steve
Miles Lloyd Bryant
War on Everyone Lt. Gerry Stanton
The Book of Love Wendell
The Darkness Simon Richards
2017 The Little Hours Ilario
I Do... Until I Don't Harvey Burger
2018 The Spy Who Dumped Me Arnie Freeman
2020 Horse Girl Gary
2021 Fatherhood Howard
2024 Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F Det. Jeffrey Friedman
TBA The Problem with People Barry

Television[]

Year Title Role
1982 Remington Steele Ivan Turbell
1987 Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color Dexter Bunche
1987–1990 My Two Dads Micheal Taylor
1992-1999 Mad About You Paul Buchman
2001 My Beautiful Son Jerry Lipman
2002 Curb Your Enthusiasm Himself
Women vs. Men Bruce
2011 The Paul Reiser Show Himself
2013 Behind the Candelabra Mr. Felder
2014–2016 TripTank Gary (voice)
2014–2015 Married Shep
2014–2017 Red Oaks Doug Getty
2013 Elementary Dr. Mason Baldwin
2017–2022 Stranger Things Dr. Sam Owens
2018 The Romanoffs Bob Isaacson
2019 Fosse/Verdon Cy Feuer
2019–2021 The Kominsky Method Martin Schneider
2022 The Boys The Legend
Reboot Gordon Gelman

References

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