Mr. Magoo - About The Cast

Mr. Magoo: About The Cast

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A veteran of over 60 motion picture roles and more than a thousand television appearances, the internationally beloved LESLIE NIELSEN (Quincy Magoo) built his early reputation portraying stern, rather humorless types (including the space ship commander in the science fiction classic "Forbidden Planet" and the captain of the ill-fated cruise ship in "The Poseidon Adventure") before turning his image inside out with a hilarious deadpan performance as the loopy doctor in Paramount's "Airplane!"

This comedic turn made Nielsen a bona-fide film superstar, and Leslie then reunited with directors/writers Jerry Zucker, David Zucker and Jim Abrahams to originate the role of police Lt. Frank Drebin on the critically acclaimed and now-cult television series "Police Squad!" for which he received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead in a Comedy Series in 1982.

He recreated that indelibly funny role in three subsequent hit feature films: "The Naked Gun," "Naked Gun 2 1/2" and "Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult."

Born in Regina, Saskatchewan, the son of a Canadian Mounted Policeman, Nielsen grew up near the Arctic Circle, and then moved south to Edmonton, Alberta to attend school. After graduation, he served as an aerial gunner in the Royal Canadian Air Force. Leslie entered show business via a Calgary radio station where he worked as an engineer, disc jockey and announcer.

He then studied acting at Lorne Green's Academy of Radio Arts in Toronto, where he received a scholarship to the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City and studied there with Sanford Meisner. He also studied dance with the legendary Martha Graham, completed a season of summer stock and advanced training at the famed Actor's Studio.

Nielsen's television career began in 1950 with a "Studio One" appearance with Charlton Heston, followed by acting stints in a 46 live programs that same year. In 1954, he was brought to Hollywood by Paramount Pictures to star in Michael Curtiz' "The Vagabond King." So strongly received was his performance that Leslie won a long-term contract at MGM, and starred in such films as "Ransom!" "The Opposite Sex" and "The Sheepman."

In such demand, Leslie was loaned to Universal, where he created the role of the "Bachelor" opposite Debbie Reynolds in the hit comedy, "Tammy and the Bachelor." His other film roles include "Prom Night," George Romero's "Creepshow," Richard Brooks' "Wrong Is Right," Martin Ritt's "Nuts," with Barbra Streisand, "Repossessed," "Surf Ninjas" and Mel Brooks' "Dracula: Dead and Loving It," with the title role. He most recently starred in the comedy "Spy Hard."

Throughout the 1960s and '70s, Nielsen appeared regularly on television action series such as "Wagon Train," "The Fugitive," "The Virginian," "Cannon," "Kojak," "S.W.A.T." and "Vegas." He also starred in seven series of his own, including "The New Breed" (1961-62, as Lieutenant Price Adams), "Peyton Place" (1965-70, as Dr. Vincent Markham), "The Protectors" (1969-70, as Sam Danforth), "Bracken's World" (1970, as film studio mogul John Bracken) and in the highly acclaimed miniseries, "Backstairs at the White House."

More recently, Nielsen was a guest star on "Evening Shade," and also appeared as Katherine Helmond's boyfriend on "Who's The Boss?," with other TV guest shots including starring as Bea Arthur's husband during the final two episodes of "The Golden Girls" and in 1993, portraying God on Fox TV's "Herman's Head."

On stage, Nielsen has toured with his highly praised one-man show, "Darrow," and in 1990, starred opposite Carol Burnett in an acclaimed Los Angeles production of "Love Letters."

Nielsen's passion for the game of golf led to his creating two best-selling golf videos, "Leslie Nielsen's Bad Golf Made Easier" and "Bad Golf My Way," as well as Leslie Nielsen's Stupid Little Golf Book published by Doubleday.

Last year, Nielsen was honored with UCLA's Jack Benny Award, a tribute to his comedic excellence.

Born in Minneapolis, KELLY LYNCH's (Luanne) early work included a stint with the renowned Guthrie Theater. She went on to study with legendary acting teacher Sanford Meisner and gained worldwide acclaim as a model for the prestigious Elite Modeling Agency.

Lynch gained early international critical acclaim for her dramatically charged role as Matt Dillon's drug-addict wife and partner in crime in Gus Van Sant's "Drugstore Cowboy." Among her other outstanding performances are in the films "Road House," "Warm Summer Rain," "Desperate Hours," "Curly Sue," "Three of Hearts," "Imaginary Crimes," "White Man's Burden," "Virtuosity," and "Heaven's Prisoners."

Her performance in "The Beans of Egypt, Maine" earned Lynch an Independent Spirit Award nomination.

Lynch recently completed filming on "Cold Around The Heart" for 20th-Century Fox and "Home Grown," co-starring Hank Azaria and Billy Bob Thornton.

Born in Benton Harbor, Michigan, the highly respected and most versatile ERNIE HUDSON (Gus Anders) became a resident playwright at Detroit's Concept East, one of the area's most respected theater companies. He then received a scholarship to Yale School of Drama, where his career focus switched to acting.

Hudson's impressive list of film credits include "Ghostbusters," "Ghostbusters II," "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle," "The Crow," "No Escape," "The Cowboy Way," "Speechless," "Congo," "The Basketball Diaries" and "The Substitute."

His television credits include HBO's "Tales From The Crypt," Oliver Stone's "Wild Palms" miniseries, "Tribeca" produced by Robert De Niro and "Roots II." Hudson recently starred in Barry Levinson's "Oz" for HBO. Hudson will soon star in the dramatic film "Butter," portraying a power hungry record company owner/producer, and will also star in the martial arts action thriller "Without Warning."

STEPHEN TOBOLOWSKY (Chuck Stupack) was born and raised in Dallas, Texas and studied acting at Southern Methodist University. His diverse film credits include "Mississippi Burning," "The Grifters," "Funny About Love," "Thelma & Louise," "Single White Female," "Sneakers," "Hero," and "Groundhog Day." Tobolowsky recently completed filming on "Glimmer Man" and "An Alan Smithee Film."

Stephen's television credits include recurring roles on "Murder One," and "Chicago Hope," and guest roles on "Seinfeld," "L.A. Law," "Civil Wars," and "Designing Women." Television movies credits include "Last Flight Out" for NBC, "Love Kills" for ABC and "Wedlock" for HBO.

Tobolowsky's long and distinguished list of theatrical roles include acclaimed turns on Broadway's "Wake of Jamie Foster," "The Three Sisters" and "The Glass Menagerie" for the Los Angeles Theater Center; and "Uncle Vanya" at Los Angeles' Theater 40 for which he won a prestigious Dramalogue Award. Also an accomplished writer, he has written the screenplays for "True Stories" and "Two Idiots in Hollywood."

NICK CHINLUND (Bob Morgan) is a richly talented actor with a most impressive list of film, television and stage credits. He was recently seen co-starring in this summer's action blockbuster "Con Air," and was also seen starring in the critically acclaimed feature "A Brother's Kiss," a role he was directly responsible for creating upon commissioning a playwright to adapt stories of life in the ghetto. The film version of "Brother's Kiss" also stars Rosie Perez, Marisa Tomei and Michael Raynor reprising his original stage role as Chinlund's brother.

Born and raised in East Harlem, Chinlund left the inner city of New York to pursue athletics and education. A former basketball player, he was forced to stop playing in his freshman year at Brown University because of an injury. While studying history, he began taking acting classes and realized that he wanted to become an actor.

After graduating from Brown, Chinlund moved to Los Angeles and starred in a number of critically acclaimed theater productions including "Maps for Drowners," "A View from the Bridge," "Partners" and "Street Scene."

From 1988-1989, he worked at the Williamstown Theater Festival, performing in numerous productions including "Mother Courage," "The Legend of Oedipus," "The American Clock" and Shakespeare's "Henry IV." Other theater credits include Off-Broadway's "Owl's Breath," "Brothers, Mothers & Others," and "Corner Boys."

Chinlund's motion picture credits include "Lethal Weapon 3," with Mel Gibson and Danny Glover, and "Eraser," with Arnold Schwarzenegger. He also made a special guest appearances on "The X-Files" and appeared on "NYPD Blue."

Chinlund lives in New York and Los Angeles.

MATT KEESLAR (Waldo) landed his first major role in the film "Safe Passage" while still a drama student at the famed Juilliard School. Other film credits include "Run of the Country," "The Stupids" for director John Landis, "Waiting for Guffman" for director Christopher Guest, and the recently released "The Deli." Keeslar has also just completed filming "Sour Grapes" which was written and directed by Larry David; and has the starring role in Whit Stillman's feature "The Last Days of Disco" for Castle Rock.

Television credits include the title role in the CBS movie, "The Dan Jansen Story." While starring in the telefilm, Keeslar was also on stage at the South Coast Repertory Theater performing in "The Interrogation of Nathan Hale." He has also performed in "Fit to be Tied" at the Playwrights Horizons Theater.

JENNIFER GARNER (Stacey Sampanahoditra) has already forged a diverse and notable number of screen characters in her blossoming career. Her most prominent roles include Marian Almond in "Washington Square," and starring in such acclaimed films as the Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation, "Rose Hill" (which became that highly prestigious anthology series' highest-rated film its 45-year history). Garner was also featured in the Hallmark presentation "Harvest of Fire." She will soon be seen starring in the lead role in the new Fox series "Significant Others."

Garner's other feature film credits include a number of highly anticipated upcoming motion pictures including Woody Allen's "Deconstructing Henry," and the independent feature "1999" (scheduled for 1998 release) co-starring Dan Futterman.

MIGUEL FERRER's (Ortega Peru) film career includes roles in the soon-to-be released "Night Flier," as well as outstanding turns in such recent hit films as "Blank Check," "Hot Shots: Part Deux," John Badham's "Another Stakeout," and "Point of No Return," David Lynch's "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me," Tony Scott's "Revenge," and Paul Verhoeven's "Robocop."

Ferrer's television credits include series regular roles on the upcoming NBC series "Lateline," and the David Lynch pilot "On the Air."

Miguel first worked with David Lynch as the unforgettable FBI agent Albert Rosenfield in the highly acclaimed cult series "Twin Peaks." He starred in the Emmy Award winning miniseries "Cruel Doubt," and "Drug Wars: The Camarena Story," as well as the Stephen King miniseries, "The Stand."

MALCOLM McDOWELL (Austin Cloquet) has thrilled global film and television audiences for years with his diverse and spellbinding portrayals in such feature films as "Star Trek: The Next Generation"; "Bopha," (the directorial debut of Morgan Freeman); Robert Altman's "The Player," "Cat People," and Stanley Kubrick's, "A Clockwork Orange." Malcolm recently completed work on "World of Moss," co-starring Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio.

For television, Malcolm starred in last season's "Pearl" with Rhea Perlman. Other television credits include Harold Pinter's "The Collection" with Laurence Olivier, CBS's "Arthur the King," in which he played the title role, the television movie "The Man Who Wouldn't Die" with Roger Moore, and NBC's critically acclaimed "Seasons of the Heart" with Carol Burnett. Malcolm also guest-starred on HBO's "Tales from the Crypt."

McDowell has performed theatrically all over the world. He spent two years with the Royal Shakespeare Company in London and performed in "Entertaining Mr. Sloane" at the Royal Court Theater and Duke of York Theater. In New York he has starred in "Look Back in Anger," "In Celebrate," and "Another Time." In 1990, Malcolm appeared in "Hunting Cockroaches" at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles.

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