Biography
Michael Lerner was an American character actor. Born in Brooklyn, New York, on 22 June 1941, he studied at Brooklyn College before receiving a Fulbright Scholarship to train at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. He later worked with the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco.
Lerner appeared in more than 150 film and television roles over six decades. He received an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor for his performance as volatile studio executive Jack Lipnick in the Coen brothers’ Barton Fink (1991). Other notable credits include Eight Men Out (1988), Harlem Nights (1989), Godzilla (1998), Elf (2003), A Serious Man (2009) and X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014).
He died on 8 April 2023 in Burbank, California, aged 81. His brother, actor Ken Lerner, and nephew, actor Sam Lerner, also work in the industry.
