Fisher Stevens

Early life

Stevens was born in Chicago, the son of Jewish parents Sally and Norman Fisher. Stevens grew up in the Chicago, Illinois, area, living in Hyde Park, Highland Park, and Evanston and describes himself as a "white Jewish kid from Chicago."

His parents divorced when he was 13, after which he moved to New York with his mother. At age 16, Stevens landed his first film role, acting in the horror film The Burning. He completed one year at New York University before deciding to pursue acting full time. He adopted the stage name "Fisher Stevens" upon joining the Screen Actors Guild because the Guild had several existing actors named "Steven Fisher".

Career

Stevens co-founded the Naked Angels Theater Company with longtime friends Rob Morrow, Nicole Burdette, Pippin Parker, Charles Landry, Nancy Travis and Ned Eisenberg in 1986. He co-founded Greene Street Films, a film production company located in Tribeca, New York City, in 1996. Stevens performed as Edgar Allan Poe on Lou Reed's album The Raven in 2003. He is a harmonica player.

As an actor, Stevens is known for his roles as Chuck Fishman on Early Edition, Seamus O'Neill on Key West, Eugene "The Plague" Belford in Hackers, Iggy Koopa in Super Mario Bros., Hawk Ganz in The Flamingo Kid, and his role as the Indian robotics scientist Ben Jabituya/Jahveri in Short Circuit and Short Circuit 2, respectively. His television credits include Columbo, Frasier, Friends, Law & Order, Key West, Damages, The Mentalist and Lost. He appeared on two episodes of the television series Numbers.

Stevens has a Broadway and Off-Broadway career spanning nearly three decades. In 1988, he and John Leguizamo appeared in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream where he played Demetrius. He played Jigger Craigin in the 1994 Lincoln Center revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel. He had an early success in the 1982 Broadway production of Torch Song Trilogy playing David Beckoff, the adopted son of Arnold Beckoff, the gay protagonist played by the show's writer Harvey Fierstein, and the original Broadway production of Brighton Beach Memoirs, where he succeeded Matthew Broderick in the starring role of Eugene Jerome. Throughout his career he has acted in and directed more than 50 stage productions.

In 2010, Stevens co-founded a new media and documentary film company, Insurgent Media, with Andrew Karsch and Erik H. Gordon.

In June 2010, Stevens made his major theatrical directing debut with John Leguizamo's one-man show, Ghetto Klown (originally called Klass Klown), which eventually ran on Broadway from March to July 2011. The two had appeared together in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at The Public Theater about 20 years earlier. On July 13, 2012, PBS debuted Tales From a Ghetto Klown, a documentary about the development of the show which prominently features Stevens.

In 2010, Stevens and director Louie Psihoyos won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 82nd Academy Awards for co-producing The Cove.

He is a signatory of the Film Workers for Palestine boycott pledge that was published in September 2025.

Personal life

Stevens dated actress Michelle Pfeiffer from 1989 until 1992. Stevens later dated longtime filmmaking partner and producer Alexis Bloom. The couple married in 2017 in a private ceremony. They have two children.

Stevens is a survivor of Hodgkin lymphoma.

Filmography

Actor

Film

Television

Director

Producer

Writer

• Sam the Man (2000, story)
• The Grean Teem (2009, story)

Narrator

• Secondhand Souls: A Novel by Christopher Moore
• A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore
• Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore
• The Highest Tide: A Novel by Jim Lynch

Awards and nominations

References

References

1. Lipton, Michael A.. (July 13, 1992). "The Two Lives of Catwoman – Couples, Batman Returns, Fisher Stevens, Michelle Pfeiffer". [[People (magazine).
2. Johnson, Steven. (June 26, 1986). "Fisher Stevens Scoots Into The Limelight 'Short Circuit' Role Puts Chicago Native On Fast Track". [[Chicago Tribune]].
3. (October 26, 2023). "Leonardo DiCaprio Helped Fisher Stevens Land His Director Role for Beckham".
4. Steve Weinstein. (August 2, 1988). "Shooting Stars: 'Short Circuit's' Stevens No Foreigner to Ethnic Roles". [[Los Angeles Times]].
5. {{IMDb name. 0001770
6. "Director Fisher Stevens on Being the Ringmaster of John Leguizamo's Ghetto Klown".
7. "Biography for Fisher Stevens". [[Internet Movie Database]].
8. Hurwitt, Robert. (June 3, 2010). "John Leguizamo goes deeper, darker in 'Klown'". [[San Francisco Chronicle]].
9. Isherwood, Charles. (March 22, 2011). "A Queens Guy Toughs It Out in Hollywood". [[The New York Times]].
10. Aucoin, Don. (July 12, 2012). "In 'Tales From a Ghetto Klown,' Broadway minus the glitz". [[The Boston Globe]].
11. "Nominees & Winners for the 82nd Academy Awards | Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences". Oscars.org.
12. Betts, Anna. (2025-09-10). "Actors and directors pledge not to work with Israeli film groups 'implicated in genocide'". The Guardian.
13. Jones, Isabel. (2021-01-28). "TBT: Michelle Pfeiffer and Fisher Stevens".
14. (2017-03-10). "Fisher Stevens is a Married New Dad".
15. (2016). "Before the Flood [programme note]". Toronto International Film Festival.
16. (January 12, 2022). "SAG Awards: 'House of Gucci,' 'The Power of the Dog' Lead Film Nominations". [[The Hollywood Reporter]].
17. (January 10, 2024). "Nominations Announced for the 30th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards®". [[Screen Actors Guild]].