Bronson Pinchot

Birthday: 20 May 1959, New York City, New York, USA

Birth Name: Bronson Alcott Pinchot

Height: 175 cm

When Bronson Pinchot began auditioning for Broadway roles, he refused to do accents. Years later, his ability to do accents is what gave him his first break in film and led to television success as Balki Bartokomous, the odd cousin from a Balkan nation who comes to live with Mark Linn-Baker on the sitcom Perfect Strangers (1986).Pinchot was born in New York, raised in Pasadena, and attended Yale on a full scholarship, first being interested in art. It was there that he began to pursue acting. Cast in an off-Broadway play soon after his 1981 graduation, Pinchot was seen by a casting director and gained the role of one of Joel's poker playing friends in Risky Business (1983) and appeared the next year in The Flamingo Kid (1984). Cast as Serge, an associate art dealer, in Beverly Hills Cop (1984), Pinchot stole his one real scene from Eddie Murphy. This role led to Balki with his odd accent and eccentric style. The series continued for seven seasons. He didn't fare as well in The Trouble with Larry (1993), where he again played a visitor who comes to stay.His small screen success did not translate as easily to the big screen. The box office flops Second Sight (1989) and Blame It on the Bellboy (1992) didn't repeat his earlier successes. It wasn't until his role in True Romance (1993) and his reprisal of Serge in Beverly Hills Cop III (1994) that audiences took note of his talent again. He appeared in Courage Under Fire (1996) and took a familiar comedic role in The First Wives Club (1996) as Duarte Feliz, a flamboyant interior designer.Television has continued to offer Pinchot opportunities. In 1995, he appeared in Stephen King's The Langoliers (1995). The following year, he joined the cast of Step by Step (1991) as the owner of a hair salon. Unlike the manic bizarrely-turned characters Pinchot often played, on TV talk shows he has proven to be witty and erudite.He first appeared on Broadway in 1990 in 'Zoya's Apartment,' a comedic play at the Circle in the Square theater. In 1999, He appeared with Carol Burnett and John Barrowman in _Putting It Together' (1999) and in 2004's revival 'Sly Fox,' with Richard Dreyfuss and Eric Stoltz. More recently, he appeared on the 5th season of The Surreal Life (2003). Show less «

(2009, on Beverly Hills Cop) I almost didn't do the movie, because my girlfriend and I had tickets t...Show more »

(2009, on Beverly Hills Cop) I almost didn't do the movie, because my girlfriend and I had tickets to go to Florence, and they kept pushing the date back of when they were going to shoot it. Not having a crystal ball and not knowing what was going to happen with it, I said, "If you don't shoot it before next Wednesday, I'm not doing it. We've got tickets to Florence, and I'm not not going to Florence." I didn't have any money, I was nobody, and I was just kidding around and having fun, and it came out, and people were following me around and shrieking and taking pictures, acting like I was a big deal. I didn't have any concept of what the hell was going on. But basically, it was a couple of days, fooling around, having fun. I almost didn't do it. Show less «

(2009, on Beverly Hills Cop 3) Beverly Hills Cop opened up a whole world. I got the television show ...Show more »

(2009, on Beverly Hills Cop 3) Beverly Hills Cop opened up a whole world. I got the television show and movies, and I would go sign autographs for one hour and get paid $25,000. I had bodyguards and police barricades, and I had that whole life from 1985 to about 1992, '93. Eddie was going through his period at the time of doing movies that were not hits, and he was very low-spirited, low-energy. I said to him, "All anyone ever wants to know when they meet me is what you're like." And he said, "I bet they don't ask that anymore." And then when we did a scene, we were shooting, and he was so low-energy that John Landis sent him upstairs and said, "Just rest, Eddie, and I'll do the scene with Bronson." So whenever you see my face in the movie, I'm not really talking to Eddie, I'm talking to John Landis. And I can understand it-he was just having a bad stretch. And that stretch lasted... When did Dr. Dolittle come out? I think his funk really did last until then. I don't know what started the funk, but it lasted a chunk of time, and that was in the belly of the funk, and he was just really sad and low-energy and I basically did the scene without him there. Show less «

[2009, on Risky Business (1983)] We didn't know it was going to be a big hit. We thought Tom [Cruise...Show more »

[2009, on Risky Business (1983)] We didn't know it was going to be a big hit. We thought Tom [Cruise] was the biggest bore on the face of the Earth. He had spent some formative time with Sean Penn-we were all very young at the time, Tom was 20, I was 23. Tom had picked up this knack of calling everyone by their character names, because that would probably make your performance better, and I don't agree with that. I think that acting is acting, and the rest of the time, you should be you, but he called us all by our character names. He was tense and made constant, constant unrelated homophobic comments, like, "You want some ice cream, in case there are no gay people there?" I thought the movie would disappear. It just goes to show you, I obviously don't have the antennae for that. I didn't see it at all, but neither did any of the actors. All of the actors who talked about him were like, "What is this guy all about?" And you know, honestly, I never got it, and I don't get it to this day. But it was his breakout film. He always talked about himself like he was a mega-superstar; that was weird, too. Show less «

(2009, on making Courage Under Fire) That was a low point, because Denzel Washington was behind the ...Show more »

(2009, on making Courage Under Fire) That was a low point, because Denzel Washington was behind the incredibly cowardly bullshit of "This is my character, not me." He was really abusive to me and everybody on that movie, and his official explanation was that his character didn't like me, but it was a dreadful experience. I spent my salary on time with my shrink just for helping me get through it...Denzel Washington cured me forever of thinking that there is any amount of money or anything that could ever, ever make it okay to be abused. The script supervisor on that movie said it's like watching somebody kick a puppy. He was so vile. And after that, I just would never endure it again. Show less «

(2009, on True Romance) That was an exciting thing, because at that point in my life, no one had rea...Show more »

(2009, on True Romance) That was an exciting thing, because at that point in my life, no one had really ever heard me speak with my own voice. I remember the first couple of weeks, people would lean in and say, "Let's hear him talk!" Which was kind of a compliment, but weird. If it had been a hit, it would have been the exact opening chapter of the second act of my career. It was an interesting role, it was a good character role in a dramatic movie. So it was a hugely important thing. And it was a fun, very exciting thing. Show less «

Bronson Pinchot

Bronson Pinchot's FILMOGRAPHY

Bronson Pinchot'S roles

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