Kevin Elliot Pollak (born October 30, 1957) is an American actor, comedian, impressionist and podcast host. He has appeared in over 90 films; his roles include Sam Weinberg in Rob Reiner's A Few Good Men, Jacob Goldman in Grumpy Old Men and its sequel Grumpier Old Men; Todd Hockney in The Usual Suspects, Phillip Green in Martin Scorsese's Casino, and Bobby Chicago in End of Days. From 2016 to 2022, he played a recurring role in Better Things. From 2017 to 2023, Pollak was a regular cast member on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel on Amazon.

Early life

Pollak was born on October 30, 1957, in San Francisco, California. He is the younger son of Elaine Harlow and Robert Pollak. He has one older brother, Craig, who lives in San Jose, California. He attended high school at Pioneer High School in San Jose. Pollak was raised in Reform Judaism.

Career

Acting

As an actor, Pollak's roles include the best friend, family or confidant characters to the leading men, as he did in Ricochet (1991), A Few Good Men (1992), Grumpy Old Men (1993) and its sequel Grumpier Old Men (1995), Casino (1995), End of Days (1999), and The Wedding Planner (2001). However, he has also played a wide variety of parts, such as a comical brownie in Willow (1988), the philandering brother of Sarah Jessica Parker in Miami Rhapsody (1995), a criminal in The Usual Suspects (1995), a father in She's All That (1999), and a gangster in The Whole Nine Yards (2000). His most substantial role to date was in Deterrence (1999), in which he played the main character, a vice president who must take over for a deceased President and deal with a nuclear crisis. Pollak briefly hosted Celebrity Poker Showdown in its first season. In December 2006, he played Karl Kreutzfeld in the Sci Fi Channel miniseries The Lost Room. Through 2008, he had a recurring role as a district attorney on the television series Shark. In March 2008, Pollak played himself in the web series The Writers Room on Crackle. In 2010, he portrayed Sheriff Tom Wagner in Choose. In January 2010, Pollak was scheduled to host Our Little Genius on FOX, but the series was pulled before it could air on television. Pollak was then seen hosting Million Dollar Money Drop for FOX at the end of 2010; the show ran for 12 episodes. In 2014, Pollak began a recurring role as Alvin Biletnikoff on the CBS sitcom Mom. His time on the show ended with the death of his character. Starting in 2016, Pollak played the role of Marion in the FX series Better Things. His character was recurring throughout all five seasons. In 2017, Pollak joined the cast of the Golden Globe–winning The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, an original series from Amazon, as Moishe Maisel, the main character's father-in-law. In 2019, Pollak appeared in five episodes of the fourth season on Showtime's Billions, as Douglas Mason.

Directing

Pollak's directorial debut was on the horror web series Vamped Out, featured on the internet television platform Babelgum. Jason Antoon, Seana Kofoed, Samm Levine and Pollak all acted in the ensemble cast. The screenbook was based on a simple joke that Antoon and Pollak had between them. Pollak's feature film directorial debut, the comedy documentary Misery Loves Comedy, premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. The film sold North American rights to Tribeca Film, a US distribution company. Pollak directed the comedy film The Late Bloomer, starring Johnny Simmons, which was released in 2016.

Stand-up

As a comedian, Pollak's most famous work was his 1991 HBO special Stop with the Kicking, directed by fellow comedian David Steinberg and produced by comedy writer Martin Olson. In July 2010, The Littlest Suspect, his most recent comedy special, was aired on Showtime. Comedy Central named Pollak one of the Top 100 Comedians of All Time. Celebrity impressions • Woody Allen • Alan Arkin • Albert Brooks • Gabriel Byrne • Johnny Carson • Christopher Lloyd • Robert De Niro • Peter Falk • Richard Kind • Dudley Moore • Eddie Murphy • Liam Neeson • Jack Nicholson • Al Pacino • Paul Reiser • Arnold Schwarzenegger • William Shatner • Sylvester Stallone • Jason Statham • Christopher Walken • Robin Williams • Larry King

Podcasting

In April 2009, Pollak partnered with Jason Calacanis on a weekly Internet talk show, Kevin Pollak's Chat Show. Guests for the show include film directors Kevin Smith and Mike Binder, comedians Jimmy Pardo and Bill Burr, and actors Nia Vardalos, Illeana Douglas, Bryan Cranston, Dana Carvey, Billy West, John DiMaggio, Matthew Perry, Jon Hamm, Paul Rudd, Adam Carolla, Anthony Cumia, Jason Alexander, Seth MacFarlane, Tom Hanks, Larry David and Jason Lee. The guest interviews are very in-depth and typically longer than an hour in duration, sometimes exceeding two hours. Common topics include the guests' childhoods, how they got into the business they are in (typically show business), how they got inspired to start certain creative endeavors, and unique experiences they have had while working. Viewers can interact via chat room during the show, and sometimes questions for the guest posed in the chat room are answered live. The show's self-described "Paul Shaffer" is actor Samm Levine. Recurring segments and bits on the show include: In 2012, Pollak began a new podcast called Talkin Walkin in which he spends an hour or more with a new guest in character as Christopher Walken. After three episodes, the show was rated in the top 5 of all comedy podcasts by iTunes. He is the only person to ever go "2 for 2" (two exact matches), as a guest on the Sklar Brothers/Daniel Van Kirk podcast Dumb People Town, in the "Guess the Age" game. The feat was completed on the episode released on April 2, 2018. In 2018, Pollak began hosting a comedy improvisation podcast called Alchemy This, on the network iHeartRadio. It features a regular cast of 5 members, Craig Cackowski, James Heaney, Chris Alvarado, Vanessa Ragland, and Joey Greer, as well as several guests.

Poker

Pollak is an avid poker player. He finished 134th out of 6,598 entrants in the 2012 World Series of Poker and won $52,718. He also hosts weekly home games with Hollywood celebrities.

Personal life

In 1995, Pollak married comedian Lucy Webb. They separated in 2005 and divorced in 2008.

Filmography

Film

Television

Web

Awards and nominations

Book