Richard Dreyfuss is an American leading man, who has played his fair share of irritating pests and brash, ambitious hustlers.

He was born Richard Stephen Dreyfus in Brooklyn, New York, to Geraldine (Robbins), an activist, and Norman Dreyfus, a restaurateur and attorney. His paternal grandparents were Austro-Hungarian Jewish immigrants, and his mother's family was Russian Jewish.

Richard worked his way up through bit parts (Sotsugyô (1967), for one) and TV before gaining attention with his portrayal of Baby Face Nelson inJohn Milius'Dillinger (1973). He gained prominence as a college-bound young man inAmerican Graffiti (1973) and as a nervy Jewish kid with high hopes inThe Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974). By the latter part of the 1970s Dreyfuss was established as a major star, playing leads (and alter-egos) forSteven Spielberg in two of the top-grossing films of the that decade:Jaws (1975) andMichi tono sôgû (1977). He won a Best Actor Oscar in his first romantic lead as an out-of-work actor inThe Goodbye Girl (1977). Dreyfuss also produced and starred in the entertaining private eye movieThe Big Fix (1978). After a brief lull in the early 1980s, a well-publicized drug problem and a string of box-office disappointments (The Competition (1980),Whose Life Is It Anyway? (1981),The Buddy System (1984)), a clean and sober Dreyfuss re-established himself in the mid-'80s as one of Hollywood's more engaging leads. He co-starred withBette Midler andNick Nolte inPaul Mazursky's popularDown and Out in Beverly Hills (1986). That same year he provided the narration and appeared in the opening and closing "bookends" ofRob Reiner's nostalgicStand by Me (1986). He quickly followed that withNuts (1987) oppositeBarbra Streisand,Barry Levinson'sTin Men (1987) in a memorable teaming withDanny DeVito, andStakeout (1987) withEmilio Estevez. Dreyfuss continued working steadily through the end of the 1980s and into the 1990s, most notably in Mazursky's farceMoon Over Parador (1988), Spielberg'sAlways (1989),Postcards from the Edge (1990) andRosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1990). He appeared as a member of an ensemble that includedHolly Hunter,Gena Rowlands andDanny Aiello in the romantic comedyOnce Around (1991) and as a pop psychiatrist, the author of several successful self-help books, who is driven to the edge by nutcaseBill Murray in the popular comedyWhat About Bob? (1991). Dreyfuss has also remained active in the theater ("Death and Maiden", 1992) and on TV. In his next project he starred the thrillerSilent Fall (1994) withJohn Lithgow andLinda Hamilton, being the film debut ofLiv Tyler,Steven Tyler's daughter (Aerosmith's lead vocals). Just later Dreyfuss madeAnother Stakeout (1993), sequel ofStakeout (1987) where was team again withEmilio Estevez accompanied ofRosie O'Donnell, the adaptation ofNeil Simon's playニール・サイモンのヨンカーズ物語 (1993) and followed with a supporting turn as the querulous political opponent inPerfect Couple (1995). Dreyfuss received some of the best notices of his career as a determined, inspiring music teacher coping with a deaf son and the demands of his career in陽のあたる教室 (1995). Closing the 20th century he was inSidney Lumet'sNight Falls on Manhattan (1996) withAndy Garcia, the crime comedyMad Dog Time (1996) as the mob boss Vic, the screwball comedyKrippendorf's Tribe (1998) about an anthropologist who creates a false lost New Guinea tribe for not losing his job in the university, TV movieLansky (1999) about the infamous mob boss to end, the too TV movieFail Safe (2000) playing The President, andMiami Guys (2000), about four older mobsters retired in Miami, partnering with Hollywood legendsBurt Reynolds,Dan Hedaya andSeymour Cassel.

His start in the 21st century was with the adaption ofLuis Sepúlveda's novelThe Old Man Who Read Love Stories (2001), playing an old man to must to hunt a female jaguar turned crazy. It was followed by the supporting apparition in the comedyCrime and Diamond (2001) and another TV movie about 1981Ronald Reagan's shootingThe Day Reagan Was Shot (2001). After the short-lived TV seriesThe Education of Max Bickford (2001) about a teacher in a women's college where his daughter is student, Dreyfuss returned to cinema inSilver City (2004) and the box-office bombPoseidon (2006) withKurt Russell,Emmy Rossum andJosh Lucas. Playing former vice-president Dick Cheney in theOliver Stone's biopicBush (2008) and Irv, the cunning tourist in Greece turned in assistant of a troubled tour guide inMy Life in Ruins (2009), Dreyfuss participated in low-budget productions asLeaves of Grass (2009) andThe Lightkeepers (2009), for making a cameo in the wild and crazyPirania 3D (2010) about prehistoric men-eater piranhas that make a bloodbath in a spring break. Returning to first line playing evil Alexander Dunning in the actionerRED (2010), his further productions includedPower Game (2013) asLiam Hemsworth's father partneringHarrison Ford andGary Oldman, road movieCas & Dylan (2013) oppositesTatiana Maslany and the biopic TV mini-seriesMadoff (2016) about the infamous multi-billion-dollar and hustlerBernie Madoff. Tireless and always implied in new projects, Dreyfuss played George, the funny online date ofCandice Bergen inBook Club (2018), the comedy and road movieThe Last Laugh (2019) withChevy Chase, and the set in wilderness thrillerDaughter of the Wolf (2019) withGina Carano andBrendan Fehr. Making his 73rd birthday in 2020, Dreyfuss is an example of talent, diversity and love for his work, touching not only all the genres in cinema but leaving an unforgettable footprint at any of them.