BROOKS, ALBERT

BROOKS, ALBERT (1947– ), U.S. director, actor, comedian. Albert Brooks was born Albert Lawrence Einstein in Beverly Hills, Calif., to radio comedian Harry and singer Thelma Einstein (née Leeds). One of his three brothers is Bob Einstein, a writer and comedian who performs under the name Super Dave Osborne. As a child, his best friend was rob reiner . Reiner's father, Carl, when asked who the funniest person he knew was, answered that it was a 13-year-old kid named Albert Einstein. Albert Brooks began his professional career as a sportswriter for KMPC radio in Los Angeles (1962–63), briefly attended Los Angeles City College, and then studied drama at Carnegie-Mellon University from 1966 to 1967. He changed his name to Albert Brooks when he went into stand-up comedy in 1968, the same year he wrote for the ABC TV show Turn On. Brooks directed his first short film in 1973, titled Great American Dream Machine, and then created shorts for NBC's Saturday Night Live in 1975–76. He made occasional appearances on TV starting in 1968, including memorable appearances on The Johnny Carson Show, but his first acting debut in a feature film came with Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976). Brooks continued to star in films, including his Academy Award-nominated turn as frustrated reporter Aaron Altan in Broadcast News (1987), but his primary focus was directing, which served as his platform to lampoon everything from the film industry to family relationships to the afterlife. Brooks' first feature film, Real Life (1979), was a black comedy about suburban life. Lost in America (1985) offered up a yuppie take on Easy Rider, while in The Muse (1999) he starred alongside Sharon Stone and Andie McDowell. He also won great acclaim as the voice of "Marlin," the father, in Finding Nemo (2003). (Adam Wills (2nd ed.)