Richard Dreyfuss Biography

Richard Dreyfuss

Energetic actor whose youthful looks belie the fact that he won a Best Actor Oscar 20 years ago (for The Goodbye Girl, 1978), and has been nominated for or won Golden Globes in each of the last three decades. Dreyfuss's exuberance and intensity nearly always work in his favor, in roles ranging from the motivational music teacher in Mr. Holland's Opus (1995) to the hyperbolic father in Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986). Dreyfuss has also starred in some of the most popular movies ever, including American Graffiti (1973), Jaws (1975), and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977).