Martin Landau

For revered actor MARTIN LANDAU there has been a rich continuity of great roles and great performances across six decades.

Landau, winner of the 1994 Best Supporting Oscar® for his portrayal of Bela Lugosi in Tim Burton's "Ed Wood," had also been nominated for an Academy Award® twice before, first in 1988 for his performance as Abe Karatz in Francis Ford Coppola's "Tucker" and again for his role as Judah Rosenthal in Woody Allen's "Crimes and Misdemeanors."

In addition to his Academy Award® nominations, Landau's list of honors for "Ed Wood" was unprecedented. He received The Hollywood Foreign Press Golden Globe® Award, The Screen Actors Guild's® first annual award, The Actor, The American Comedy Award, The New York Film Critics Award, The National Society of Film Critics Award, The Chicago Film Critics Award, The Los Angeles Film Critics Award, The Boston Film Critics Award and the Texas Film Critics Award.

One of the most active of film and television performers, he is also one of the most acknowledged and sought-after acting teachers. A proud member of The Actors Studio, he has continued that great teaching institution as Artistic Director of Actors Studio West, a post he has for many years shared with director Mark Rydell. He has been personal instructor for many of Hollywood's greatest stars.

Landau made his Hollywood debut in the Gregory Peck-starring war film, "Pork Chop Hill" and went on to star in such films as Alfred Hitchcock's "North By Northwest," Allen's "Crimes and Misdemeanors," Tim Burton's "Ed Wood," Francis Ford Coppola's "Tucker" and Joseph L. Mankiewicz's "Cleopatra."

Landau also starred in "Without A Trace," playing Anthony LaPaglia's father, a man in the beginning stages of Alzheimer's, and thereafter on "Entourage." In addition to dozens of made-for-TV and cable movies and hundreds of guest- starring appearances in episodic shows, television viewers around the world are familiar with the two hit series in which Landau starred, "Mission: Impossible" and "Space: 1999."

Landau's distinctive voice and vocal character creation have made him a leading voice actor of animated films. He teamed with such other esteemed actors as Laurence Fishburne in the Hallmark Hall of Fame production of the beloved Mitch Albom novel, "Have A Little Faith" and with Ellen Burstyn in the festival-honored feature, "Lovely, Still."

Landau starred in "The Aryan Couple," with Judy Parfitt, a festival-honored theatrical film written and directed by Landau's longtime friend, partner and fellow Oscar® winner, the late John Daly. For this performance, set against the terrors of Nazi persecutions, Landau was honored with the following awards: Milano International Film Festival (Best Actor) and Jewish Image Awards (Best Male Role).

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., he studied art at the prestigious Pratt Institute, regarded as one of America's finest art schools. Then at 17, he worked as an artist for the New York Daily News, the newspaper with the country's largest circulation, illustrating Billy Rose's column, "Pitching Horseshoes," as well as other comic strips, including the renowned "The Gumps." Needing a new challenge, he resigned from the newspaper and began studying theater in his early twenties. When he auditioned for the Actor's Studio, he was one of 2000 applicants. That year only Martin Landau and Steve McQueen were accepted.

Gaining experience under the tutelage of some of the theater's greatest directors at the Actor's Studio (Strasberg, Elia Kazan, Harold Clurman, Bobby Lewis and Curt Conway), Landau soon moved into professional theater. He played Juvan in Franz Werfel's "Goat Song," a role originated by Alfred Lunt, as well as other stage successes, including "Stalag 17," "First Love the Penguin" and Arthur Miller's "All My Sons." Having created the role with great success on Broadway, he arrived in Hollywood with the national company of Paddy Chayefsky's "Middle of the Night," which starred Edward G. Robinson. Alfred Hitchcock's viewing of that play resulted in his casting the young Landau opposite Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason in "North By Northwest."

© 2012 Walt Disney Pictures