It is 1967, and Larry Gopnik, a physics professor at a quiet Midwestern university, has just been informed by his wife Judith that she is leaving him. She has fallen in love with one of his more pompous acquaintances Sy Ableman.
10-02-2009
1h 46m
THIS
HELLA
Doesn't have an image right now... sorry!has no image... sorry!
Main Cast
Movie Details
Production Info
Directors:
Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Writers:
Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Production:
Focus Features, StudioCanal, Relativity Media, Working Title Films, Mike Zoss Productions
Revenue:
$31,400,000
Budget:
$7,000,000
Key Crew
Producer:
Joel Coen
Production Design:
Jess Gonchor
Director of Photography:
Roger Deakins
Executive Producer:
Eric Fellner
Producer:
Ethan Coen
Locations and Languages
Country:
US
Filming:
FR; GB; US
Languages:
en
Main Cast
Michael Stuhlbarg
Michael Stewart Stuhlbarg (born July 5, 1968) is an American actor. He rose to prominence as troubled university professor Larry Gopnik in the 2009 dark comedy film A Serious Man, directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Stuhlbarg has appeared in numerous films and television series portraying real life figures, such as George Yeaman in Lincoln (2012), Lew Wasserman in Hitchcock (2012), Andy Hertzfeld in Steve Jobs (2015), Edward G. Robinson in Trumbo (2015), Abe Rosenthal in The Post (2017), Stanley Edgar Hyman in Shirley (2020), Arnold Rothstein in HBO's Boardwalk Empire (2010–2013), Richard A. Clarke in The Looming Tower (2018), and as Richard Sackler in Dopesick (2021). His performance in The Looming Tower earned him a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie. Stuhlbarg's other notable supporting roles include Hugo (2011), Men in Black 3 (2012), Blue Jasmine (2013), Pawn Sacrifice (2014), Arrival (2016), and Doctor Strange (2016), the third season of the anthology television series Fargo (2017), as well as on the Showtime series Your Honor (2020-present).
In 2017, Stuhlbarg appeared in the films Call Me by Your Name, The Shape of Water, and The Post, all three of which were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. For Call Me By Your Name, Stuhlbarg received multiple film critics' award nominations in the supporting actor category. On stage, Stuhlbarg has acted in numerous productions including the 2005 debut of The Pillowman on Broadway, for which he won a Drama Desk Award and received a Tony Award nomination.
Richard Bruce Kind (born November 22, 1956) is an American actor (stage, screen, and voice) and comedian. He is best known for his roles as Captain Stan Yenko on CBS's East New York (2022-23), Dr. Mark Devanow on Mad About You (1992–1999, 2019), and Paul Lassiter on Spin City (1996–2002). He's also well known for his other roles as Peter in The History of the World Part II (2023), Mitch on Netflix's The Watcher, Formica Michael Mikowitz on The Goldbergs, Walter Bloom in tick, tick... Boom! (2021), Cousin Andy on Curb Your Enthusiasm (2002–2021), Rudy Giuliani in Bombshell (2019), John Sears in Suburbicon (2017), Gus Barton on IFC's Brockmire, Marty in All We Had (2016), Mayor Aubrey James on FOX's Gotham, Sam Meyers on the Amazon Prime series Red Oaks, Max Klein in Argo (2012), Joey Rathburn on HBO's Luck starring Dustin Hoffman, Uncle Arthur Gopnik in the Coen Brothers film A Serious Man (2009), Abner Kravitz in the film Bewitched (2005), Louis Tiboni in The Station Agent (2003), He began his acting career in Chicago, where he performed in numerous stage productions. He made his Broadway debut in 1984 in the play "The Pirates of Penzance." He has starred in the smash hit Broadway musical The Producers, The Tale of the Allergist's Wife, Candide, and Bounce, among others. He is a Drama Desk Award winner and Tony nominee for the Broadway hit The Big Knife. He has appeared in over 50 films, including Clifford (1994), Stargate (1994), For Your Consideration (2006), Hereafter (2010), and Beau Is Afraid (2023).
In addition to his acting career, he is also a vocal advocate for social justice causes. He is a member of the board of directors of the Creative Coalition, an organization that advocates for the arts in public policy. He is also a supporter of the Human Rights Campaign and the Anti-Defamation League. He is also an alumnus of The Second City in Chicago.
Fred Melamed (born May 13, 1956 in New York City) is an American actor and writer. He received his theatrical training at Hampshire College and the Yale School of Drama. At Yale, he was a Samuel F. B. Morse College Graduate Fellow. He was also a nominee for the Irene Ryan Award, a prize conferred upon the most promising young actors in the United States. While still at Yale, he was an instructor at the well-known performing arts camp, Stagedoor Manor.
Alan Mandell (born Albert Mandell on December 27, 1927) is a Canadian-American actor known for playing Rabbi Marshak in the Coen Brothers' 2009 film A Serious Man. With several decades of experience as a stage actor, he is especially acclaimed as an interpreter of the works of Samuel Beckett.
Albert Mandell was born to a Jewish family in Toronto, Ontario in 1927. He acted on stage in both Canada and the United States, building a reputation in San Francisco's theater scene in the 1950s. In 1968 he legally changed his given name to Alan to avoid being confused with noted mobster Albert Anastasia.
Mandell's association with Beckett began in 1957, with a production of Waiting for Godot at the San Francisco Actor's Workshop. He subsequently played Lucky in a production of Godot directed by Beckett himself.
Outside of Beckett, Mandell has acted in productions of Harold Pinter's No Man's Land and Arthur Miller's The Price. In 2007 he appeared as Juror #9 in a Los Angeles production of Twelve Angry Men, directed by Scott Ellis and costarring Richard Thomas and George Wendt.
Actress known for appearing on TV shows like The Paul Reiser Show and Curb Your Enthusiasm as well as Off-Broadway productions. In 2014, she began playing Sarah Pfefferman on the Amazon comedy-drama series Transparent.
A native of Boston and graduate of Syracuse University, George has worked extensively in TV and film since 1972. Notable film work includes the Coen Brothers' best-picture nominee A Serious Man (2009) as Rabbi Nachtner, Mel Brooks' Spaceballs (1987) as Colonel Sandurz, and his To Be or Not to Be (1983). Among other dozens of film credits are the classic Fletch (1985) and Fletch Lives (1989), The Devil's Advocate (1997), and Trouble with the Curve (2012). George has guest starred on over 150 TV shows, and has been a series regular on nine. He is perhaps best known for his six seasons as Deputy D.A. Irwin Bernstein on Hill Street Blues (1981).
Stephen Park is an American comedian and actor. The son of Korean immigrants, Park began his entertainment career as a stand-up comedian before transitioning into acting. He is best known for being a cast member of the sketch comedy television series In Living Color during the 1991–1992 season. He is also known for the film roles of Mike Yanagita in Fargo (1996), Sonny in Do the Right Thing (1989), and Detective Brian in Falling Down (1993).
Park's other acting work includes the role of Mike Sorayama in the Adult Swim animated television series The Venture Bros. and the role of Judge Pete in the critically acclaimed independent film Rocket Science (2007). Park has acted in two Coen brothers films, Fargo (1996) and A Serious Man (2009).
Fyvush Finkel, born Philip Finkel, was an American actor from New York City, the son of Jewish immigrant parents from Eastern Europe. His career began in the Yiddish theatres of Manhattan where his talent for peppering his singing with comedic inflections gained him notoriety and consistent casting for over thirty years. He finally made his Broadway debut in 1964 as a member of the original production of Fiddler on the Roof, playing Mordcha the innkeeper. During the 1990s he began working in television and came to the attention of producer David E. Kelley, who cast him in two of his successful series: Picket Fences and Boston Public, the former earning him an Emmy (Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series) in 1994. After Boston Public was cancelled in 2004 he returned to the theatres of New York, eventually retiring after the conclusion of the production of New Jerusalem in 2007. He passed away at his home in New York at the age of 93 due to heart problems.
Raye Birk (born May 27, 1943, Flint, Michigan) is an American film and television actor best known for playing the role of Pahpshmir in the first and last of the Naked Gun movies. He was the main villain in Naked Gun 331⁄3: The Final Insult. He has also starred in Due South as the terrorist Francis Bolt in the Episodes "All the Queens Horses", "Red, White and Blue", "Call of the Wild Part One" and "Call of the Wild Part Two". He also had roles in the X-Files and Babylon 5. His other film credits include roles in Best Defense (1984), Amazon Women on the Moon (1987), Throw Momma from the Train (1987), Doc Hollywood (1991) and Star Trek: Insurrection (1998).
In addition to these roles, he had a frequently occurring role as the assistant principal on The Wonder Years; starting with the pilot episode, when he had a conference with Kevin Arnold's parents for throwing food in the cafeteria. While generally antagonist, a more sympathetic role on the show was seen in the award winning episode "Goodbye" where he confides in Kevin that he is Kevin's new math teacher as Kevin's hardnosed algebra teacher has just died. He was also on a pair of Home Improvement episodes as one of Tim's poker buddies. Raye appeared in several episodes on the TV series Night Court. He appeared twice on The Golden Girls, both times playing a wedding caterer.
Furthermore, in 1985, 1986 and 1992, he appeared on three episodes of Cheers as Walt Twitchell, a mailman who got into minor altercations with Cliff Clavin. Birk reprised the role of Twitchell in a 2002 episode of the Cheers spinoff series, Frasier, in which the title character (played by Kelsey Grammer) returned to Boston and re-acquainted himself with old friends from the bar. He played a recurring role on Coach as university band director Riley Pringle from 1989 to 1993. He also appeared in an episode of Mr. Belvedere as an accordion player.
In 2004–2008, he played Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis.
Raye has been married to his wife Candace Barrett for 41 years. They have one son, Joshua, who is a professor of medieval history.
Simon Maxwell Helberg (born December 9, 1980) is an American actor, comedian, and musician. He is known for playing Howard Wolowitz in the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory (2007–2019), for which he won the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, and as Cosmé McMoon in the film Florence Foster Jenkins (2016), for which he was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture.
He has appeared on the sketch comedy series MADtv, and has appeared in films such as Old School (2003), Good Night, and Good Luck (2005), Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007), A Serious Man (2009), and Annette (2021).
He wrote, directed (along with his wife Jocelyn Towne), and starred in the film We'll Never Have Paris (2014), which is based on he and his wife's relationship.
Adam Arkin (born August 19, 1956) is an American actor and director. His father is Oscar Award-winning actor Alan Arkin and his brother is actor Matthew Arkin. He is known for playing the role of Aaron Shutt on Chicago Hope. He has been nominated for numerous awards, including a Tony (Best Actor, 1991, I Hate Hamlet) as well as three primetime Emmys, four SAG Awards (Ensemble, Chicago Hope), and a DGA Award (My Louisiana Sky). Beginning in 1990, he had a recurring guest role on Northern Exposure playing the angry, paranoid Adam, for which he received an Emmy nomination. In 2002, Arkin won a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Directing in a Children's Special for My Louisiana Sky. Between 2007 and 2009, he co-starred in the drama series Life. In 2009, he portrayed villain Ethan Zobelle, a white separatist gang leader, in Sons of Anarchy, and Principal Ed Gibb in 8 Simple Rules (2003–2005).
Warren Keith is an American character actor who has been featured in many contemporary films and has an active career on stage in San Francisco in the late 1990s and since 2000. He is also a director.
Among other films, Keith has acted in four films by the Coen brothers; he played an FBI Agent in Raising Arizona and the fastidious funeral director in The Big Lebowski. In Fargo and A Serious Man he does not appear on screen but is heard several times in telephone conversation with the respective lead characters. He had a starring role in the film Haiku Tunnel. He also has appeared in television shows such as Nash Bridges, The Enforcer, and Trauma.
He is married to Melissa Smith and resides in San Francisco. Keith is a graduate of Wesleyan University and the Yale School of Drama.
