Alan Alda - Details

ALAN ALDA has earned international recognition as an actor, writer and director of films. His credits include "Manhattan Murder Mystery," "Crimes and Misdemeanors" (for which he won the D.W. Griffith Award, the N.Y. Film Critics Award and a nomination for a British Academy Award as Best Supporting Actor), "The Seduction of Joe Tynan," "The Four Seasons," "Sweet Liberty," "A New Life," "Betsy's Wedding," "Flirting With Disaster," "Everyone Says I Love You," "Mad City," "Murder at 1600" and "The Object of My Affection." Audiences recently have seen him in the series "E.R.," which earned him an Emmy nomination as guest artist.

Alda played Hawkeye Pierce in the classic television series "M*A*S*H*," for which he also wrote and directed many episodes. In 11 years on the series, Alda won the Emmy Award five times and is the only person to be honored by the TV Academy as top performer, writer and director. He has been nominated for 29 Emmys. He has won the Directors Guild Award three times, has received six Golden Globes from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and seven People's Choice Awards. In 1994, he was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame.

Alda was born in New York City, the son of distinguished actor Robert Alda. His introduction to the theater came at the age of 16 in summer stock at Barnesville, Pennsylvania. During his junior year at Fordham University, he studied in Europe, where he performed on stage and on television. On Broadway, he starred in the first American production of the international hit play "ART." Alda's stage performance in "The Owl and the Pussycat" was a major breakthrough for him. His other Broadway credits include "Purlie Victorious," "Fair Game for Lovers," for which he received a Theater World Award, and "The Apple Tree," which earned him his first Tony nomination. He was again nominated for a Tony for his performance in Neil Simon's "Jake's Women."

Alda's first motion picture part came in "Gone Are the Days," in which he re-created his stage role from "Purlie Victorious." He later appeared in "The Moonshine War," "Jenny," "The Mephisto Waltz" and as writer George Plimpton in "Paper Lion."

His television performances include Truman Capote's "The Glass House," "Kill Me If You Can" (for which he received an Emmy nomination), "And the Band Played On" and "White Mile" (for which he received a nomination for a Golden Globe).