Daniel Stern

Daniel Stern was born in Bethesda, Maryland, to a father who worked as a social worker and a mother who managed a daycare. He began acting professionally at the age of seventeen. After graduating from high school, he auditioned for the Washington Shakespeare Festival for a position as a lighting engineer but instead landed a role as "a strolling player with a lute" in their production of *As You Like It*. Soon after, he moved to New York, where he took a few acting lessons and began building a notable off-Broadway resume, including roles in *Split*, *Frankie and Annie*, *The Mandrake*, and *The Old Glory*. Director Peter Yates cast him as one of four Indiana teenagers in the critically praised film *Breaking Away* (1979). Stern values variety in acting roles. Following *Breaking Away*, he appeared in Woody Allen's *Stardust Memories* (1980), Claudia Weill's *It's My Turn* (1980), and John Schlesinger's *Honky Tonk Freeway* (1981), before returning to New York for an off-Broadway role in the two-character play *How I Got That Story*, which earned him critical praise and led to a starring role in Barry Levinson's *Diner* (1982). Additional film credits include *I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can* (1982), *Blue Thunder* (1983), *Hannah and Her Sisters* (1986), *The Boss' Wife* (1986), *The Milagro Beanfield War* (1988), *Born in East L.A.* (1987), and *D.O.A.* (1988). In addition to his voice-over work on the series, Stern directed several episodes of the popular and critically acclaimed television comedy *The Wonder Years* (1988).