Born and raised on the East Coast, Emmy Award winner Richard Schiff began his career as a theatre director in New York and later founded and served as the artistic director of the Manhattan Repertory Theatre where he directed both on-and off-Broadway productions. Reversing the usual trend, Richard eventually realized that, "What I really wanted to do was act."       After hitting the boards in a few downtown productions, he nabbed roles in several independent feature films (including Robert Longo�s "Arena Brains" with Michael Stipe, Steve Buscemi and Ray Liotta) before moving to Los Angeles.

      Keeping his ties to theatre, Schiff joined Tim Robbins' award-winning "Actors Gang" and concurrently appeared in other productions, including a starring role as Goose in the West Coast premiere of David Rabe's "Goose and Tom Tom," for which he received a Dramalogue Award for Best Actor. He was also awarded an Ovation Award for his role in "Urban Folktales."

      Schiff rose to prominence by landing roles in feature films such as David Fincher�s "Seven" with Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman and "City Hall" with Al Pacino. Since his film debut, Schiff has appeared in over 40 features, including Spike Lee�s "Malcolm X," Danny DeVito�s "Hoffa," Nora Ephron�s "Michael" and co-starred as the heroic Eddie Carr in Steven Spielberg�s "Jurassic Park: The Lost World." In 1998, he co-starred in two of the year�s biggest hits, "Deep Impact" and "Dr. Dolittle," and received critical acclaim for his role in "Living Out Loud" with DeVito.

      Most recently, Schiff starred in the films "Heaven" and "Forces of Nature." His additional big-screen credits include "Numbers," starring John Travolta and Lisa Kudrow, and "What's the Worst That Can Happen?" starring Martin Lawrence and Danny DeVito.

      Prior to "The West Wing," Schiff was perhaps best recognized on TV for his stirring portrayal of the struggling Barry Roth on the critically acclaimed series "Relativity." He has also carved a niche as a guest star, with memorable performances on such shows as "Ally McBeal," "The Practice," "Chicago Hope" and NBC�s "ER."

      Schiff won a 2000 Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his work as the White House Communications Director on "The West Wing." He was nominated for his role again in 2001 and 2002.

      Schiff�s birthday is May 27. He is married to actress Sheila Kelley ("L.A. Law," "Sisters"). They live in Los Angeles.

Bio pilfered from NBC: The West Wing.

Trivia

- Co-starred in the movies "My Life and Young Guns II" with Bradley Whitford.

- In 2000, he received an award from the City College of New York for outstanding post-graduate achievement.

- At his suggestion, Toby also is an alumnus of the City College of New York.

- Initially didn't want to be an actor but a director.

- Steven Spielberg saw him in an episode of the TV series "High Incident" and cast him in "Jurassic Park : The Lost World"

- He's a high school drop-out (although he did get an equivalency diploma).

- Has appeared on a number of television series including "LA Law", "The John Laroquette Show" (starring John Laroquette [White House Council Lionel Tribbey]), "NYPD Blue", "ER", "Chicago Hope", "Murphy Brown", and "Ally McBeal".


Quotes
- "Once Richard did the pilot, I felt the same way that everybody else did, which was 'get the ball in this guy's hands as much as you possibly can.'" - Aaron Sorkin

- "We don't ad-lib [much]. Aaron's words are like a musical composition and he wants it played a specific way. During the pilot we got into arguments about being such a stickler for every syllable. Ad-libbing has been very important to my work and most writers appreciate my input. But when I did The Practice, David Kelley was the same. Aaron's a playwright, he understands the importance of the script." - Richard Schiff.

- "Richard and I just have a great time together. We always just try to fill scenes out with moments that Aaron may not have intended. We always like to think of ourselves in a French movie." - Allison Janney