Best Known As: Television Writer,  Television Actor

Gist:  Garry Shandling (born November 29, 1949) is an American comedian, actor and writer. He is best known for his work in It's Garry Shandling's Show and The Larry Sanders Show.

Shandling began his career writing for sitcoms such as Sanford and Son, and Welcome Back, Kotter. He made a successful stand-up performance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and became a frequent guest-host on the show. Shandling was for a time considered to be the leading contender to be Carson's eventual replacement (other hopefuls were Joan Rivers and David Brenner). In 1986, he created the show It's Garry Shandling's Show for the pay cable channel Showtime and was nominated for four Emmy Awards, one for Shandling, and lasted until 1990. His second show, The Larry Sanders Show, began aring on HBO on 1992, and was a bigger success than the first show he created. Shandling was nominated for 18 Emmy Awards on the show and won one in 1998 for writing the series finale, along with Peter Tolan.

Through his three decade career, he has been nominated for 19 Primetime Emmy Awards nominations, two Golden Globe Award nominations, 11 CableACE Awards, a BAFTA Award, three American Comedy Awards, two Writers' Guild of America Award nominations and two Satellite Award nominations.

Life Facts:  Shandling was born to a Jewish family in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Muriel, a pet store proprietor, and Irving Shandling, a print shop owner. He grew up in Tucson, Arizona and had an older brother, Barry, who died from cystic fibrosis when Garry was 10. Shandling attended Palo Verde High Magnet School. After graduation, he attended the University of Arizona, at first majoring in electrical engineering, but eventually completing a degree in marketing and pursuing a year of post-graduate studies in creative writing.

In 1973, Shandling moved to Los Angeles, California, made contact with comedian George Carlin after catching one of his shows, worked at an advertising agency for a time, then sold a script for the popular NBC sitcom Sanford and Son. Shandling's script became the November 21 1975 "Sanford and the Rising Son," the episode in which Ah Chew (played by Pat Morita) turned junk-yard owner Fred Sanford's house into a Japanese restaurant. Shandling continued to do comedy scriptwriting for sitcoms including Welcome Back, Kotter and Three's Company.

In 1977, Shandling was involved in an auto accident in Beverly Hills that put him in critical condition for weeks. He later turned the accident into part of his stand-up comedy act.

Shandling has been a practicing Buddhist since the 80's in association with Thich Nhat Hanh.

Shandling has appeared occasionally in movies, beginning with a cameo as dental patient Mr. Vertisey in The Night We Never Met. He played supporting roles in the 1994 films Love Affair and Mixed Nuts (a.k.a. Lifesavers), Dr. Dolittle (1998) as the voice of a live-action pigeon, the David Rabe play adaptation Hurlyburly (1998), and Trust the Man. In his television show The Larry Sanders Show, Sean Penn commented his work on the film, saying that he's trying too much to become a Hollywood star, making Sean Penn's commentary weird, because Garry Shandling is playing Larry Sanders. He wrote and starred in director Mike Nichols' What Planet Are You From? (2000), and co-starred with Warren Beatty and others in Town & Country. Again voicing an animal, Shandling co-starred as Verne the turtle in the computer animated comic strip adaptation Over the Hedge (2006)

Shandling hosted the Grammy Awards from 1990 to 1995, and the Emmy Awards in 2000 and 2004. At the first Emmy hosting job, Shandling cracked up the audience by saying "I auditioned to play the Vice President on The West Wing, but they said 'No--too Jewish'", a reference to real-life Vice Presidential candidate Senator Joe Lieberman during the 2000 Presidential campaign.

In 2006, comedian Ricky Gervais interviewed Shandling for a British documentary citing him as a comic influence. The reviews of British TV critics were mixed ? one Guardian reviewer described it as "the uneasiest interview ever", another as Gervais' most interesting but the general consensus was that it felt "awkward", a hallmark of both the artists' comedic styles.

Shandling starred as himself representing Fox Mulder alongside Téa Leoni as Dana Scully in The X-Files season 7 spoof episode "Hollywood A.D.".

Shandling, along with co-author David Rensin, wrote the book Confessions of a Late Night Talk Show Host: The Autobiography of Larry Sanders written in the voice of his alter ego, Larry Sanders.

In 2008, there were rumors that Shandling will be appearing in the next Iron Man movie, as Senator Stern. The rumors appear to be true and he will be appearing in the film. The trailer officially aired at the 2009 Comic-Con, and the movie will be released in May 2010.

In 2009, Shandling will return to the stand-up circuit.

Shandling (although not participating in the movie itself) went to the premiere of old Larry Sanders Show writer and friend Judd Apatow's new movie, Funny People.

Career Facts:  Shandling was born to a Jewish family in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Muriel, a pet store proprietor, and Irving Shandling, a print shop owner. He grew up in Tucson, Arizona and had an older brother, Barry, who died from cystic fibrosis when Garry was 10. Shandling attended Palo Verde High Magnet School. After graduation, he attended the University of Arizona, at first majoring in electrical engineering, but eventually completing a degree in marketing and pursuing a year of post-graduate studies in creative writing.

In 1973, Shandling moved to Los Angeles, California, made contact with comedian George Carlin after catching one of his shows, worked at an advertising agency for a time, then sold a script for the popular NBC sitcom Sanford and Son. Shandling's script became the November 21 1975 "Sanford and the Rising Son," the episode in which Ah Chew (played by Pat Morita) turned junk-yard owner Fred Sanford's house into a Japanese restaurant. Shandling continued to do comedy scriptwriting for sitcoms including Welcome Back, Kotter and Three's Company.

In 1977, Shandling was involved in an auto accident in Beverly Hills that put him in critical condition for weeks. He later turned the accident into part of his stand-up comedy act.

Shandling has been a practicing Buddhist since the 80's in association with Thich Nhat Hanh.

Shandling began as a television writer in shows such as Sanford and Son, in which he wrote three episodes, one episode of the sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter, and one episode of The Harvey Korman Show.