Biography for
Timothy Busfield More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

12 June 1957, Lansing, Michigan, USA

Birth Name

Timothy C. Busfield

Nickname

Tim
Timmy B

Height

5' 10" (1.78 m)

Mini Biography

An Emmy Award-winning actor for his work on "thirtysomething" (1987), Timothy Busfield has been a regular or recurring character on 11 television series including "All My Children" (1970), "Reggie" (1983), "The Paper Chase" (1978), "Family Ties" (1982), "Trapper John, M.D." (1979), "The Byrds of Paradise" (1994), "Champs" (1996), "The West Wing" (1999), "Ed" (2000) and "Without a Trace" (2002). He has appeared in over 30 feature films and television movies, including Stripes (1981), Revenge of the Nerds (1984), Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise (1987), Field of Dreams (1989), Sneakers (1992), Quiz Show (1994), Striking Distance (1993), Little Big League (1994), First Kid (1996) and National Security (2003). Busfield has directed series such as "thirtysomething" (1987), "Sports Night" (1998), "Ed" (2000), "Las Vegas" (2003) and "Without a Trace" (2002).

In addition to directing over 40 episodes of television, Busfield has served as Co-Executive Producer on two series, "Ed" (2000) and "Without a Trace" (2002). As a theater actor, he has appeared in over 50 plays, including the Broadway productions of Neil Simon's "Brighton Beach Memoirs" and Aaron Sorkin's "A Few Good Men." He has also directed over 25 theater productions.

Busfield has produced over 100 professional theater productions. He also founded two of the nation's most productive new works theaters, The Fantasy Theatre (named Honorary State Children's Theatre of California) was founded in 1986 and tours to more than 140,000 Northern California children a year. The highly respected and awarded B. Street Theatre, founded in 1992, has premiered original or West Coast productions by Aaron Sorkin, Richard Dresser, Morris Panych, Joe DePietro, James McLure, Jane Martin, Jeff Daniels, Kenneth Lonergan and many other world-class playwrights.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Dana Warning

Spouse

Jenny Merwin	(11 September 1988 - present) (filed for divorce) 2 children
Radha Delamarter	(? - 1986) (divorced) 1 child

Trivia

Attended school in East Lansing, Michigan

Has a sister named Julia.

Son, Wilson, with his first wife, Radha Delamarter.

Daughter, Daisy, and son, Samuel, with his second wife, Jenny Merwin.

He is married to Jenny Merwin, sister of Melissa Merwin, who is married to Joshua Malina. Both Malina and Busfield starred in "The West Wing" (1999).

He replaced Tom Hulce on the original Broadway run of Aaron Sorkin's "A Few Good Men." He later went on to work with Aaron Sorkin as a director on "Sports Night" (1998), as Danny on "The West Wing" (1999), and as Cal on "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" (2006).

Tim, who has been interested in standard-bred harness horse racing since the late 1980s, took the cast of "thirtysomething" (1987) with him to Los Alamitos Ractrack in 1988 for a night of harness racing. Tim has owned several standard-bred horses, and he can be seen sometimes at the Golden Bear racetrack at Cal Expo in Sacramento, California, watching harness racing with his children.

Attended East Tennessee State University, in Johnson City, Tennessee.

Following the demise of "Trapper John, M.D." (1979), Tim joined forces with his brother, Buck, to create the Fantasy Theatre, a professional touring company for children's audiences-and, later, Honorary State Children's Theater for California-based in his new hometown of Sacramento.

Understudied Matthew Broderick in "Brighton Beach Memoirs" on Broadway in 1983.

In 1981, he moved to New York, N.Y., where he joined the Circle Repertory Company for their production of Lanford Wilson's "Talley and Son".

Studied drama at East Tennessee State University and traveled frequently with the Actors Theater of Louisville, which took him to Europe and Israel.

Landed his first professional acting job at 18 in a children's theater's adaptation of William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream".

His first exposure to acting was through his father, Roger, who taught in the drama department at Michigan State University. His mother, Jean, was a college teacher of literature and one-time secretary.

Was asked to grow his beard for his role on "thirtysomething" (1987), as producers thought that it would make Tim, who was still being cast as teenagers and young adults at the time, look closer to his age.

Brother-in-law of "The West Wing" (1999) co-star Joshua Malina.

Served in the U.S. Navy.