Sanford Meisner (August 31, 1905 – February 2, 1997), also known as Sandy, was an American actor and acting teacher who developed a form of Method acting (based on the 'system' of Constantin Stanislavski) that is now known as the Meisner technique.
Born in Brooklyn, Meisner was the oldest of four children. Sanford, Jacob, Ruth, and Robert were the children of Hermann Meisner, a furrier, and Bertha Knoepfler, both Jewish immigrants who came to the United States from Hungary. In an attempt to improve Sanford's health, the family took a trip to the Catskills, where Jacob was fed unpasteurized milk. As a result, Jacob contracted bovine tuberculosis and died shortly thereafter. In an interview many years later, Meisner later identified this event as "the dominant emotional influence in my life from which I have never, after all these years, escaped." Blamed by his parents for his brother's death, the young Meisner become isolated and withdrawn, unable to cope with feelings of guilt for his brother’s death.