- published: 24 Dec 2015
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Daniel Jacob Stern (born August 28, 1957) is an American film and television actor. He is known for his roles in the Hollywood films C.H.U.D., Diner, City Slickers and the first two Home Alone films, and as the narrator for the television series The Wonder Years.
Stern was born in Bethesda, Maryland, to a social worker father and a mother who managed a day care center. His brother is television writer David M. Stern. Stern is 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) tall and Jewish. During his years at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, Stern starred in several theater productions, including playing C.C. Baxter in The Apartment. Stern applied for a job as a lighting engineer for a Shakespeare Festival in Washington, D.C., but was hired as a walk-on in their production of As You Like It. After taking acting lessons, Stern began his acting career in Off Broadway and Broadway productions, including a performance at Second Stage Theatre with actor Bob Gunton.
In 1979, Stern made his movie debut as Cyril in Breaking Away. The following year he played a student who raised objections during Jill Clayburgh's proof of the snake lemma in the film It's My Turn. His breakthrough role[citation needed] as an actor came in Barry Levinson's Diner. He had another early film role in the 1984 horror film C.H.U.D., as the soup kitchen C.H.U.D. hunter. Stern was a candidate for the role of Biff Tannen in the 1985 film Back to the Future, but Stern turned the role down and was replaced by Thomas F. Wilson.