- published: 27 Feb 2015
- views: 383991
Jeffrey "Jeff" Garlin (born June 5, 1962) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, producer, voice artist, director, writer and author, best known for his role as Jeff Greene on the HBO show Curb Your Enthusiasm. He is also a producer on the show.
Garlin was born in Chicago, Illinois on June 5, 1962 and grew up in Morton Grove, Illinois where his father had a plumbing supply business and his mother was active in community theater. Garlin is Jewish and attended Hebrew school. He graduated from Fort Lauderdale's Nova High School in 1980. He attended Broward Community College followed by a stint at the University of Miami, but eventually dropped out. He began performing stand-up comedy there.
In 1984, at the age of 22, Garlin moved back to Chicago, to perform with the comedy troupe The Second City, into which he had been accepted, as well as to pursue a stand-up comedy career there. Several years later, he was roommates with Conan O'Brien, who was then a comedy writer. (He remains close to O'Brien, and after O'Brien was removed as host of The Tonight Show in 2010 so that Jay Leno could return, Garlin stated that he would not be a guest on the show again.)