Photo: David Shankbone / CC BY 3.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
Born on August 16, 1945, Bob Balaban is from Chicago, Illinois, United States. Bob Balaban is credited as a film director, film producer and film actor. The age as of 2026 is 81. Schooling on record includes Colgate University.
My Take
Bob Balaban is one of those actors who makes every project he touches feel a little smarter and a little stranger in the best possible way. Born in Chicago in 1945, he built a career out of being the most quietly intelligent person in the room — whether that's playing the nerdy French translator in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the slyly deadpan network exec in Christopher Guest's mockumentaries like Best in Show and A Mighty Wind, or the wry producer character in Gosford Park, which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. He's a filmmaker and children's book author on top of everything else, which somehow fits perfectly. You never see him coming, and then he delivers something so precisely calibrated that you rewind just to watch it again. A genuine character actor's character actor.
This take was written by generative AI, one per person, from publicly reported facts (editorial policy). It is a reading of the record, not reporting.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Bob Balaban
- Name (Japanese)
- ボブ・バラバン
- Reading
- ぼぶ・ばらばん
- Born
- August 16, 1945 (age 81)
- Origin
- Chicago, Illinois, United States
- Occupation
- actor / film director / film producer / film actor / television actor
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Leo / Rooster
2. Background
- University
- Colgate University
3. Links
4. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
Only publicly available facts are listed; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. Base data was compiled from Wikidata from June 2026 onward; ages are recalculated daily and deaths are checked against Wikidata on an ongoing basis. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.
Frequently asked questions
When was Bob Balaban born?
Bob Balaban was born on August 16, 1945 and is 81 years old.
Where is Bob Balaban from?
Bob Balaban is from Chicago, Illinois, United States.
What does Bob Balaban do?
Bob Balaban works as actor, film director, film producer, film actor, television actor.
Where did Bob Balaban study?
Bob Balaban attended Colgate University.
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