Photo: DreyfussCivic / CC BY-SA 4.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Dreyfuss fascinates me because he won fame without any standard leading-man equipment. At 165 centimeters, with that rapid-fire delivery and nervous intelligence, he carried Jaws, Close Encounters, and The Goodbye Girl on sheer wit, becoming one of the youngest Best Actor winners of his era. What I admire is the restlessness: he never settled into elder-statesman comfort, turning novelist, stirring controversy, staying loudly himself. His later years have been messier than admirers might wish, but I find that lack of polish oddly honest. The unguarded energy that made him magnetic in 1977 is still there, for better and worse. Few careers feel this thoroughly human.
Overview
Richard Stephen Dreyfuss ( DRY-fəs; né Dreyfus; born October 29, 1947) is an American actor. He emerged from the New Hollywood wave of American cinema, finding fame with a succession of leading man parts in the 1970s. He has received an Academy Award, a BAFTA, and a Golden Globe.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Richard Dreyfuss
- Name (Japanese)
- リチャード・ドレイファス
- Reading
- りちゃーど・どれいふぁす
- Born
- October 29, 1947 (age 78)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Scorpio / Boar
- Origin
- Brooklyn, New York, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- 165 cm
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- actor / television actor / novelist / film actor / stage actor
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Beverly Hills High School
- University
- Private
Awards & achievements
- 1978 Academy Award for Best Actor
- 1978 Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
- 1979 BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
- star on Hollywood Walk of Fame
- David di Donatello for Best Foreign Actor
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Actor — see all → · Television actor — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-11
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.