Short Biography

Jonathan M. Lovitz (born July 21, 1957) is an American actor and comedian perhaps best known as a cast member of Saturday Night Live and the voice of Jay Sherman in The Critic.
His father was an internist in Encino, California. He attended Harvard-Westlake School and studied theater at the University of California at Irvine and graduated in 1979. He studied acting with Tony Barr at the Film Actors Workshop. He became a member of The Groundlings comedy troupe where he befriended Phil Hartman. His father`s parents were immigrants from Romania who settled in Jacksonville, Florida. His mother`s mother was an immigrant from Hungary. His mother`s father was born in Chicago, but his family were immigrants from Russia.
Lovitz was a cast member of Saturday Night Live from 1985 to 1990. He later said in an interview for the book Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live that his time on SNL was the most memorable in his career. He went from having no money to being offered a $500,000 movie contract. He was nominated for an Emmy his first two years on Saturday Night Live. One of his most notable SNL characters was "Tommy Flanagan, The Pathological Liar" who used the old catch phrase, "Yeah! That`s the ticket!" Some of his other recurring characters included Master Thespian, Tonto, Mephistopheles, Hanukkah Harry, and Michael Dukakis. In a 1986 episode of Saturday Night Live he played a virgin Trekkie, who was scripted to hang his head when asked by William Shatner if he had ever kissed a girl.
Jon Lovitz has lent his voice to several cartoons and films. In the series The Critic he played the title character of Jay Sherman. On The Simpsons he played Marge`s ex-prom date Artie Ziff, theater director Llewellyn Sinclair (and his sister, who runs a daycare center) on the season four episode "A Streetcar Named Marge", Jay Sherman from The Critic in the Season 6 crossover episode "A Star Is Burns", and paparazzo Enrico Irritazio in the season eighteen episode "Homerazzi". He also played Professor Lombardo and Aristotle Amadopolous. He also was the voice behind the radio, on the Disney movie, "The Brave Little Toaster".
In the late 1990s, Lovitz was "the man who wrote the Yellow Pages", in a series of commercials and print ads for the American Yellow Pages industry. He has also appeared for ads for Subway and in a cameo in the movie Matilda, as Million Dollar Sticky Man.

He also had an uncredited cameo as a rival crooner to Adam Sandler in the movie The Wedding Singer, and had a small role in another of Sandler`s movies, Little Nicky. He also was a supporting character in "Mr. Destiny" with James Belushi.

Lovitz has also appeared on Friends twice. He first appeared in the Season 1 episode "The One with the Stoned Guy" as a restaurateur who gets stoned on marijuana trip just prior to interviewing Monica Geller for a job. He reappeared years later in the Season 9 episode "The One with the Blind Dates", where it is revealed that he lost his restaurant due to a drug problem.

He also appeared on Seinfeld as Gary Fogel, a man who lies about having cancer ("The Scofflaw") and later dies in a car accident.

In 1991, Lovitz appeared in the season seven episode of Married With Children entitled "Kelly Does Hollywood part 2" as sleazy hollywood producer Mr. Littlehead.

In 1998, Lovitz made a dramatic turn when he appeared in a small but pivotal role in Todd Solondz`s film Happiness as a depressed ma

Who's Dated Who content is contributed and edited by our readers. Please report errors or omissions on this page.