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Timothy Busfield (born June 12, 1957, in East Lansing, Michigan), is an American actor and director best known for his Emmy-winning role as Eliot Weston on the television series thirtysomething and his recurring role as Danny Concannon on the television series The West Wing.

Youth and background

The son of university professors, Busfield as a boy hung around the Michigan State University drama department, where his father taught. His mother taught literature and enjoyed the company of writers. Busfield said he remembers coming home from school and finding his mother and English novelist Graham Greene sharing a drink at the kitchen table.

Busfield studied drama at East Tennessee State University and appeared with Actors Theatre of Louisville before traveling to New York and roles with Circle Repertory Company.

A baseball lover and amateur athlete, Busfield has moonlighted as a semi-pro pitcher.

TV and film

He landed his first major film part, as Arnold Poindexter in Revenge of the Nerds. He reprised the role in the sequel to that movie, Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise.

The actor's first television series was Trapper John, M.D., in which he played the physician son of the title character. Immediately prior to being cast on the 1980s series thirtysomething, he was still often playing teenagers and young adults, and the producers of the show asked him grow his beard so he'd look old enough for the role. He would win an Emmy Award for this controversial role. Later he was cast in the lead of other series, although none have lasted very long. Produced by Steven Spielberg, Byrds of Paradise with Arlo Guthrie may be the most memorable for its setting in Hawaii and its offbeat characters.

In 1994, Busfield starred in the film Little Big League. Other film appearances include Sneakers, Field of Dreams with Kevin Costner and First Kid with comedian Sinbad.

Busfield travelled to London, England in 1993 to make the television film Wall Of Silence, in which he played Ephraim Lipshitz, a Mossad agent infiltrating a community of Hasidic Jews.

Recurring television roles include White House correspondent Danny Concannon on The West Wing; and the title character's incorrigible brother on the sitcom Ed, a show on which he was a co-executive producer and supervising producer.

Busfield also dabbles in directing television and has directed multiple episodes of thirtysomething, Without a Trace (on which he appeared as a divorce lawyer, in a wheelchair, for Jack Malone), and the Sorkin/Schlamme predecessor to The West Wing, Sports Night

Since September 2006, Busfield is a regular in the new Sorkin/Schlamme series, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, where he plays Cal Shanley, the fictional show's technical director.

Television directing credits

• thirtysomething (1987 – 1991)
• Sports Night (1998 – 2000)
• Ed (2000 – 2004)
• Without a Trace (2002 – )
• Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (2006 – )

Stage and theater

Busfield remains a stage actor and director whose Broadway credits include A Few Good Men. With elder brother, Buck Busfield, he is co-founder of the B Street Theatre in Sacramento, California, where he has appeared in and directed numerous contemporary works. The Busfield brothers also established Fantasy Theatre, a touring troupe that plays to children.

Busfield is also a children's playwright, having written shows for the Fantasy troupe.

External link

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