Born in Brooklyn, NY. Leading character star of Hollywood films of the 1970s. An attorney's son, he spent his early childhood in Brooklyn and in Bayside, Queens, moving at nine with his family to Los Angeles, where he began his acting career at the Beverly Hills Jewish Center. He studied for a year at the San Fernando Valley State College, then, as a conscientious objector, spent the next two years in alternate service, as a clerk at a Los Angeles hospital. In the late 60s and early 70s he commuted from coast to coast, doing Broadway, off-Broadway, repertory and improvisational comedy as well as guest appearances on television. He made his film debut in 1968, but it was not until 1973 that he rose to prominence with a solid portrayal of Baby Face Nelson in a B picture, DILLINGER, and with a sensitively etched lead role as an ambivalent college-bound boy in AMERICAN GRAFFITI. He drew further attention and praise the following year for his intense and intelligent portrait of an agressive youth in Montr´al's Jewish ghetto in the Canadian film, THE APPRENTICESHIP OF DUDDY KRAVITZ, and attained box-office viability with two commercial blockbusters, JAWS (1975) and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977). He played his first romantic lead in THE GOODBYE GIRL (1977), for which he won an Academy Award as best actor at age 30, making him the youngest winner in that category at that time. Compact and typically projecting an air of egocentric cockiness, Dreyfuss has relied on intelligence, energy, and personal integrity, rather than looks and charisma, to gain his place among the leading personalities of the American screen in the 70s. Personal problems, including a serious accident and temporary involvement with drugs, set back Dreyfuss' career in the early 80s. But later in the decade he made a terrific comeback in DOWN AND OUT IN BEVERLY HILLS and TIN MEN, among other films. Other notable credits include OTHELLO (1979, as Iago), THE COMPETITION (1980), WHOSE LIFE IS IT ANYWAY? (1981), THE BUDDY SYSTEM (1984), STAND BY ME (1986), STAKEOUT and NUTS (both 1987), MOON OVER PARADOR (1988), LET IT RIDE and ALWAYS (both 1989), ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD and POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE (both 1990), LOST IN YONKERS and ANOTHER STAKEOUT (both 1993), THE LAST WORD and THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT (both 1995), KRIPPENDORF'S TRIBE (1998), THE CREW (2000), THE OLD MAN WHO READ LOVE STORIES, WHO IS CLETIS TOUT? and the TV series "The Education of Max Bickford" (all 2001), SILVER CITY (2004), POSEIDON (2006), SUBURBAN GIRL (2007), and MY LIFE IN RUINS and SWEETWATER (scheduled for 2008).  Actor 1977: THE GOODBYE GIRL  Nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role 1995: MR. HOLLAND'S OPUS 2 nominations, 1 Award