Wallace Shawn

You will recognize Wallace's lispy voice from the cowardly dino in the Toy Story movies (including Part 3 coming out in 2010!) and the mean boss in The Incredibles. He has also done voices in Teacher's Pet, A Goofy Movie, Family Guy, and King of the Hill.

Next, he's the eeevil Gargamel in the movie version of The Smurfs! This was a European toon that caught on in America in the 1980s. It was about these little, cute, blue elves who lived in mushroom houses.

And you might know Wallace's face from his new hit show, Gossip Girl, in which he plays Cyrus Rose.

Wallace's new fairytale films include Jack and the Beanstalk with Jewish actors Gilbert Gottfried, Katy Sagal, and James Karen (who is in the new Superman movies and also The Pursuit of Happyness) and the Shrek-like spoof Happliy N'Ever After, with Sarah Michelle Gellar, He has also been in the fairytale classic The Princess Bride.

Aside from fantasy, another area Wallace has excelled in is sci-fi. Coming up, he's in the sci-fi wizz-banger Speed of Thought. His spacey TV shows include Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (He's Grand Negus Zek, a Ferengi leader) and Stargate SG-1. 

In non-fantasy films, he was in Clueless and My Dinner with Andre (he was the guy who has dinner with Andre. Hello!). One of the world's best character actors, Wallace has been in many Woody Allen movies, like the flick Melinda and Melinda and the very Jewish Radio Days with Seth Green, Julie Kavner, and Larry David.

So that makes three of our Movies of the Month (Toy Story, Princess Bride, and Clueless) that Wallace has been in... so far!

His other recent films include the American Girls movie Kit Kitteridge... and New York City Serenade, with Jamie-Lynn Sigler, about two not very ambitious artists.

On TV, he has been in sitcoms like Ally McBeal, The Cosby Show, and Taxi, but also in dramas like Crossing Jordan. His first TV role was back in 1968, on the soap opera One Life to Live. Funny thing is, Wallace doesn't even own a TV!

Wallace-- who sometimes calls himself Wally-- studied at Harvard and Oxford, taught English in India, and also wrote some great plays.

Bonus:

Your parents may get the magazine The New Yorker. Wallace's dad, William Shawn, used to be its editor!

In the Oscar-winning movie Capote, William is played by Jewish actor Bob Balaban.