Kevin Pollak

Born: 30 October 1957
Where: San Francisco, California

The one-time stand-up comic and impressionist first came to the attention of cinemagoers in Rob Reiner's A Few Good Men.

Adept at playing shady characters, he has gone on to impress in movies including The Usual Suspects, Casino, End of Days, The Whole Ten Yards and Hostage.

As a child performer, he stared doing stand-up when he was 10 and went professional on the comedy club scene across the USA a decade later.

His act has featured uncanny impressions of the likes of Robert De Niro, Jack Nicholson and William Shatner and once left a phone message fooling people into thinking it was Alan Arkin.

Early TV appearances included National Lampoon's Hot Flashes and voice work on Ewoks: Battle for Endor in 1985.

Two years later he made his feature debut in Million Dollar Mystery and Ron Howard subsequently cast him as Rool in 1988's action fantasy Willow.

Small roles followed in Barry Levinson's Avalon and the Steve Martin-scripted LA before Reiner cast him as a marine accused of murder in A Few Good Men in 1992.

Subsequent appearances included Wayne's World 2 and the role of Jacob Goldman in Grumpy Old Men with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau.

In 1995, he played an explosives expert opposite Gabriel Byrne in the slick thriller The Usual Suspects and went on to appear in Mafia drama Casino.

He co-created and co-executive produced The Underworld in 1997 along with his actress wife and partner Lucy Webb.

They also appeared together in the movies The Don's Analyst the same year and Outside Ozona in 1998.

Pollack starred opposite Byrne again in the thriller End of Days and he also appeared in the Bruce Willis caper The Whole Nine Yards.

Returning to stand-up comedy in 2001, he headlined a sell-out 20-city tour as well as appearing in TV comedy specials.

On the big screen, appearances included Dr Dolittle 2, The Santa Clause 2 and sequel The Whole Ten Yards with Matthew Perry and Willis.

The pair re-teamed for the 2005 action thriller Hostage in which Pollack played a shady accountant.