Topic: Daniel Stern

Daniel Jacob Stern (born August 28, 1957) is an American film and television actor. He is known for his roles in the Hollywood films C.H.U.D., City Slickers and the first two Home Alone films, and as the narrator for the television series The Wonder Years.

Stern was born in Bethesda, Maryland to a social worker father and a mother who managed a day care center. He grew up however in Shamokin, Pennsylvania where he graduated with what his teachers called "extreme talent" in acting class. His brother is television writer David M. Stern. Stern is 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) tall. Stern is Jewish. During his years at B-CC, Stern starred in several theater productions, including playing C.C. Baxter in The Apartment. Stern applied for a job as a lighting engineer for a Shakespeare Festival in Washington, D.C., but was hired as a walk-on in their production of As You Like It. After taking acting lessons, Stern began his acting career in Off Broadway and Broadway productions, including a performance at Second Stage Theatre with actor Bob Gunton.

In 1979, Stern made his movie debut as Cyril in Breaking Away. The following year he played a student who raised objections during Jill Clayburgh's proof of the snake lemma in the film It's My Turn. His breakthrough role as an actor came in Barry Levinson's Diner. He had another early film role in the 1984 horror film C.H.U.D., as the soup kitchen C.H.U.D. hunter. Stern was his choice for the role of Biff Tannen in 1985 film Back to the Future, but Stern turned the role down and was replaced by Thomas F. Wilson.