Gary Schwartz

Gary Schwartz is an actor, voice performer, and improvisation coach from New York State who began performing professionally as a mime at age thirteen, appearing along the Hudson River with folk entertainers such as Pete Seegar and Arlo Guthrie. A long association with the theater educator Viola Spolin, who trained the first improvisational theater troupe in the United States, provided the basis for his teaching, and in 1988 he co-founded the Spolin Players improv troupe. During the 1970s and 1980s he worked in film and television, among it the Oscar-winning Quest for Fire (1981) and sixty-five episodes of the Emmy-winning series Zoobilee Zoo with Ben Vereen. As a voice actor he has worked with directors including Robert Redford, Barbra Streisand, Tim Burton, and Kenneth Brannagh. He founded Improv Odyssey, served on the council of the Seattle branch of SAG-AFTRA, and was founder and artistic director of Valley Center Stage Community Theater, teaching theater games internationally.