Biography
Actor and filmmaker Adam Goldberg first made an impression on film critics and audiences alike as the cynical Private Mellish in
Steven Spielberg's
Saving Private Ryan. In 1998, the same year that
Ryan was released, Goldberg made his feature directorial, screenwriting, and executive-producing debut with
Scotch and Milk, a neo-noir drama centering around a group of L.A. friends burdened by love (or lack thereof) and a fixation with the 1950s. The film, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the 1998 Los Angeles Independent Film Festival, helped to establish Goldberg as a talent worth watching.
Born in Santa Monica on October 25, 1970, Goldberg was raised in Hollywood. He began performing at a young age, studying with Tracy Roberts when he was 14 and enrolling at Los Angeles' Lee Strasberg Institute a year later. He continued to act on stage while attending Sarah Lawrence College, and he subsequently returned to L.A. to pursue his career. Goldberg made his film debut in 1992 alongside
Billy Crystal in Mr. Saturday Night, and the following year he could be seen in
Richard Linklater's
Dazed and Confused, which cast him as a neurotic high school junior. He continued to act in supporting roles in a number of varied films, earning little notice until Spielberg cast him in the award-winning
Saving Private Ryan. Coupled with the critical success of his own
Scotch and Milk, Goldberg's future looked quite promising indeed. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide