Scientific American Frontiers host Alan Alda is a five-time Emmy Award-winning actor, writer and director. He's also a life-long science buff who enjoys being actively involved with the series and the opportunities it presents to get to know some of the world's leading scientists.
This is his eighth season as host and, despite a crowded professional schedule, he has appeared in segments shot all over the United States and in Germany, Italy, South Africa, China, Scandinavia and the Galapagos Islands."Whenever I think of how much pleasure I have interviewing scientists", Alan says, "I remember that they're having the real fun in actually being able to do the science."
ABOUT ALAN ALDA
Alda's career spans motion pictures, television and the Broadway stage. His motion picture credits include Woody Allen's "Everyone Says I Love You", "Manhattan Murder Mystery", "Crimes and Misdemeanors", and "Same Time Next Year", "California Suite", "The Seduction of Joe Tynan" (which he wrote), "The Four Seasons", "Sweet Liberty", "A New Life" and "Betsy's Wedding" (which he wrote and directed), "Whispers in the Dark", "Flirting With Disaster", "Murder at 1600", "The Object of My Affection" and "Mad City". For his role in "Crimes and Misdemeanors" he won the D.W. Griffith Award, the New York Film Critics Award and was nominated for a British Academy Award as Best Supporting Actor. In 2001 he will appear in the films "Club Land" and "The Killing Yard" on the Showtime network.
He played Hawkeye Pierce in the classic TV series, "M*A*S*H," and also wrote and directed many of the episodes. During his 11 years on "M*A*S*H" Alda won the Emmy Award five times. He is the only person to be honored by the Television Academy as top performer, writer and director. In all, he has received 29 Emmy nominations. In addition, he has won three Director's Guild of America Awards, six Golden Globe Awards from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and seven People's Choice Awards.
Alda, born in New York City, is the son of another distinguished actor, Robert Alda. He made his stage debut at 16 in summer stock at Barnesville, Pennsylvania. During his junior year at New York's Fordham University, he studied in Europe, where he performed on stage in Rome and on television in Amsterdam with his father.
After college, he acted at the Cleveland Playhouse on a Ford Foundation grant. Upon his return to New York, he performed on Broadway, off-Broadway and on television. He later added improvisational performing to his acting skills by appearing in "Second City" in New York and "Compass" at Hyannisport, Massachusetts. That background in political and social satire led to his work as a regular on television's "That Was the Week That Was." On stage Alda has appeared in "ART", which won the 1998 Tony for Best New Play, in Neil Simon's "Jake's Women," for which he received a Tony nomination, and "The Apple Tree," which earned him his first Tony nomination. A major breakthrough for Alda was "The Owl and the Pussycat," in which he first starred on Broadway. Among his Broadway stage credits are "Purlie Victorious" and "Fair Game for Lovers", for which he received a Theatre World Award. He's also played in "Our Town" in London's West End.
His first motion picture role was in "Gone Are the Days," in which he recreated his stage role from "Purlie Victorious." He later appeared in "The Moonshine War," "Jenny," "The Mephisto Waltz" and "Paper Lion."
Television performances include a recurring guest-starring role on ER, and starring roles in the films "Jake's Women" on CBS and "White Mile" for HBO. Other credits include "The Glass House" and "Kill Me If You Can," for which he received an Emmy nomination for his portrayal of Caryl Chessman.
After making his directing debut on "M*A*S*H" Alda went on to direct and appear in "6 Rms Riv Vu" on television, co-starring with Carol Burnett, and several sequences in the Marlo Thomas television special, "Free to Be...You and Me." He created, wrote and co-produced the television series, "We'll Get By." He also co-produced, with Martin Bregman, the television series, "The Four Seasons," based on the hit film.
An ardent supporter of feminist causes, Alda campaigned extensively for 10 years for the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment. In 1976, he was appointed by President Gerald Ford to serve on the National Commission for the Observance of International Women's Year.
Since 1985 he has been a member of the Board of the Museum of Television and Radio and served as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Rockefeller Foundation from 1989-99.
His wife Arlene is an award-winning professional photographer whose work has appeared in such leading magazines as Life, Vogue, People, US and Ms. She is the author of eight children's books, one of which, "Sheep, Sheep, Sheep, Help Me Fall Asleep", became a national best-seller. The Aldas have three daughters: Eve, Elizabeth and Beatrice, and seven grandchildren.
