Fred Melamed

Fred Melamed (born May 13, 1956) is an American actor and writer. After spending most of his early career sporadically playing small roles in films, notably in seven films directed by Woody Allen, and primarily as a voice over artist for television announcements and commercials, he established himself as a renowned character actor, starting with his role as Sy Ableman in the Coen Brothers' A Serious Man (2009). Other notable film credits include In a World... (2012), Hail, Caesar! (2016), and Shiva Baby (2020). His television roles include Bruce Ben-Bacharach in Lady Dynamite (2016–2017), Gumbald in Adventure Time (2017–2018), Arthur Hart in WandaVision (2021) and Tom Posorro in Barry (2022–2023). Vulture named him one of the greatest character actors working today. Early life Melamed was born to a secular Jewish family in New York City, New York. His biological mother is actress/director Nancy Zala and his biological father, British psychoanalyst Stan Silverstone, was a relative of the prominent Adler acting family, including Luther and Stella Adler. He is the adopted son of Louis, a New York television producer, and Syma (Krichefsky) Melamed, a sometime actress and housewife. He attended the Hunter College Elementary School, a primary school for gifted children, and Riverdale Country School. His father worked with TV pioneer Nat Hiken on such shows as Car 54, Where Are You? and The Phil Silvers Show. When he was sixteen, his family had financial difficulties, and was forced to move to Hollywood, Florida. Melamed has said that he was raised in a non-believer Jewish family who never went to synagogue, except to attend a cousin's bar mitzvah. When he was asked if he wanted to attend Hebrew school, he said no, and thus had no religious training. However, he credits his non-religious upbringing as helping him to develop a belief in God later in life, as he had no "forced dogma to overcome."