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Ron Silver (born July 2, 1946 in New York City) is an American movie and television actor, director, and producer. His various works and contributions to the field have enabled him to become a respected, Tony award-winning actor. Silver played a fictionalized version of himself (of the same name) in the un-aired action comedy Heat Vision and Jack. He was also a founding member of the Creative Coalition.

Silver made his film debut in Tunnel Vision, and was first noticed in 1981 with The Entity. During the 1980s he delivered several memorable roles, from an Al Pacino-like actor in Lovesick (1983), as a devoted son in Garbo Talks (1984, co-starring Anne Bancroft), an incompetent dectivive in Eat and Run (1986), and playing the lead in Paul Mazursky's Oscar-nominated Enemies: A Love Story (1989). Perhaps his most famous role is as Alan Dershowitz in Reversal of Fortune (1990), the true story about the trial of Claus von Bülow.

He has since starred in such diverse films as Billy Crystal's Mr. Saturday Night (1992), co-starring with Jean Claude Van Damme in Timecop (1994) and as Muhammad Ali's boxing cornerman Angelo Dundee in Michael Mann (film director)'s Ali.

From 1991 to 2000, Silver served as president of the Actors' Equity Association.

From 2001 to 2002, and again from 2005 to 2006, Silver played Bruno Gianelli, a presidential campaign advisor, on The West Wing.

In 2000 he co-founded the organization One Jerusalem to defend against the Oslo Peace Agreement. Its cause is "maintaining a united Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel" ([1]).

Silver, formerly a longtime Democrat, has recently been an outspoken supporter for President George W. Bush, citing the September 11, 2001 attacks and the Democrats' policies regarding terrorism as his reasons for switching parties. He spoke at the United States Republican Convention in 2004, and has continued to staunchly support the president. His West Wing character underwent a similar change of heart, switching from a Democratic political strategist in the earlier seasons to the campaign manager for the Republican presidential candidate.

Silver was appointed Chairman for the Millennium Committee by New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. On October 7, 2005, he was nominated by President Bush to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the United States Institute of Peace.

Silver has traveled to more than 30 countries and speaks both Mandarin Chinese and Spanish, as well as English. He has taught high school and has done social work for the Department of Social Services.

On September 8, 2006, it was announced that Silver had joined an advisory committee to the I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby Legal Defense Trust ([2]).

Ron Silver was raised in the Lower East Side of Manhattan and attended the prestigious Stuyvesant High School. He went on to graduate from the University at Buffalo with a bachelor's degree in Spanish and Chinese, and a master's degree in Chinese History from St. John's University in New York and the College of Chinese Culture in Taiwan. He also attended Columbia University's Graduate School of International Affairs.

Television:

• Chicago Hope
• Law & Order
• Rhoda
• Skin
• Veronica's Closet
• The West Wing (Emmy nomination)
• Heat Vision and Jack

Films:

• Find me Gulity
• Kane and Abel
• Tunnelvision
• The Entity
• Silent Rage
• Enemies, a Love Story
• Silkwood
• Billionaire Boys Club (Emmy nomination)
• Reversal of Fortune
• Timecop
• Ali
• The Arrival

Stage:

• Speed The Plow (Tony and Drama Desk awards)

• Ron Silver at the Internet Movie Database
• Ron Silver Page
• Actor Ron Silver Has a New Role, Backing Bush
• Ron Silver Bio at Greater Talent Network (Speakers Bureau)