Edwin Tobolowsky is his third cousin.
Attended Kimball High School. High School Debate champ.
Attended Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, with actress Patricia Richardson and playwright Beth Henley during late 1960s and early 1970s.
Broke his neck in five places while horseback riding in Iceland underneath an active volcano after the wind picked he and the horse up off the ground and blew them off the road. He was required to wear a neck brace for three and a half months and maintains that the experience has taught him to cherish every day.
Graduated from the University of Illinois - Urbana, Champaign
He played Principal Flutie in the unaired "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (1997) pilot episode.
He was named one of the 100 coolest people in L.A. by Buzz Magazine in the 1990s, he later lost this honor to Andy Dick.
His aunt was the head librarian at Ben Franklin Junior High School in Dallas (now Hillcrest High School) for many years.
His name is pronounced tow-buh-law-skee
Once held hostage at gunpoint at a supermarket in Snyder Plaza in Dallas.
One of the actor's heroes is his late aunt, 'Hermine Tobolowsky', known as the "mother of the Texas Equal Rights Amendment".
Surfing channels in Vancouver recently, he watched himself getting older and balder in old episodes of "Seinfeld" (1990) , the film Thelma & Louise (1991) and the made-for-TV movie The Marla Hanson Story (1991) (TV) .
To develop a plotline for the 1986 film True Stories (1986) he and rocker David Byrne once stared wordlessly for two hours at Byrne's wall. On the wall were hundreds of pencil drawings of ideas for the film by Byrne. That very night, he wrote a thirty-page treatment for the film and was soon hired as a writer.
Turned down the role of Al on "Home Improvement" (1991).
Very good friends with cinematographer/director Robert Brinkmann.
Was almost murdered twice in one week in Hartford, Connecticut by different people. As he admitted, "That's unusual." The first instance occurred when he was in a pub with Beth Henley . After a brawl with a man who was attacking Henley, he was held at gunpoint at the pub. Later that week, when he and Henley went to a pizza parlor next to the pub, where he was stabbed. Fortunately, the knife only partly penetrated his belt buckle.
Was nominated for a Tony award in 2002 as Best Featured Actor in a Play for his role in the revival of "Morning's At Seven".
Was the lead singer in the first band formed by guitar legend Stevie Ray Vaughan. They went to school together in Dallas.