Attended East Tennessee State University, in Johnson City, Tennessee.
Attended school in East Lansing, Michigan
Brother-in-law of "The West Wing" (1999) co-star Joshua Malina.
Daughter, Daisy, and son, Samuel, with his second wife, Jenny Merwin.
Following the demise of "Trapper John, M.D." (1979), Tim joined forces with his brother, Buck, to create the Fantasy Theatre, a professional touring company for children's audiences-and, later, Honorary State Children's Theater for California-based in his new hometown of Sacramento.
Has a sister named Julia.
He is married to Jenny Merwin, sister of Melissa Merwin, who is married to Joshua Malina. Both Malina and Busfield starred in "The West Wing" (1999).
He replaced Tom Hulce on the original Broadway run of Aaron Sorkin's "A Few Good Men." He later went on to work with Aaron Sorkin as a director on "Sports Night" (1998), as Danny on "The West Wing" (1999), and as Cal on "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" (2006).
His first exposure to acting was through his father, Roger, who taught in the drama department at Michigan State University. His mother, Jean, was a college teacher of literature and one-time secretary.
In 1981, he moved to New York, N.Y., where he joined the Circle Repertory Company for their production of Lanford Wilson's "Talley and Son".
Landed his first professional acting job at 18 in a children's theater's adaptation of William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream".
Served in the U.S. Navy.
Son, Wilson, with his first wife, Radha Delamarter.
Studied drama at East Tennessee State University and traveled frequently with the Actors Theater of Louisville, which took him to Europe and Israel.
Tim, who has been interested in standard-bred harness horse racing since the late 1980s, took the cast of "thirtysomething" (1987) with him to Los Alamitos Ractrack in 1988 for a night of harness racing. Tim has owned several standard-bred horses, and he can be seen sometimes at the Golden Bear racetrack at Cal Expo in Sacramento, California, watching harness racing with his children.
Timothy Busfield is the Blue Water Film Festival first recipient of the "Golden Mitten" award. The award recognizes "an individual from Michigan that has made a significant mark in the arts and entertainment field" The award was presented in 2011.
Understudied Matthew Broderick in "Brighton Beach Memoirs" on Broadway in 1983.
Was asked to grow his beard for his role on "thirtysomething" (1987), as producers thought that it would make Tim, who was still being cast as teenagers and young adults at the time, look closer to his age.