Randall Matthew Batinkoff (born October 16, 1968) is an American actor, known for his roles in the films ''
For Keeps'', ''
School Ties
''School Ties'' is a 1992 American drama film directed by Robert Mandel and starring Brendan Fraser, Matt Damon, Chris O'Donnell, Randall Batinkoff, Andrew Lowery, Cole Hauser, Ben Affleck, and Anthony Rapp. Fraser plays the lead role as David ...
'', and ''
Higher Learning''.
Early life and education
Batinkoff was born in
Monticello, New York
Monticello ( ) is a village located in Thompson, Sullivan County, within the Catskills region of New York, United States. The population was 7,173 at the 2020 census. It is the seat for the Town of Thompson and the county seat of Sullivan Count ...
, the son of Barbara (née Carnel) and Barry Batinkoff, a photographer. He was raised near
Ferndale,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
. His sister is event planner
Stephanie Winston Wolkoff. After his parents divorced, his mother remarried to Bruce Winston, the son of jeweler
Harry Winston
Harry Winston (March 1, 1896December 8, 1978) was an American jeweler. He donated the Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian Institution in 1958 after owning it for a decade. He also traded the Portuguese Diamond to the Smithsonian in 1963 in exchang ...
. Batinkoff attended
Phillips Academy
("Not for Self") la, Finis Origine Pendet ("The End Depends Upon the Beginning") Youth From Every Quarter Knowledge and Goodness
, address = 180 Main Street
, city = Andover
, state = M ...
in
Andover, Massachusetts
Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was settled in 1642 and incorporated in 1646."Andover" in '' The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc.
An encyclopedia (American Engli ...
and
Brown University in
Rhode Island
Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but i ...
, receiving a
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...
in
international relations
International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the Scientific method, scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities betwe ...
.
Career
Batinkoff made his television debut in a 1974 commercial, after an agent spotted him at a toy store. He appeared in several
made-for-television
A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...
films in the 1980s, such as ''
The Stepford Children
''The Stepford Children'' is a 1987 American made-for-television horror science fiction thriller film inspired by the Ira Levin novel '' The Stepford Wives''. It was directed by Alan J. Levi with a screenplay by Bill Bleich and starring Barb ...
'', before being cast opposite teen starlet
Molly Ringwald
Molly Kathleen Ringwald (born February 18, 1968) is an American actress, singer, dancer, and author. She was cast in her first major role as Molly in the NBC sitcom '' The Facts of Life'' (1979–80) after a casting director saw her playing an or ...
in the 1988 comedy, ''
For Keeps''.
He starred as Terrance Dean on the short-lived CBS series, ''
Better Days'' which only lasted 5 weeks before being canceled. In the early 1990s, Batinkoff had roles in several widely released films, including ''
Buffy the Vampire Slayer'', ''
The Player'', ''
School Ties
''School Ties'' is a 1992 American drama film directed by Robert Mandel and starring Brendan Fraser, Matt Damon, Chris O'Donnell, Randall Batinkoff, Andrew Lowery, Cole Hauser, Ben Affleck, and Anthony Rapp. Fraser plays the lead role as David ...
'' (all released 1992) and 1995's ''
Higher Learning''. From 1994 to 1995, he played
Reverend
The Reverend is an honorific style most often placed before the names of Christian clergy and ministers. There are sometimes differences in the way the style is used in different countries and church traditions. ''The Reverend'' is correctly ...
David Grantland on the
CBS television series, ''
Christy''. He also appeared in the 1997 film ''
As Good as It Gets
''As Good as It Gets'' is a 1997 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by James L. Brooks, who co-wrote it with Mark Andrus. The film stars Jack Nicholson as a misanthropic, bigoted, and obsessive–compulsive novelist, Helen Hunt as ...
'' where he shared an on-screen kiss with
Helen Hunt.
Batinkoff still acts regularly in television, on stage, and in films. He most recently appeared in the made-for-television movies ''Skip Tracer'' and ''
Black Widow
Black widow may refer to:
Spiders
* Black widow spider, a common name for some species of spiders in the genus ''Latrodectus''
American species
* ''Latrodectus apicalis'', the Galapagos black widow
* ''Latrodectus curacaviensis'', the South Amer ...
'', and the film ''The Last Lullaby'' and ''
Munger Road''.
Personal life
Batinkoff is married to Brown classmate Hilary Lambert and they have a daughter.
Filmography
Film
Television
Video games
References
External links
*
*
*
1968 births
Male actors from New York (state)
American male film actors
American male stage actors
American male television actors
Brown University alumni
Jewish American male actors
20th-century American male actors
21st-century American male actors
Living people
People from the Catskills
People from Liberty, New York
People from Monticello, New York
People from Thompson, New York
21st-century American Jews
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