Brown-haired, green-eyed actor Wallace Langham has made a nice transition from the "kid next door" and menacing delinquent roles he used to play billed as Wally Ward. He showed the nicer side in his feature debut, John Hughes' "Weird Science" (1985), as well as in "The Invisible Kid" (1988) and the "ABC Afterschool Special" entitled "Just a Regular Kid: An AIDS Story" (1987) but was equally effective as a young bigot in "Soul Man" (1986) and a hard-edged gang leader in the impressive low-budgeter "The Chocolate War" (1988). Langham dropped the Ward moniker in the 1990s as he moved to more adult roles, appearing as a regular in the much-hyped but short-lived CBS series "WIOU" (1990-91). Although he almost opened a coffee shop in a moment of despair, his bad luck ended when he landed the part of Phil, the cynical head writer for insecure talk show host Garry Shandling, in HBO's hit sitcom "The Larry Sanders Show" (1992-98). Langham then took on TV's most prominent potentially gay role since Ellen in NBC's "Veronica's Closet" (1997-2000), playing Kirstie Alley's uptight assistant Josh (who everyone assumes is homosexual but has not come out) while continuing as Phil.
- Also Credited As:
James Wallace Langham II, Wally Langham, Wally Ward
- Born:
March 11, 1965 in Fort Worth, Texas, USA
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Job Titles:
Actor
Family
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Daughter: Chloe Langham. born on February 22, 1991
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Father: James W Langham. divorced from Langham s mother c. 1971
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Mother: Sunni. divorced from Langham s father c. 1971
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Son: Alexander James Langham. born on June 12 1989 with a rare, congenital malformation called Klippel-Trenaunay (or K-T), necessitating the use of a wheelchair because of his partially developed legs
Education
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Los Angeles City College, Los Angeles, California, business, AA
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California State University, Northridge, Northridge, California
Milestones
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1975 Began to study acting at age 10 (date approximate)
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1985 Feature debut in John Hughes Weird Science , billed as Wally Ward
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1985 TV debut in CBS Schoolbreak Special Ace Hits the Big Time
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1985 TV-movie debut in Children of the Night (CBS)
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1986 Portrayed Mark Ratner in short-lived CBS series Fast Times
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1987 Played the best friend of the boy with AIDS in the ABC Afterschool Special entitled Just a Regular Kid: An AIDS Story
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1989 Last credit as Wally Ward, the ABC movie A Deadly Silence
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1990 First feature as Wallace Langham, Vital Signs
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1990 Regular role as Willis in CBS series WIOU
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1992 Featured as Phil, the writer, on the HBO comedy series The Larry Sanders Show
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1997 Best feature exposure to date, his small but showy role as the unctuous tabloid assistant in the John Travolta hit Michael
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2001 Co-starred in the ABC sitcom What About Joan?
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Appeared in first commercial for an English brand of yogurt
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Co-starred as Josh, the sexually ambiguous secretary, in the NBC sitcom Veronica s Closet
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Moved to Los Angeles with mother in the mid-1970s; Mom had got a job as assistant costume designer for the Donny and Marie (ABC, 1976-1979) show