Patrick Fischler
Encyclopedia
Patrick Fischler is an American
actor
best known for his roles as Jimmy Barrett on the drama series Mad Men
, Dharma Initiative
worker Phil on the drama series Lost
and Detective Kenny No-Gun on the police drama Southland
. He has had more than 60 film and television credits, including the films Mulholland Drive
(2001), Ghost World
(2001), Old School
(2003), The Black Dahlia
(2006) and Dinner for Schmucks
(2010).
A graduate of New York University
's Tisch School of the Arts
, Fischler co-founded the Los Angeles
-based theater group Neurotic Young Urbanites. During a performance there, he was approached by an agent to audition for the action film Speed
(1994), his first film credit. After guest starring on several television shows, Fischler received increased exposure for his role on Mad Men, for which he based his character in part on entertainer Joey Bishop
. Fischler filmed his parts for Lost and Southland simultaneously and, although originally only slated for two Lost episodes, he actually appeared in nine.
Fischler recently portrayed real-life gangster Mickey Cohen
in the 2011 video game L.A. Noire
, which utilized facial performance-capture technology to convert performances in the game's graphics. In 2012 he will appear in One for the Money
, a crime thriller adapted by Janet Evanovich
's novel of the same name
. The Malibu restaurant "Patrick's Roadhouse" was started by his father and is named for him.
, California
on December 29, 1969 His father, Bill, purchased a restaurant on the Pacific Coast Highway
in Malibu, when Fischler was five years old and named it "Patrick's Roadhouse" after him. The restaurant has since become a hotspot for such celebrities as Arnold Schwarzenegger
, Sean Penn
, Goldie Hawn
and Johnny Carson
. After graduating from high school, Fischler attended New York University
's Tisch School of the Arts
, where he met and started dating his future wife, actress Lauren Bowles
, the half-sister of actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus
. After graduating from Tisch, Fischler and Bowles moved back to Los Angeles
, where, along with other New York University graduates, they, formed a theater group called Neurotic Young Urbanites. An agent who saw Fischler perform at a Neurotic Young Urbanites production arranged for him to attend an audition for the 1994 action film Speed
, which became Fischler's first film acting job. In the film, Fischler played one of the men trapped inside an elevator that nearly falls due to an attack by a bomber.
In 1998, Fischler starred in the independent film The Week That Girl Died, a romantic comedy about three long-time friends in a small New England
fishing town. For the part, he received a best lead actor award by the American Film Institute
International Film Festival's New Directions jury, which honors independent films. Fischler also appeared in David Lynch
's 2001 psychological thriller Mulholland Drive
as a man describing a horrible nightmare he had. He also appeared in the 2002 television film Gilda Radner: It's Always Something, a biopic
about comedian Gilda Radner
, where he played the real-life comedian Eugene Levy
. He appeared in the films Twister (1996), Ghost World
(2001), and Old School
(2003). and The Great Buck Howard
(2008), and played assistant district attorney Ellis Loew in Brian De Palma
's 2006 crime film The Black Dahlia
. The character was referred to in the film as "Jewboy", Film reviewer Stephen Cole called his role in that film "a caricature that is as coarsely anti-Semitic as any sequence in Mel Gibson
’s The Passion of the Christ
." Fischler also appeared as a guest star in television shows Angel
, Burn Notice
, Lie to Me
, Bones
, Cold Case, Monk
, Star Trek: Enterprise
, Girlfriends
, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
, CSI: Miami
and CSI: NY
. By 2009, he had more than 60 film and television credits.
Jimmy Barrett on the AMC drama series Mad Men
, of which he was a fan. Alex Witchel, a writer from The New York Times Magazine
who sat in on Fischler's audition, said he was "breathtakingly good". The character, Jimmy Barrett, is a client of the advertising company within the show, and his wife sleeps with protagonist Don Draper
, played by Jon Hamm. Series creator and executive producer Matthew Weiner
cast Fischler because he felt the actor had a "New York quality" that he wanted the character to have. Weiner said of him: "Patrick has this tremendous edge. There was something very old-fashioned about the way he dealt with the character." Fischler said entertainer Joey Bishop
was a major influence on how he played the role because he wanted Jimmy Barrett to have a charming element to him and make people laugh even while he said horrible things, as Bishop did. Fischler received a great deal of exposure and increase in name recognition after his role on Mad Men. During one episode, Fischler's character tells Don's wife Betty
about her husband's infidelity, then confronts Don and tells him off about his cheating. Fischler called receiving that script "the highlight of my career so far", adding: "After Mad Men I got a lot of 'How dare you speak to Don Draper like that? ... People, mainly women, were mad at me that I told Don off. I took it as a compliment." Fischler had been in talks to appear on the Showtime drama series Californication
, but he was unable to do so due to scheduling conflicts with Mad Men.
Starting in 2009, Fischler became a recurring cast member on both the ABC
drama series Lost
and the NBC
police drama Southland
. He was cast in Lost immediately the pilot for Southland was filmed and worked on both shows over the course of six months. To do so, he constantly flew back and forth between Hawaii
, where Lost is filmed, and Los Angeles, where Southland is filmed, while simultaneously dealing with his wife's pregnancy. Fischler said the Lost producers were "incredibly accommodating" to his schedule. On Southland
he played Detective Kenny No-Gun; series creator Ann Biderman
described him as a "brilliant, incredibly versatile actor". Although originally expected to appear in only two Lost episodes, he ended up guest starring in nine, appearing in the fifth season
as Phil, a member of the Dharma Initiative
during a part of the show set in 1977. When he auditions for the role, Fischler did not know the storyline was moving from the present to the past, and did not learn it until he was handed his first script. In a May 2009 interview, Fischler said, "This is not a joke: a year ago if you were to ask me what are the two shows I want to be on, I would have said Mad Men and Lost."
as Vincenzo, one of the guests at a dinner where rich people bring eccentric guests and compete for who can bring the biggest loser. In the film, Fischler's character has a pet vulture, which he feeds by chewing food and spitting it directly into the bird's mouth. Fischler also portrayed the real-life gangster Mickey Cohen
in the video game L.A. Noire
, which was released in May 2011. The game uses a facial performance-capture technology called MotionScan to record the performances of actors, then convert them to the graphics of the game. The game's casting directors worked on Mad Men and specifically approached Fischler for the Cohen character, and he accepted because he likes the film noir
genre. Fischler said of the experience: "You really get to act in those scenes cause they’re capturing every moment on your face. A slight smile. A small frown. Everything."
In January 2012, Fischler will appear in One for the Money
, a crime thriller film adapted from the 1994 novel of the same name
by Janet Evanovich
, the first in a series featuring bounty hunter Stephanie Plum
. He will portray Vinnie Plum, a bail bondsman and Stephanie Plum's cousin. He will portray poet Lew Welch
in the 2012 Michael Polish film Big Sur
, based on the autobiographical novel by Jack Kerouac
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
best known for his roles as Jimmy Barrett on the drama series Mad Men
Mad Men
Mad Men is an American dramatic television series created and produced by Matthew Weiner. The series premiered on Sunday evenings on the American cable network AMC and are produced by Lionsgate Television. It premiered on July 19, 2007, and completed its fourth season on October 17, 2010. Each...
, Dharma Initiative
DHARMA Initiative
The Dharma Initiative, also written DHARMA , was a fictional research project featured in the television series Lost. It was introduced in the second season episode "Orientation". In 2008, the Dharma Initiative website was launched. Dharma's interests were directly connected with fringe science...
worker Phil on the drama series Lost
Lost (TV series)
Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...
and Detective Kenny No-Gun on the police drama Southland
Southland (TV series)
Southland is an American drama series created by writer Ann Biderman and produced by Warner Bros. Television. It premiered on NBC on April 9, 2009...
. He has had more than 60 film and television credits, including the films Mulholland Drive
Mulholland Drive (film)
Mulholland Drive is a 2001 American neo-noir psychological thriller written and directed by David Lynch, starring Justin Theroux, Naomi Watts, and Laura Harring. The surrealist film was highly acclaimed by many critics and earned Lynch the Prix de la mise en scène at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival...
(2001), Ghost World
Ghost World (film)
Ghost World is a 2001 comedy-drama film directed by Terry Zwigoff, based on the comic book of the same name and screenplay by Daniel Clowes...
(2001), Old School
Old School (film)
Old School is a 2003 American comedy film released by DreamWorks SKG and directed by Todd Phillips, director of the documentary Frat House. The story was written by Court Crandall, and the film was written by Phillips and Scot Armstrong...
(2003), The Black Dahlia
The Black Dahlia (film)
The Black Dahlia is a 2006 neo noir crime film directed by Brian De Palma. It is based on the novel of the same name by James Ellroy, writer of L.A. Confidential and starred Josh Hartnett, Scarlett Johansson, Aaron Eckhart and Hilary Swank. The story is based on the murder of Elizabeth Short...
(2006) and Dinner for Schmucks
Dinner for Schmucks
Dinner for Schmucks, a 2010 screwball comedy film, is the American adaptation of the French film Le Dîner de Cons , being described by the director as "inspired by" the original rather than a remake of it...
(2010).
A graduate of New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
's Tisch School of the Arts
Tisch School of the Arts
Tisch School of the Arts is one of the 15 schools that make up New York University ....
, Fischler co-founded the Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
-based theater group Neurotic Young Urbanites. During a performance there, he was approached by an agent to audition for the action film Speed
Speed (film)
Speed is a 1994 American action-thriller film directed by Jan de Bont, and set in Los Angeles. LAPD officer Jack Traven becomes the focus of a bomber and extortionist, retired Atlanta bomb squad sergeant, Howard Payne...
(1994), his first film credit. After guest starring on several television shows, Fischler received increased exposure for his role on Mad Men, for which he based his character in part on entertainer Joey Bishop
Joey Bishop
Joey Bishop was an American entertainer who was perhaps best known for being a member of the "Rat Pack" with Frank Sinatra, Peter Lawford, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Dean Martin...
. Fischler filmed his parts for Lost and Southland simultaneously and, although originally only slated for two Lost episodes, he actually appeared in nine.
Fischler recently portrayed real-life gangster Mickey Cohen
Mickey Cohen
Meyer Harris "Mickey" Cohen was a gangster based in Los Angeles and part of the Jewish Mafia, and also had strong ties to the American Mafia from the 1930s through 1960s.-Early life:...
in the 2011 video game L.A. Noire
L.A. Noire
L.A. Noire is a 2011 crime video game developed by Team Bondi and published by Rockstar Games. It was released for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows. It was released as a 3-disc game for the Xbox 360 console, which prompts the player to switch to another disc at certain points in the...
, which utilized facial performance-capture technology to convert performances in the game's graphics. In 2012 he will appear in One for the Money
One for the Money (film)
One for the Money is an upcoming 2012 action comedy film based on the 1994 novel of the same name, written by Janet Evanovich. Directed by Julie Anne Robinson, the screenplay was written by Liz Brixius, Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith...
, a crime thriller adapted by Janet Evanovich
Janet Evanovich
Janet Evanovich is an American writer. She began her career writing short contemporary romance novels under the pen name Steffie Hall, but gained fame authoring a series of contemporary mysteries featuring Stephanie Plum, a lingerie buyer from Trenton, New Jersey, who becomes a bounty hunter to...
's novel of the same name
One For the Money (novel)
One For the Money is the first novel by Janet Evanovich featuring the bounty hunter Stephanie Plum. It was published in 1994 in the United States and in 1995 in Great Britain...
. The Malibu restaurant "Patrick's Roadhouse" was started by his father and is named for him.
Early life and career
Patrick Fischler was born in Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
on December 29, 1969 His father, Bill, purchased a restaurant on the Pacific Coast Highway
California State Route 1
State Route 1 , more often called Highway 1, is a state highway that runs along much of the Pacific coast of the U.S. state of California. It is famous for running along some of the most beautiful coastlines in the world, leading to its designation as an All-American Road.Highway 1 does not run...
in Malibu, when Fischler was five years old and named it "Patrick's Roadhouse" after him. The restaurant has since become a hotspot for such celebrities as Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
, Sean Penn
Sean Penn
Sean Justin Penn is an American actor, screenwriter and film director, also known for his political and social activism...
, Goldie Hawn
Goldie Hawn
Goldie Jeanne Hawn is an American actress, film director, producer, and occasional singer. Hawn is known for her roles in Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, Private Benjamin, Foul Play, Overboard, Bird on a Wire, Death Becomes Her, The First Wives Club, and Cactus Flower, for which she won the 1969...
and Johnny Carson
Johnny Carson
John William "Johnny" Carson was an American television host and comedian, known as host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for 30 years . Carson received six Emmy Awards including the Governor Award and a 1985 Peabody Award; he was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987...
. After graduating from high school, Fischler attended New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
's Tisch School of the Arts
Tisch School of the Arts
Tisch School of the Arts is one of the 15 schools that make up New York University ....
, where he met and started dating his future wife, actress Lauren Bowles
Lauren Bowles
Lauren Hannah Bowles is an American actress and a half-sister of Julia Louis-Dreyfus.She has appeared in numerous TV shows including Seinfeld, Arrested Development, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Judging Amy, The New Adventures of Old Christine , Private Practice and many more...
, the half-sister of actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Scarlett Elizabeth Louis-Dreyfus is an American actress and comedienne, widely known for her sitcom roles in Seinfeld and The New Adventures of Old Christine....
. After graduating from Tisch, Fischler and Bowles moved back to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, where, along with other New York University graduates, they, formed a theater group called Neurotic Young Urbanites. An agent who saw Fischler perform at a Neurotic Young Urbanites production arranged for him to attend an audition for the 1994 action film Speed
Speed (film)
Speed is a 1994 American action-thriller film directed by Jan de Bont, and set in Los Angeles. LAPD officer Jack Traven becomes the focus of a bomber and extortionist, retired Atlanta bomb squad sergeant, Howard Payne...
, which became Fischler's first film acting job. In the film, Fischler played one of the men trapped inside an elevator that nearly falls due to an attack by a bomber.
In 1998, Fischler starred in the independent film The Week That Girl Died, a romantic comedy about three long-time friends in a small New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
fishing town. For the part, he received a best lead actor award by the American Film Institute
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
International Film Festival's New Directions jury, which honors independent films. Fischler also appeared in David Lynch
David Lynch
David Keith Lynch is an American filmmaker, television director, visual artist, musician and occasional actor. Known for his surrealist films, he has developed his own unique cinematic style, which has been dubbed "Lynchian", and which is characterized by its dream imagery and meticulous sound...
's 2001 psychological thriller Mulholland Drive
Mulholland Drive (film)
Mulholland Drive is a 2001 American neo-noir psychological thriller written and directed by David Lynch, starring Justin Theroux, Naomi Watts, and Laura Harring. The surrealist film was highly acclaimed by many critics and earned Lynch the Prix de la mise en scène at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival...
as a man describing a horrible nightmare he had. He also appeared in the 2002 television film Gilda Radner: It's Always Something, a biopic
Biographical film
A biographical film, or biopic , is a film that dramatizes the life of an actual person or people. They differ from films “based on a true story” or “historical films” in that they attempt to comprehensively tell a person’s life story or at least the most historically important years of their...
about comedian Gilda Radner
Gilda Radner
Gilda Susan Radner was an American comedian and actress, best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, for which she won an Emmy Award in 1978.-Early life:...
, where he played the real-life comedian Eugene Levy
Eugene Levy
Eugene Levy, CM is a Canadian actor, comedian, television director, producer, musician, and writer. He is known for his work in Canadian television series, American movies, and television movies. He is the only actor to have appeared in all eight of the American Pie films, as Noah Levenstein...
. He appeared in the films Twister (1996), Ghost World
Ghost World (film)
Ghost World is a 2001 comedy-drama film directed by Terry Zwigoff, based on the comic book of the same name and screenplay by Daniel Clowes...
(2001), and Old School
Old School (film)
Old School is a 2003 American comedy film released by DreamWorks SKG and directed by Todd Phillips, director of the documentary Frat House. The story was written by Court Crandall, and the film was written by Phillips and Scot Armstrong...
(2003). and The Great Buck Howard
The Great Buck Howard
The Great Buck Howard is a 2008 American comedy-drama film directed by Sean McGinly that stars Colin Hanks and John Malkovich. Tom Hanks also appears as the father of his real-life son's character. The character Buck Howard is inspired by the mentalist The Amazing Kreskin, whose popularity was at...
(2008), and played assistant district attorney Ellis Loew in Brian De Palma
Brian De Palma
Brian Russell De Palma is an American film director and writer. In a career spanning over 40 years, he is probably best known for his suspense and crime thriller films, including such box office successes as the horror film Carrie, Dressed to Kill, Scarface, The Untouchables, and Mission:...
's 2006 crime film The Black Dahlia
The Black Dahlia (film)
The Black Dahlia is a 2006 neo noir crime film directed by Brian De Palma. It is based on the novel of the same name by James Ellroy, writer of L.A. Confidential and starred Josh Hartnett, Scarlett Johansson, Aaron Eckhart and Hilary Swank. The story is based on the murder of Elizabeth Short...
. The character was referred to in the film as "Jewboy", Film reviewer Stephen Cole called his role in that film "a caricature that is as coarsely anti-Semitic as any sequence in Mel Gibson
Mel Gibson
Mel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson, AO is an American actor, film director, producer and screenwriter. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia when he was 12 years old and later studied acting at the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art.After appearing in...
’s The Passion of the Christ
The Passion of the Christ
The Passion of the Christ is a 2004 American drama film directed by Mel Gibson and starring Jim Caviezel as Jesus. It depicts the Passion of Jesus largely according to the New Testament Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John...
." Fischler also appeared as a guest star in television shows Angel
Angel (TV series)
Angel is an American television series, a spin-off of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The series was created by Buffys creator, Joss Whedon, in collaboration with David Greenwalt, and first aired on October 5, 1999...
, Burn Notice
Burn notice
A burn notice is an official statement issued by one intelligence agency to other agencies. It states that an individual or a group is unreliable for one or more reasons...
, Lie to Me
Lie to Me
Lie to Me is a 2009-2011 American television series.Lie to Me may also refer to:* Lie to Me , a South Korean drama series* "Lie to Me" , an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer...
, Bones
Bones (TV series)
Bones is an American crime drama television series that premiered on the Fox Network on September 13, 2005. The show is based on forensic anthropology and forensic archaeology, with each episode focusing on an FBI case file concerning the mystery behind human remains brought by FBI Special Agent...
, Cold Case, Monk
Monk (TV series)
Monk is an American comedy-drama detective mystery television series created by Andy Breckman and starring Tony Shalhoub as the titular character, Adrian Monk. It originally ran from 2002 to 2009 and is primarily a mystery series, although it has dark and comic touches.The series debuted on July...
, Star Trek: Enterprise
Star Trek: Enterprise
Star Trek: Enterprise is a science fiction television series. It follows the adventures of humanity's first warp 5 starship, the Enterprise, ten years before the United Federation of Planets shown in previous Star Trek series was formed.Enterprise premiered on September 26, 2001...
, Girlfriends
Girlfriends
Girlfriends is an American comedy-drama sitcom that premiered on September 11, 2000, on UPN and aired on UPN's successor network, The CW, before being cancelled in 2008...
, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is an American crime drama television series, which premiered on CBS on October 6, 2000. The show was created by Anthony E. Zuiker and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer...
, CSI: Miami
CSI: Miami
CSI: Miami is an American police procedural television series, which premiered on September 23, 2002 on CBS. The series is a spin-off of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation....
and CSI: NY
CSI: NY
CSI: NY is an American police procedural television series that premiered on September 22, 2004, on CBS. The show follows the investigations of a team of NYPD forensic scientists and police officers as they unveil the circumstances behind mysterious and unusual deaths as well as other crimes...
. By 2009, he had more than 60 film and television credits.
Increased recognition
Fischler auditioned for the role of insult comicInsult comedy
Insult comedy is a comedy genre in which the act consists mainly of offensive insults directed at the performer's audience and/or other performers....
Jimmy Barrett on the AMC drama series Mad Men
Mad Men
Mad Men is an American dramatic television series created and produced by Matthew Weiner. The series premiered on Sunday evenings on the American cable network AMC and are produced by Lionsgate Television. It premiered on July 19, 2007, and completed its fourth season on October 17, 2010. Each...
, of which he was a fan. Alex Witchel, a writer from The New York Times Magazine
The New York Times Magazine
The New York Times Magazine is a Sunday magazine supplement included with the Sunday edition of The New York Times. It is host to feature articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors...
who sat in on Fischler's audition, said he was "breathtakingly good". The character, Jimmy Barrett, is a client of the advertising company within the show, and his wife sleeps with protagonist Don Draper
Don Draper
Donald "Don" Draper is a fictional character and the protagonist of AMC's television series Mad Men. He is portrayed by 2008 Golden Globe winner Jon Hamm. Until the third season finale, Draper was Creative Director of Manhattan advertising firm Sterling Cooper...
, played by Jon Hamm. Series creator and executive producer Matthew Weiner
Matthew Weiner
Matthew Weiner is an American writer, director and producer of television drama. He is the creator, executive producer, head writer, and show runner of the AMC television series Mad Men. He is also noted for his work on the HBO series The Sopranos, on which he served as a writer and producer...
cast Fischler because he felt the actor had a "New York quality" that he wanted the character to have. Weiner said of him: "Patrick has this tremendous edge. There was something very old-fashioned about the way he dealt with the character." Fischler said entertainer Joey Bishop
Joey Bishop
Joey Bishop was an American entertainer who was perhaps best known for being a member of the "Rat Pack" with Frank Sinatra, Peter Lawford, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Dean Martin...
was a major influence on how he played the role because he wanted Jimmy Barrett to have a charming element to him and make people laugh even while he said horrible things, as Bishop did. Fischler received a great deal of exposure and increase in name recognition after his role on Mad Men. During one episode, Fischler's character tells Don's wife Betty
Betty Draper
Elizabeth "Betty" Francis is a fictional character on AMC's television series Mad Men, portrayed by January Jones...
about her husband's infidelity, then confronts Don and tells him off about his cheating. Fischler called receiving that script "the highlight of my career so far", adding: "After Mad Men I got a lot of 'How dare you speak to Don Draper like that? ... People, mainly women, were mad at me that I told Don off. I took it as a compliment." Fischler had been in talks to appear on the Showtime drama series Californication
Californication (TV series)
Californication is an American comedy-drama that premiered on Showtime on August 13, 2007. The show was created by Tom Kapinos. The protagonist, Hank Moody , is a troubled novelist whose move to California, coupled with his writer's block, complicates his relationships with his longtime girlfriend...
, but he was unable to do so due to scheduling conflicts with Mad Men.
Starting in 2009, Fischler became a recurring cast member on both the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
drama series Lost
Lost (TV series)
Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...
and the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
police drama Southland
Southland (TV series)
Southland is an American drama series created by writer Ann Biderman and produced by Warner Bros. Television. It premiered on NBC on April 9, 2009...
. He was cast in Lost immediately the pilot for Southland was filmed and worked on both shows over the course of six months. To do so, he constantly flew back and forth between Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
, where Lost is filmed, and Los Angeles, where Southland is filmed, while simultaneously dealing with his wife's pregnancy. Fischler said the Lost producers were "incredibly accommodating" to his schedule. On Southland
Southland (TV series)
Southland is an American drama series created by writer Ann Biderman and produced by Warner Bros. Television. It premiered on NBC on April 9, 2009...
he played Detective Kenny No-Gun; series creator Ann Biderman
Ann Biderman
Ann Biderman is an American film and television writer. She is the creator and executive producer of the critically acclaimed NBC/TNT series Southland, and won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing in a Drama Series for an episode of NYPD Blue.-Career:In the 2008 to 2009...
described him as a "brilliant, incredibly versatile actor". Although originally expected to appear in only two Lost episodes, he ended up guest starring in nine, appearing in the fifth season
Lost (season 5)
The fifth season of the American serial drama television series Lost commenced airing on the ABC network in the United States and on A in Canada in January 2009, and concluded with a two-hour season finale on May 13, 2009...
as Phil, a member of the Dharma Initiative
DHARMA Initiative
The Dharma Initiative, also written DHARMA , was a fictional research project featured in the television series Lost. It was introduced in the second season episode "Orientation". In 2008, the Dharma Initiative website was launched. Dharma's interests were directly connected with fringe science...
during a part of the show set in 1977. When he auditions for the role, Fischler did not know the storyline was moving from the present to the past, and did not learn it until he was handed his first script. In a May 2009 interview, Fischler said, "This is not a joke: a year ago if you were to ask me what are the two shows I want to be on, I would have said Mad Men and Lost."
Recent projects
Fischler appeared in the 2010 comedy film Dinner for SchmucksDinner for Schmucks
Dinner for Schmucks, a 2010 screwball comedy film, is the American adaptation of the French film Le Dîner de Cons , being described by the director as "inspired by" the original rather than a remake of it...
as Vincenzo, one of the guests at a dinner where rich people bring eccentric guests and compete for who can bring the biggest loser. In the film, Fischler's character has a pet vulture, which he feeds by chewing food and spitting it directly into the bird's mouth. Fischler also portrayed the real-life gangster Mickey Cohen
Mickey Cohen
Meyer Harris "Mickey" Cohen was a gangster based in Los Angeles and part of the Jewish Mafia, and also had strong ties to the American Mafia from the 1930s through 1960s.-Early life:...
in the video game L.A. Noire
L.A. Noire
L.A. Noire is a 2011 crime video game developed by Team Bondi and published by Rockstar Games. It was released for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows. It was released as a 3-disc game for the Xbox 360 console, which prompts the player to switch to another disc at certain points in the...
, which was released in May 2011. The game uses a facial performance-capture technology called MotionScan to record the performances of actors, then convert them to the graphics of the game. The game's casting directors worked on Mad Men and specifically approached Fischler for the Cohen character, and he accepted because he likes the film noir
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
genre. Fischler said of the experience: "You really get to act in those scenes cause they’re capturing every moment on your face. A slight smile. A small frown. Everything."
In January 2012, Fischler will appear in One for the Money
One for the Money (film)
One for the Money is an upcoming 2012 action comedy film based on the 1994 novel of the same name, written by Janet Evanovich. Directed by Julie Anne Robinson, the screenplay was written by Liz Brixius, Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith...
, a crime thriller film adapted from the 1994 novel of the same name
One For the Money (novel)
One For the Money is the first novel by Janet Evanovich featuring the bounty hunter Stephanie Plum. It was published in 1994 in the United States and in 1995 in Great Britain...
by Janet Evanovich
Janet Evanovich
Janet Evanovich is an American writer. She began her career writing short contemporary romance novels under the pen name Steffie Hall, but gained fame authoring a series of contemporary mysteries featuring Stephanie Plum, a lingerie buyer from Trenton, New Jersey, who becomes a bounty hunter to...
, the first in a series featuring bounty hunter Stephanie Plum
Stephanie Plum
Stephanie Plum is a fictional character and the protagonist in a series of novels written by Janet Evanovich. She is a spunky combination of Nancy Drew and Dirty Harry, and - although a female bounty hunter - is the opposite of Domino Harvey...
. He will portray Vinnie Plum, a bail bondsman and Stephanie Plum's cousin. He will portray poet Lew Welch
Lew Welch
Lewis Barrett Welch, Jr. was an American poet associated with the Beat generation of poets, artists, and iconoclasts.Welch published and performed widely during the 1960s...
in the 2012 Michael Polish film Big Sur
Big Sur (film)
Big Sur is an upcoming film, based on the autobiographical novel Big Sur by Beat Generation poet and novelist Jack Kerouac. The director is independent filmmaker Michael Polish...
, based on the autobiographical novel by Jack Kerouac
Jack Kerouac
Jean-Louis "Jack" Lebris de Kerouac was an American novelist and poet. He is considered a literary iconoclast and, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Kerouac is recognized for his spontaneous method of writing, covering topics such as Catholic...
.