Bruce Vilanch

Bruce Vilanch is an American comedy writer, songwriter and actor. He is a sixtime Emmy Awardwinner. Vilanch is best known to the public for his fouryear stint on Hollywood Squares, as a celebrity participant behind the scenes he was head writer for the show. In 2000, he performed offBroadway in his selfpenned oneman show, Bruce Vilanch Almost Famous.

Vilanch was born in New York City and raised in Paterson, New Jersey. When he was four days old, he was adopted by Jonas Vilanch, an optometrist, and his wife Henne, a housewife. Having her own theatrical aspirations, Vilanchs mother helped launch her sons show business career by getting him signed on with Lane Bryants Charming Chub division as a chubby child model. Upon graduating from high school, Vilanch attended Ohio State University as a theater and journalism student. While there, he appeared in student theater productions and wrote reviews, hoping it would be the beginning of a career as a playwright. In 1999 Vilanch stated, I was going to be Neil Simon, batting out one Broadway show after another.

Source: Wikipedia