Life and career

Hedaya was born in Brooklyn, New York, to a Sephardic Jewish family from Syria. His father emigrated from Aleppo. Hedaya was raised in Bensonhurst, and worked as a junior high school teacher for many years before deciding to pursue acting full-time.

Alongside a successful career in the movies, Hedaya has appeared in several TV roles, including Carla Tortelli's ex-husband Nick on the sitcom Cheers and its short-lived spinoff The Tortellis. He played the estranged father of Mallory Keaton's boyfriend, Nick, on the sitcom Family Ties. More recently, he played an Italian-American priest in the controversial and quickly cancelled NBC series The Book of Daniel. Adding to his list of television credits is his performance as the long-lost father of Adrian Monk on Monk. He also guest starred in 1997 and 2005 as a wisecracking lawyer on the medical drama ER.

In films, Hedaya has played the evil dictator Arius in 1985's Commando and Mel Horowitz, the father of Alicia Silverstone's Cher, in the 1995 film Clueless. He played Julian Marty in the first Coen Brothers film, Blood Simple. His physical similarity to Richard Nixon led to his being cast as the former president for the film Dick. Hedaya appeared in several episodes of the television series Hill Street Blues as a corrupt, bigamist cop during the series' first season. During the 1980s Hedaya also appeared in the television series Miami Vice.

Filmography

• The Seduction of Joe Tynan (1979) .... Alex Heller
• Night of the Juggler (1980) .... Sgt. Otis Barnes
• Hill Street Blues (1981) .... Detective Macafee
• True Confessions (1981) .... Howard Terke
• I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can (1982) .... Dr. Klein
• Cheers (1982-1992) (6 Episodes) ......Nick Tortelli
• Endangered Species (1982) .... Peck
• The Hunger (1983)....Lieutenant Allegrezza
• Tightrope (1984 film)....Detective Molinari
• The Dollmaker (1984 made-for-TV movie) Mr. Skyros
• Blood Simple (1984) .... Julian Marty
• Reckless (1984) .... Peter Daniels
• The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984) .... John Gomez
• Miami Vice (1984-1986) (2 Episodes) Season 1, Episode 6: "One Eyed Jack" & Season 2, Episode 19: "Payback" ... Reuben Reydolfo/Ben Schroeder
• Commando (1985) .... Arius
• The Twilight Zone Season 1, Episode 8: "Act Break/The Burning Man/Dealer's Choice" Segment - Dealer's Choice .... Nick
• A Smoky Mountain Christmas (1986) .... Harry
• Running Scared (1986) .... Captain Logan
• Wise Guys (1986) .... Anthony Castelo
• The Tortellis (1987) (13 Episodes) .... Nick Tortelli
• Who's the Boss? (1989) Season 5, Episode 20: "Men Are People, Too" .... Ralph
• L.A. Law (1988-1990) (3 Episodes) .... Michael Roitman
• Joe Versus the Volcano (1990) ... The dour boss, Frank Waturi
• Pacific Heights (1990) ... The banker
• The Addams Family (1991) .... Tully Alford
• The Mighty Ducks (1992) .... Sunny Young
• Benny & Joon (1993) .... Thomas
• Boiling Point (1993) .... Brady
• Rookie of the Year (1993) .... Larry Fisher
• Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993) .... Tournament Director
• For Love or Money (1993) .... Gene Salvatore
• Mr. Wonderful (1993) .... Harvey
• Nixon (1995) .... Trini Cardoza
• Clueless (1995) .... Mel Horowitz
• The Usual Suspects (1995) .... Sgt. Geoffrey 'Jeff' Rabin
• To Die For (1995) .... Joe Maretto
• Freeway (1996).... Detective Garnet Wallace
• The First Wives Club (1996) .... Morton Cushman
• Ransom (1996) .... Jackie Brown
• Daylight (1996).... EMS Officer Frank Kraft
• Marvin's Room (1996) .... Bob
• Alien: Resurrection (1997) .... General Perez
• A Life Less Ordinary (1997) .... Gabriel
• In & Out (1997) .... Military Attorney
• E.R. (1997-2005) (4 Episodes) Season 4 notably Episode 8 & Season 11 notably Episode 11 .... Lawyer Herb Spivak
• A Civil Action (1998) .... John Riley
• A Night at the Roxbury (1998) .... Kamehl Butabi
• The Hurricane (1999) .... Detective Sgt. Della Pesca Paterson PD
• Dick (1999) .... President Richard M. "Dick" Nixon
• Shaft (2000) .... Detective Jack Roselli
• The Crew (2000) .... Mike "The Brick" Donatelli
• Judging Amy (2000) Season 2, Episode 5: "Unnecessary Roughness" .... Detective Tarnower
• Yes, Dear (2000-2003) (6 Episodes) .... Don Ludke
• Mulholland Drive (2001) .... Vincenzo Castigliane
• Swimfan (2002) .... Coach Simkins
• Quicksand (2002) .... General Stewart
• Robots (2005) .... Mr.Gunk (voice)
• Pizza My Heart (2005) .... Vinnie Montebello
• Strangers with Candy (2006) - Guy Blank
• The Good Student (2006) .... Gabrial
• Monk (2006) Season 5, Episode 9: "Mr. Monk Meets His Dad" .... Jack Monk
• Person of Interest - Detective Bernie Sullivan
• Golden Boy (2013) .... Francis Diaco
• Gotham (2014) (1 Episode) - Spirit of the Goat .... Detective Dix
• The Humbling (2014) .... Asa
• Blue Bloods (2015) (2 Episodes) Season 5, Episode 15: "Power Players" & Season 6, Episode 4: "With Friends Like These" .... Vincent Rella

[ Source: Wikipedia ]