Lovitz had his debut starring role in the 1996 schoolhouse spoof High School High. After a year spent away from the hustle of Hollywood, Lovitz landed squarely on his feet in 1998, contributing an inspired cameo to The Wedding Singer and signing on as a regular player on the NBC sitcom NewsRadio. On the advice of former cast member Laraine Newman, venerated S.N.L. creator Lorne Michaels granted Lovitz an audition for the show in 1985, and subsequently signed him up. During his five years among the cast of television's most revered sketch comedy series, Lovitz churned out a bevy of quirky characters, including the Shakespeare-fixated Master Thespian ('I am an ACK-torrr!') and Tommy 'Yeah, that's the ticket!' Flanagan, president of Pathological Liars Anonymous. By 1990, when he made the traditional jump from S.N.L. to Hollywood, Lovitz already had an impressive head start on his silver-screen career, having logged small, yet memorable, roles in Three Amigos!, My Stepmother Is an Alien, Jumpin' Jack Flash, and Big. He delivered a number of well-reviewed supporting performances over the next several years, most notably as a baseball scout in A League of Their Own. Lovitz returned to television in 1994 to provide the voice of the title character of the animated series The Critic. The seeds of Lovitz's next full-time foray into television were planted in 1995, when he landed a recurring guest role on NewsRadio, which starred good friend and fellow former Groundling and S.N.L.-er Phil Hartman. Lovitz does hope to add more dramatic assignments to the mix of roles he plays, he took a major step in that direction with his involvement in the 1998 film Happiness, director Todd Solondz's follow-up to Welcome to the Dollhouse. Back on the comedy side, he teamed with David Spade for Lost & Found (1999); with Woody Allen for Small Time Crooks (2000); and with Adam Sandler for Little Nicky (2000).
Jon Lovitz