Lance Barber

Lance Barber (born June 29, 1973)^[1] is an American film and television actor.

Early life[]

Barber was born and raised in Battle Creek, Michigan and began wanting to be an actor at the age of seven, after seeing a performance of Grease at the Barn Theatre.^[1] He acted at Pennfield High School, from which he graduated in 1991, and performed in school productions from Kellogg Community College^[1] while earning his associate degree.

Career[]

After a year at the Barn Theatre, alongside Jennifer Garner, Barber moved to Chicago and spent five years working his way up in The Second City improvisational comedy troupe.^[1] He then moved to Los Angeles and had his first television role in On the Spot, an improv sketch show that ran for five episodes on The WB in 2003.^[1] He credits his breakthrough to the 2005 HBO series The Comeback with Lisa Kudrow, in which he played Paulie G., a television writer who he describes as an "asshole".^[1] In 2010, he landed the recurring role of Bill Ponderosa on FX's It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.^[1] He reprised his role as Paulie G. when HBO brought back The Comeback in 2014.^[2] He also starred in episodes of How I Met Your Mother, Gilmore Girls, Californication, Monk, The Mentalist, and Grey's Anatomy.

Barber played Jimmy Speckerman, who bullied Leonard Hofstadter at high school, in one episode of The Big Bang Theory.^[3] He was cast as George Cooper Sr., father of Sheldon Cooper, in the spin-off Young Sheldon that premiered in 2017, and mentioned in an interview that some fans were confused by his different roles in the two related series.^[3] Barber also played Cooper in "The VCR Illumination", a 2018 episode of the parent show's twelfth season; the character is deceased in the series but appears on a video tape that Sheldon unexpectedly watches.^[4]

Personal life[]

Barber lives in Los Angeles with his wife Aliza, who is a chef, and their two young children.^[1]

Filmography[]

Film[]

Acting roles in film productions: ^[5][6]

Television[]

Roles and voice acting work in television films and series:^[5][6]

References[]

External links[]

• Lance Barber at IMDb
• Lance Barber on CBS.com