Martin Landau is an American award-winning film and television actor best known for his roles in the television series, Mission: Impossible and Space: 1999, and in the film Ed Wood.
Coming from a Jewish family, Martin Landau was born on June 30, 1931 in Brooklyn, New York. He first started out as visual artist, working as a cartoonist for the New York Daily News at the age of seventeen. Influenced by Charlie Chaplin and fascinated by the escapism of films, he decided to pursue a career in acting. He studied at the Actors’ Studio along with actor Steve McQueen. In 1957, he made his Broadway debut in the play Middle of the Night. With his mentor Lee Strasberg’s encouragement, Martin Landau also taught acting. Among the actors that studied under his wings are Jack Nicholson and Anjelica Huston.
Landau first had his major appearance in the big screen in 1959, in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest. A few years later, he landed a role on the television series Mission: Impossible as the Impossible Missions Force agent Rollin Hand. He co-starred in the series with his then wife Barbara Bain. In the mid-1970s, the two once again teamed up in the British science-fiction series Space: 1999. Landau played the leader of the Moonbase Alpha Commander John Koenig.
In 1988, Landau starred in the Francis Ford Coppola film Tucker: The Man and His Dream as Abe Karatz. The role earned him an Academy Award nomination. He received his second Oscar nomination for his role as Judah Rosenthal in the Woody Allen film Crimes and Misdemeanors. In 1994, Landau starred in Tim Burton’s comedic biographical motion picture Ed Wood, playing Bela Lugosi. His outstanding performance in the film earned him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Landau also received a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Golden Globe, and a Saturn Award for the role.