Brian George

Equipped with a distinctive face and vocal delivery, comedic character actor Brian George proved that he could sustain a long-lasting acting career despite being regularly typecast as a bumbling foreigner in many of his performances on television sitcoms and in movies. George started out appearing in small parts on television shows like "King of Kensington" (CBS, 1975-1980) and doing voice work on animated kid shows such as "M.A.S.K." (USA Network, 1985-86) for over a decade. It was steady work, but he finally landed his first real memorable role playing Babu, an immigrant restaurant owner who entrusts his livelihood and U.S. residency to Jerry Seinfeld, and pays the consequences for doing so, on the iconic sitcom "Seinfeld" (NBC, 1989-1998). The character was a minor one overall, but George's impeccable comedic timing and presence helped him become a fan favorite. He is also well known for several other small yet attention-grabbing roles, such as appearing on a 1997 episode of the syndicated "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine;" playing the UN Secretary in the Mike Meyers comedy "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery" (1997); playing an irate store owner in the comedy/drama "Ghost World" (2001); and for appearing as the character Raj's father on the all-things-geek sitcom "The Big Bang Theory" (CBS, 2007- ). Although burdened by typecasting in Hollywood, George nevertheless knows how to work a scene to his advantage.

George was born in Israel to Indian immigrants. The family uprooted to England in the 1950s and the future actor attended private school before immigrating once again to Canada when he was a teenager. He attended the University of Toronto for a time, and gained an interest in theater, but he never graduated. After leaving school, however, George co-founded a theater group. Acting glory did not come his way at that point, though George did eventually train with the famed Second City comedy group in Toronto, and learned his craft with other future comedy heavyweights including John Candy, Martin Short and Catherine O'Hara. George's cohorts would go on to greater fame, but he would collaborate with them over the course of his career. After his first appearance on the Canadian show "King of Kensington," George's career saw several gaps between roles until the early 1980s, when he relocated to Hollywood and landed several small bit parts on shows like the hit cop show "Hill Street Blues" (NBC, 1981-87), the blue-collar sitcom "Roseanne" (ABC, 1988-1997) and the primetime soap opera "Falcon Crest" (CBS, 1981-1990). Because of his ability to impersonate several different accents with ease, George also found plenty of work as a busy voice actor for commercials and children's animated programs, including supplying voices for "Camp Candy" (NBC, 1989-1992), a show created by John Candy, with whom George had studied while at Second City. After his long-lasting and beloved run as Babu on "Seinfeld," George continued landing work on animated programs and the occasional bit part on a sitcom or movie. Because he was capable of impersonating stereotypical ethnic voices or simply retaining his own British accent, George always had a busy schedule. Eventually, roles in more prominent movies did come his way, such as the first "Austin Powers" film and the low-key indie "Ghost World," starring a young Scarlett Johansson. Many science fiction fans might know him best for his voicing Jedi master Ki-Adi-Mundi on the television cartoon "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" (Cartoon Network, 2008-13; Netflix, 2014) and for his role on "The Big Bang Theory."