Chip Zien - Career

Career

Zien's first major role was as Marvin in William Finn's first musical, In Trousers. In its sequels, March of the Falsettos and Falsettoland, this role was played by Michael Rupert, while Zien played Mendel, a role he reprised when these two one-act musicals were joined together and played Broadway as Falsettos. Several years later, Zien was featured in another Finn musical when he played a bizarre children's show host called Mr. Bungee in A New Brain. He also starred on Broadway in Grand Hotel (as Otto Kringelein), The Boys from Syracuse (as Dromio of Ephesus), The Suicide (as Victor Victorovich), Into the Woods (as the Baker) and Ride the Winds (as Inari). He provided the voice of the title character in George Lucas' Howard the Duck.

In 1973, Zien made his television debut on an episode of Love, American Style. More guest roles in television followed, and in the early 1980s, he began a stream of regular TV roles. In 1981, he appeared on Ryan's Hope as Daniel Thorne, the producer of the fictional Proud and the Passionate soap opera on the series in which major character Kimberly Harris (Kelli Maroney) was starring on. Later that year, he began a two-year run in the freshman NBC sitcom Love, Sidney as Jason Stoller, the young, hot-shot ad agency director who was Sidney Shorr's (Tony Randall) boss. Immediately after Love, Sidney's cancellation, Zien was cast in a similar role on the ABC sitcom Reggie, an American adaptation of the British series The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin. He played C.J. Wilcox, the overbearing young boss of Richard Mulligan's Reggie Potter. The series aired as a summer replacement during August and September of 1983, but was not renewed by ABC after the tryout run. Zien later starred on the short-lived CBS drama Shell Game in 1987.

In the 1990s, Zien was part of the ensemble on the CBS sitcom Almost Perfect (1995-96), playing neurotic screenwriter Gary Karp. Almost Perfect was cancelled shortly into its second season, but the series sustained its loyal following via reruns on USA Network not long after. Zien would return to regular roles in daytime drama, first on Guiding Light in early 1999, and by that summer, as newspaper reporter Donald Steele on All My Children, a role that lasted until 2001.

From 1999 to 2000, Zien had a recurring primetime guest role on CBS' Now and Again as Gerald Misenbach. He has appeared repeatedly as Attorney Cromwell on Law & Order. During the 2002-03 season, Zien was the announcer on daytime's The Caroline Rhea Show, which was based out of New York (on the former Rosie O'Donnell Show set). In 2005, Zien played the part of Goran in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on Broadway. In 2006, he appeared in the critically acclaimed film United 93 as Mark Rothenberg. He also played Dr. Marsh in the vampire comedy film Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Undead.

From April 1st to June 19, 2011, Zien appeared in the Roundabout Theatre Company's production of The People in the Picture, which played at Studio 54.

As of August 2012, Zien is appearing in the revival of Into the Woods at the Delacourt Theater in Central Park. He plays Cinderella's Father and the Mysterious Man, the father of the character he originated in the original production.