Jonathan Silverman was discovered while acting in a play at Beverly Hills High School. The gangly, chipmunk-faced Silverman was thrust into stardom when he replaced Matthew Broderick in the role of Neil Simon's teenaged alter ego Eugene Jerome in Simon's Broadway play Brighton Beach Memoirs. The young actor recreated this role for the 1986 film version, then continued the Eugene Jerome saga in Simon's follow-up plays Biloxi Blues and Broadway Bound. The actor is also well known for his role as dimwitted Andrew McCarthy's even more dimwitted cohort in the two Weekend at Bernie's films. Silverman's first TV stint was as the husband of Laurie Hendler on the 1980s sitcom Gimme a Break; in 1995, Silverman headlined his own weekly comedy series, The Single Guy.