Unveiling Jeffrey Lieber: The Untold Secrets Behind His Masterful Storytelling
Scott: You went to Evanston Township High School, then the University of Illinois. Where in that educational process did it dawn on you that you wanted to be a screenwriter and TV writer?
Jeff: I was living in Chicago, and it was 1993 or ’94, and I was acting in a production of “Awake and Sing!” at Steppenwolf. And I was playing Ralphie. I was doing the “got to organize them down in the warehouse” unionizing speech, when I had this overwhelming sensation that I was wearing makeup and the walls were an inch‑and‑a‑half thick, and that I’d the same thing nine times that week. Oh, and there were 200, 250 sleeping elderly, mostly Jewish women staring at me. I had what would be described in the best terms as an epiphany or in the worst terms as a breakdown. That’s when I realized my time as an actor had come to an end. At that point, I had already, since high school, been writing plays, so I decided that I would pursue half‑hour and consider moving out to Los Angeles since I’d tried my hand at a “Mad About You” spec and a “Seinfeld” spec.
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