For other persons named Christopher Lloyd, see Christopher Lloyd (disambiguation).
Christopher Allen Lloyd (born October 22, 1938) is a three-time Emmy Award-winning American character actor.
Lloyd was born in Stamford, Connecticut, to Ruth Lapham (the sister of San Francisco mayor Roger Lapham) and Samuel R. Lloyd. He is a 1957 graduate of Staples High School. He rarely appears in public or gives interviews (he gave a rare interview on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Family Films in 2005). Some of his best friends, co-stars and fans who meet him describe him as a very shy and quiet man. Sam Lloyd, best known for playing Ted Buckland, the lawyer on Scrubs, is the nephew of Christopher Lloyd.
Lloyd's first major motion picture role was as a psychiatric patient in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. However, he may be most remembered for his roles as Reverend Jim Ignatowski, the ex-hippie cabbie on the TV sitcom Taxi, and the eccentric inventor Emmett "Doc" Brown in the Back to the Future series. He also played notable roles as Klingon Commander Kruge in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Professor Dimple in an episode of Road to Avonlea, the villain Judge Doom in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, a wacky sound effects man named Zoltan in Radioland Murders, and Uncle Fester in the big screen adaptations of The Addams Family.
He also appeared as the lead character in the computer game Toonstruck. He performs the voice of The Hacker on the children's math mystery cartoon Cyberchase (January 2002-present) on PBS Kids GO!, and was a regular on the Pamela Anderson sitcom Stacked. Lloyd has guest-starred on numerous TV programs during his career. For example, on one episode of Malcolm in the Middle, he plays Malcolm's eccentric paternal grandfather. He also portrayed the Constitutionalist Lawrence Lessig (who in real life is twenty-three years younger than Lloyd) in an episode of the sixth season of The West Wing.
Many of his roles seem to lean toward comic relief, whether as hyper characters like Reverend Jim or Doc Brown, or as uptight conservatives such as in The Dream Team and Mr. Mom. Lloyd has shown considerable range as a dramatic actor, however, in movies such as Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead, as a leprous projectionist, and Wit.
Lloyd's most recent role was in a Season 2 episode of the Showtime series Masters of Horror entitled "Valerie on the Stairs". Lloyd has also recently appeared in a series of DirecTV commercials as his trademark Back to the Future character Emmett Brown. They premiered January 8, 2007, during the BCS Championship Football Game.
Lloyd was knighted "Chevalier de l'Ordre du Corbeau" (literally "Knight in the Order of the Raven") in Belgium at the BIFFF (Brussels International Festival of Fantastic Film) - www.bifff.org - on 12 April 2007. Lloyd appeared in person, answered audience questions and signed selected items.
Lloyd appeared as a guest performer during the opening keynote of Microsoft TechEd 2007 on June 4th 2007 in character as Dr. Emmett Brown from Back to the Future as a comic foil for Bob Muglia, Microsoft's Senior Vice President, Server and Tools Business. Lloyd carried with him a squeeze-operated horn touted as his "Vision Speak" disruption device, threatening to interrupt Muglia if he should slip into corporate cliché language.
