Grant Shaud

A talented and prolific comic presence on television, actor Grant Shaud rose to fame as nebbishy television producer Miles Silverberg on "Murphy Brown" (CBS, 1988-1998, 2018-) and worked steadily on the small screen before returning to the series for its 2018 revival. Born Edward Grant Shaud III in Evanston, Illinois, he studied journalism at the University of Richmond, but after graduation in 1983, moved to New York to pursue a career as an actor. Shaud made his screen debut as a college student and cable access director on "Kate & Allie" (CBS, 1984-89) and played earnest, professional young men in features like "Wall Street" (1987) before landing his breakout role as Miles Silverberg on "Murphy Brown." A textbook "yuppie" with a head full of ideas garnered from years of work at public television, Silverberg served as comic foil for Candice Bergen's titular, seen-it-all reporter; Shaud would net six Viewers for Quality Television Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor, as well as a nod from the Screen Actors Guild for comedy ensemble, during his eight-season run on "Brown." He departed the comedy before the launch of its ninth season and settled into steady work as a character player on television, most notably on "From the Earth to the Moon" (HBO, 1998) as lunar module co-designer Robert Carbee, and as an occasional series regular on series like "Oliver Beene" (Fox, 2003-2004), which cast him as the dentist father of Eisenhower-era pre-teen Grant Rosenmeyer. Shaud also worked regularly on the New York and regional stage, most notably in the 2011 Broadway run of "Relatively Speaking," which featured short plays by Woody Allen, Elaine May and Ethan Cohen, and lent his voice to numerous animated series, including "Batman: The Animated Series" (Fox, 1992-1995) and "The Wild Thornberrys" (Nickelodeon, 1998-2004). His television output gained steam in the 2000s with multiple appearances per year on shows like "Louie" (FX, 2010-2015) and "Curb Your Enthusiasm" (HBO, 2000-), as well as a recurring role on TVLand's "Younger" (2015-) as a friend of publishing company chief Peter Hermann. In 2018, Shaud reprised his role as Miles Silverberg in CBS's revival of "Murphy Brown."