Stephen Furst's Bio

Stephen Furst
Actor, Director, Producer, Diabetic, Kidney Patient

Stephen Furst began his film and television career 28 years ago, starring in National Lampoon’s Animal House (the People’s Choice Movie of the Year) as the bumbling and overweight freshman, Flounder. Other feature film acting credits include The Dream Team, with Michael Keaton and Christopher Lloyd, and Midnight Madness, with Michael J. Fox. He recently co-starred in Sorority Boys, a comedy feature from Touchstone, and in a film adaptation of Stephen King’s thriller, Autopsy Room 4.

Stephen’s television credits are extensive and include roles on a number of Emmy Award-winning series such as the medical drama St. Elsewhere, in which he co-starred as Dr. Elliot Axelrod, and the apocalyptic mini-series The Day After, co-starring with Jason Robards and John Lithgow. Most recently, Stephen starred as Vir Cotto in the award-winning science fiction series from Warner Bros., Babylon 5. As a voice-over artist, he starred in the animated film Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea and in the animated series Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, with Tim Allen.

In 1994, Stephen made a leap in his career by writing, directing, and starring in a family film, The Magic Kid, which ran on HBO for more than a year. He also directed a number of episodes of Babylon 5 and has been directing ever since. Stephen directed for Columbia Tri-Star the live-action musical feature Baby Huey’s Great Easter Adventure, for which he won the Director’s Gold Award at the Santa Clarita International Film Festival. His film Dragon Storm was the most-watched original two-hour movie in the history of the Sci-Fi Channel. One of his latest television movie projects, Path of Destruction―a story about nanotechnology gone wrong―premiered on the Sci-Fi Channel in March 2005.

As a producer, Stephen currently is in development with New Line Cinema for the adaptation of the best-selling novel, My Sister’s Keeper (a drama about a young woman who needs a kidney transplant, and the reluctance of her sister to be a donor). He also is producing a feature based on another best-selling novel, Keeping Faith, for Lifetime Television. Stephen is in pre-production as a producer on the romantic comedy Christmas in Boston for ABC Family.

Real Life Off-Screen
As a result of being diagnosed with diabetes at age 17—in the same year that his father died of diabetic complications—Stephen wrote and released, in 2002, his award-winning book, Confessions of a Couch Potato (Or, If I’m So Skinny, Why Do I Still Feel Like Flounder?), published by the American Diabetes Association and distributed by McGraw-Hill. This humorous and inspirational memoir looks at his experiences as a diabetic and the events that ultimately changed his life for the better. It features his personal recipes and tips for weight loss... something that Stephen can authoritatively speak of first-hand, having gone from the “320-pound out-of-control diabetic person” that he was to the “180-pound healthy diabetic person of today.”

Stephen is a spokesperson for the American Diabetes Association, to which he donates the proceeds from sales of his celebrity photos. He has worked extensively with the Association, writing, producing, directing, and starring in an inspirational comedy video, Diabetes for Guys, which is based on his life and demonstrates the benefits of sensible diabetes management. He also was the national spokesperson for the American Heart Association during their campaign, “The Heart of Diabetes,” designed to bring awareness of cardiovascular disease to those with diabetes.

As a result of being diagnosed with renal failure earlier this year, Stephen can add being a member of the Advisory Board of the Renal Support Network—a patient-run organization that helps people with chronic kidney disease and their families—to his list of credits. He will be elevated to full Board-member status early next year.

An Epiphany
It was during a hospital admission in 1996, when he was 40, that the severely overweight and diabetic actor hit “a rock-hard bottom,” causing him to finally understand that he alone was responsible for the consequences of having neglected his health. Stephen had been admitted for a seemingly routine blister on his foot that had become infected.

“I was in the hospital complaining about the small portions of food they were giving me, while the doctors were in the next room deciding whether they were going to have to amputate my foot.” Stephen says that he did what any other 320-pound guy would do in a similar situation: He called out for Chinese take-out to be delivered to his hospital bed... enough for five people!

The nurse found out about the Chinese food, it was confiscated, and the telephone was removed from his room. The doctors were able to save his foot, and Stephen lost 12 pounds while in the hospital. “I took this as a sign. The saving of my foot, getting caught with the food, and then losing the 12 pounds. I decided once and for all to change my lifestyle and continue to live.”

The now fit actor/director/producer—who was discovered for the role of Flounder after pasting his publicity photo and resume on the inside lids of pizza boxes that he delivered in Hollywood—has been married to his wife, Lorraine, for 28 years. They have two sons: Griff, who is an actor, and Nathan, who is an award-winning film composer.

After achieving his weight-loss goal, Stephen bought a bracelet inscribed with the well-known 12-Step prayer: “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

“The magic,” says Stephen, “is that you can change more things than you could ever dream of.”