Since his comedic cameo as Diane Keaton's former husband in Woody Allen's Manhattan (1979), the short, balding, lisping, seemingly always rumpled Wallace Shawn has made an indelible mark on American movie culture. William Goldman's The Princess Bride (1987) offered Shawn his most recognizable role as Vizzini, the "inconceivable" villain who abducts Princess Buttercup, screams invectives at his rhyming cohorts, and ultimately falls victim to his own intellect in a battle of wits over a poisoned drink. Shawn's acting career encompasses more than fifty movies, many television appearances, and a variety of theatrical roles. Yet, unknown to most of America, this talented character actor is also a three-time Obie (Off-Broadway) Award winner and one of the most divisively received, politically agitating, and theatrically challenging playwrights of the contemporary era.

Wallace Shawn was born in New York City on 12 November 1943 to William Shawn, editor in chief of the New Yorker magazine from...