Personal Life
Malina was born in New York City. His parents, Fran and Robert Malina, were founding members of Young Israel of Scarsdale in New Rochelle where he grew up. His father was an attorney, investment banker and Broadway producer. The actor has commented that while the name "Malina" does not sound Jewish to most people and often leads them to assume he is Latino, the name is Polish in origin, from the "Polish for 'raspberry.'"
Malina graduated from Westchester Day School from 8th grade and the Horace Mann School and Yale University with a B.A. in Theater. He made his acting debut as an understudy in the Broadway production of Aaron Sorkin's A Few Good Men and later moving into a major onstage role. Malina had contacted Sorkin initially at the suggestion of his parents when he first went to New York City, as they knew Sorkin was a high-school classmate and friend of Malina's cousins; the cousins, in turn, had spoken highly of Malina to Sorkin, who suggested he audition for the play. Malina has joked in interviews that Sorkin's casting him in subsequent productions may owe to the fact that he once performed the Heimlich maneuver on Sorkin, saving his life, when the writer began to choke while eating a hamburger at a bowling match with the cast of the play. He has since appeared in nearly every Sorkin film and TV show (the exceptions being Charlie Wilson's War, The Newsroom, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, and The Social Network).
Malina is married to Melissa Merwin, a costume designer whom he met in 1992 through his friendship with her sister and brother-in-law, Jenny and Timothy Busfield; Jenny Busfield predicted the marriage two years before the couple ever met. The Malinas married in 1996 and have two children, Isabel and Avi.
Read more about this topic: Joshua Malina
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