Ben Stein

Benjamin Jeremy Stein (born November 25, 1944) is an American writer, lawyer, actor, and commentator on political and economic issues. A graduate of Columbia University, Stein began his career in law, graduating as valedictorian from Yale Law School. He attained early success as a speechwriter for American presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Later, he entered the entertainment field and became an actor, comedian, and Emmy Award-winning game show host. He is most well-known on screen as the economics teacher in Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) and as Dr. Arthur Neuman in The Mask (1994) and Son of the Mask (2005). Stein is also a filmmaker. He co-wrote and starred in the 2008 documentary Expelled, which portrays creationist theory as a scientifically valid alternative to Darwinian theory and alleges the existence of a cover-up by the scientific community against the evidence for creation. Stein has frequently written commentaries on economic, political, and social issues, along with financial advice to individual investors. He is the son of economist and writer Herbert Stein, who worked at the White House under President Nixon. His sister, Rachel, is also a writer. While as a character actor he is well known for his droning, monotonous delivery, in real life he is a public speaker on a wide range of economic and social issues. In comedy, he is known for his deadpan delivery.