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      Bob Balaban plays Ben Ginsberg, National Counsel to the Bush-Cheney Presidential Campaign.

      While attending the University of Pennsylvania, Ginsberg worked as a reporter, contributing editor and editor in chief for the campus newspaper. After graduating in 1974, he spent five years as a reporter for the Boston Globe, Philadelphia Bulletin and other papers before attending law school at Georgetown University. He devoted eight years to the Republican national, senatorial and congressional committees until he took a position at lobbying and law firm Patton Boggs in 1993.

      Bob Balaban recently directed and produced HBO Films' critically-acclaimed "Bernard and Doris," starring Susan Sarandon and Ralph Fiennes, for Kevin Spacey's company Trigger Street Independent. The film debuted on HBO in February. As an actor, he has appeared in nearly 50 films, including "Midnight Cowboy," "Catch-22," "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," "Capote," "Lady in the Water" and four Christopher Guest comedies, including "For Your Consideration."      

Balaban was most recently seen in "No Reservations" and "Dedication." Balaban also produced and co-starred in Robert Altman's "Gosford Park," which earned Academy Award®, Golden Globe, British Academy and SAG honors. He produced and directed the hit off-Broadway play "The Exonerated," which won a Drama Desk Award; his Broadway appearances include "Speed- the-Plow" and "The Inspector General," for which he received a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Play.