A short, curly-haired stage actor with Broadway credits, Chip Zien had several false starts as a regular on TV series before being cast as TV writer Gary Karp in the CBS sitcom "Almost Perfect" (1995-96).Zien bounced around in Off-Off-and Off-Broadway productions (including a 1972 revival of "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying") before Dustin Hoffman cast him in "All Over Town", the 1974 Broadway show that marked both Hoffman's directorial debut and Zien's Broadway debut. Zien's next stage "break" came originating the role of Mendel in William Finn's "March of the Falsettos"
