Where Is the Cast of “Taxi” Now?
- - Where Is the Cast of “Taxi” Now?
Victoria EdelFebruary 9, 2026 at 10:02 PM
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The cast of 'Taxi.' From left: Danny DeVito, Judd Hirsch, Marilu Henner, Tony Danza, Andy Kaufman and Christopher Lloyd
NBCU Photo Bank
When Taxi premiered on ABC in 1978, a TV classic was born. The series, which ran until 1983, followed a group of New Yorkers at a Taxi dispatch stand. Though they all work as cab drivers, many of them have bigger hopes and dreams.
The ensemble series catapulted Judd Hirsch, Jeff Conaway, Marilu Henner, Tony Danza, Christopher Lloyd, Danny DeVito and Andy Kaufman into the top of the ratings. Carol Kane and Rhea Perlman also joined the series in later seasons.
The series, widely considered one of the greatest of all time, won 18 Emmys with 34 nominations.
Years after the series ended, the surviving cast members remained close, often reuniting over the decades. Carol Kane told PEOPLE in 2024, “The fact is that we have kept each other's company in a close and loving way for all these years since Taxi.”
Ahead, here’s where the cast of Taxi is now.
01 of 10
Judd Hirsch as Alex Reiger
Judd Hirsch in Taxi (left) Judd Hirsch in June 2023 (right)
Michael Tullberg/Getty; ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty
Judd Hirsch’s Alex Reiger was the show’s protagonist, a level-headed cab driver who the others turn to for advice. The show premiered just two years after he starred in 1980’s Ordinary People, which earned him his first Oscar nomination.
Hirsch received five Emmy nominations for outstanding lead actor in a comedy series for the show and won twice.
After the series ended, he continued to act on TV, in films and on Broadway. From 1988 to 1992, he starred in the NBC series Dear John. From 2005 to 2010, he starred in CBS’s Numb3rs. His movie roles included 1984’s Teachers, 2001’s A Beautiful Mind, 2011’s Tower Heist, 2017’s The Meyerowitz Stories and 2019’s Uncut Gems.
In 2023, he received an Oscar nomination for his role in The Fabelmans, Steven Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical film about a boy named Sammy who longs to be a director. He played Sammy’s uncle Boris Podgorny. At 87, he became the second-oldest Oscar nominee of all time.
Hirsch was married to his first wife, Elisa Sadaune, from 1963 to 1967. They share a son, Alex. In 1992, Hirsch married Bonni Sue Chalkin. They welcomed children Montana and London. They divorced in 2005. He later married Kathryn Danielle Hirsch, an actress.
02 of 10
Danny DeVito as Louie De Palma
Danny DeVito in 'Taxi' (Ieft); Danny DeVito in July 2025 (right)
ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty; Maya Dehlin Spach/Getty
Danny DeVito’s Louie De Palma was the head dispatcher of the Sunshine Cab Company and supervisor to the cab drivers. He often mocked the cab drivers, though he occasionally helped them out. PEOPLE wrote in 1979 that Louie was “unquestionably the key to the series' arrival into the Nielsen Top Ten.”
“Louie wasn't a big part in the pilot," De Vito told PEOPLE. "But he has developed into a major character. People see through his hard side and like him." Kaufman added, "It takes a great actor to be so nasty when you're really such a nice guy as Danny.”
DeVito was nominated four times for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy or variety or music series, winning once, in 1981.
DeVito’s partner Rhea Perlman (who he married in 1982) appeared on the series as Louie’s girlfriend Zena. The couple welcomed three children together: Lucy, Grace and Jacob. Perlman and DeVito separated in 2012, but did not plan to divorce and remained friends.
Taxi helped launch DeVito’s film career, and his roles included 1983’s Terms of Endearment, 1984’s Romancing the Stone, 1985’s The Jewel of the Nile, 1986’s Ruthless People and 1988’s Twins. He also starred in and directed 1987’s Throw Momma from the Train and 1989’s The War of the Roses. DeVito starred as The Penguin in 1992’s Batman Returns.
In 1996, he starred in and directed Matilda. “My kids brought the book to me,” he told PEOPLE in 2019 about how he was inspired to helm the movie. We read it at bedtime, and I thought, ‘Boy, this would make a good movie!’” The 90s also included for DeVito an Emmy-nominated guest appearance on Friends and movies like Jack the Bear, The Big Kahuna and Hercules.
In 2006, he joined It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia as Frank Reynolds during the show’s second season. “With Matilda, I have young fans,” he told PEOPLE in 2019. “Now I have my crazy Sunny fan base, whom I love.”
Other roles for the actor include 2018’s Smallfoot, 2019’s Jumanji: The Next Level, 2023’s Haunted Mansion and 2024’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
03 of 10
Marilu Henner as Elaine O'Connor Nardo
Marilu Henner in 'Taxi' (left); Marilu Henner in December 2025 (right)
ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty; Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty
Marilu Henner played Elaine O'Connor Nardo, a divorced mother of two who drives a taxi as a second job. She received five Golden Globe Award nominations for the role.
“Taxi was a guys’ show. I loved being the girl,” she told PEOPLE in 2022. “Elaine was supposed to be a 35-year-old Italian New Yorker. I was 25 and Polish and Greek from Chicago, but the casting director just said, ‘Trust me, she can hold her own with the guys.’ . . . She was a single mom who wanted to be an art dealer and slept with the men she dated — and that was unheard of back then. She was an independent woman ahead of her time.”
Henner is one of an estimated 80 people with Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory (HSAM) and can remember every day of her life since she was 11 years old. She was a consultant on the 2011 TV series Unforgettable, about a woman with the same condition.
In 1983, she starred with Burt Reynolds in The Man Who Loved Women. In 1984, she starred in Johnny Dangerously with Michael Keaton. Other movies included 1991’s L.A. Story, 1992’s Noises Off and 1999’s Man on the Moon, which was about Andy Kaufman. She also starred with Reynolds on the sitcom Evening Shade from 1990 to 1994.
In 1994, she released a memoir, By All Means Keep on Moving. From 1994 to 1995, she hosted her own talk show. She competed twice on The Apprentice and on Dancing with the Stars in 2016. Since 2015, she’s starred in Hallmark’s Aurora Teagarden Mystery series as Aida Teagarden.
Henner was romantically involved with John Travolta (who she met while doing the first production of Grease) and her Taxi costar Tony Danza. She remained friends with both.
From 1980 to 1982, she was married to Frederic Forrest, an actor who she starred with in 1982’s Hammett. From 1990 to 2001, she was married to Robert Lieberman, a director. They welcomed two sons, Nicholas and Joseph.
In 2006, she married Michael Brown, who had been her college roommate’s boyfriend. “He called me out of the blue,” she told PEOPLE. “We made dinner plans. The first four and a half hours were a reunion, and the second four were making out in my kitchen. Within a week, we were saying ‘I love you.’ There’s no way we could have stayed together if we had been a couple in college. We both wouldn’t have had the lives we had.”
04 of 10
Tony Danza as Anthony Mark "Tony" Banta
Tony Danza in 'Taxi' (left); Tony Danza in May 2024 (right)
ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty; Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty
Tony Danza played Tony Banta, a Vietnam veteran and boxer who’s kind but not the smartest of the cab drivers. Danza had actually been a boxer in New York City when he was asked to audition for the show. He told PEOPLE in 1979 that he was cast despite “the worst screen test anyone has ever seen.” The show also boosted Danza’s boxing career, and he took part in bigger fights after the series premiered.
After Taxi ended, Danza moved to lead another series, Who’s the Boss, which ran from 1984 to 1992. He played a former baseball player-turned housekeeper. He also broke into movies, starring in 1994’s Angels in the Outfield and 2004’s Crash.
He starred in the short-lived TV series Hudson Street and The Tony Danza Show in 1995 and 1997, respectively, and received his first Emmy nom for an appearance on The Practice in 1998. In the ‘90s he also starred on Broadway in A View From the Bridge and The Iceman Cometh.
From 2004 to 2006, he hosted his own talk show, titled The Tony Danza Show. In 2006 he starred on Broadway in The Producers. Other roles include series like The Good Cop and Blue Bloods. Beginning 2022, he began appearing on Power Book III: Raising Kanan.
Danza was married to Rhonda Yeoman from 1970 to 1974. They share son Marc, who appeared on two episodes of Taxi.
In 1986, he married Tracy Robinson. They welcomed two daughters, Katie and Emily. Their divorce was finalized in 2013.
05 of 10
Jeff Conaway as Bobby Wheeler
Jeff Conaway in 'Taxi' (left); Jeff Conaway in the 2000s (right)
ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty; M. Tran/FilmMagic
Jeff Conaway played Bobby Wheeler, a struggling actor. At the time he was cast, Conaway had just found success in 1978’s Grease, where he played Greaser Kenickie. He had previously appeared in the Broadway production of the show.
While making Taxi, Conaway struggled with drug abuse, which was part of why he was let go at the beginning on season four. He underwent treatment for drug use and returned to TV as a guest star on shows like Barnaby Jones and Murder, She Wrote. From 1989 to 1990, he starred on The Bold and the Beautiful. He starred on Babylon 5 from 1994 to 1999.
From 1980 to 1985, he was married to Rona Newton-John, sister of his Grease costar Olviia. From 1990 to 2000, he was married to Kerri Young.
In the 2000s, he appeared on Celebrity Fit Club and then Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew. He died at 60 from pneumonia in May 2011.
06 of 10
Andy Kaufman as Latka Gravas
Andy Kaufman in 'Taxi' (left); Andy Kaufman in February 1981 (right)
Jim Britt/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty; Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty
Andy Kaufman began to find fame as a comedian in the mid-1970s and began performing some of his act on Saturday Night Live. His Foreign Man character became the basis of his Taxi character, Latka Gravas, the show’s goofy mechanic who immigrated from an unspecified nation.
Kaufman didn’t love doing TV. "We've got a nice group of people, but it's not fulfilling for me to do one character week after week, and I don't like working with a script,” he said during the show’s second season.
But his paycheck helped fund his other comedy, which was often more like performance art than traditional standup. "I like the type of humor where nobody knows what's going on," he told PEOPLE in 1981 about his love of totally unexpected humor. One famous antic involved transporting his Carnegie Hall crowd to a school cafeteria for milk and cookies. Another of his most famous characters was a rude lounge singer, Tony Clifton
Though Kaufman is now regarded as one of the most influential comedians of all time, he never found total mainstream appeal. The 14th time he appeared on SNL, the show asked viewers to call in and vote if he should be banned from the show. He lost the vote, and reportedly felt betrayed by the bit.
Kaufman died in 1984 from a rare form of large-cell carcinoma.
07 of 10
Randall Carver as John Burns
Randall Carver in 'Taxi' (left); Randall Carver in 2007 (right)
ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty; J.Sciulli/WireImage
Carver’s John Burns signs up to be a cab driver in the first episode after being a passenger in Alex’a cab. However, the character was seen as too similar to Tony, and the character was dropped after season one.
Carver continued to act, with roles on TV shows like The Love Boat, The Norm Show and Malcolm in the Middle and in the movie There Will Be Blood.
Carver married writer Shelley Herman in 2012.
08 of 10
Christopher Lloyd as Reverend Jim "Iggy" Ignatowski
Christopher Lloyd in 'Taxi' (left); Christopher Lloyd in August 2025 (right)
Frank Carroll/NBCU Photo Bank; Rodin Eckenroth/WireImage
Carver leaving the series opened the door for Christopher Lloyd’s Jim "Iggy" Ignatowski to join full time. He first appeared in an episode in season one. The character was a washed-up hippie from the 1960s. Lloyd won Emmys in 1982 and 1983 for the role.
In 1985, he was cast as quirky scientist Emmett "Doc" Brown in the Back to the Future trilogy, his most iconic role.
Other movie roles included 1984’s Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, 1985’s Clue, 1988’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit, 1991’s The Addams Family, 1993’s Dennis the Menace, 1994’s Angels in the Outfield and 2021’s Nobody. He won a third Emmy in 1993 in Avonlea and in 2024 received an Emmy nom for a guest appearance on Hacks.
From 1974 to 1987, he was married to actress Kay Tornborg. His third marriage was to Carol Ann Vanek, who he divorced in 1991. From 1992 to 2005, he was married to screenwriter Jane Walker Wood. In 2016, he married Lisa Loiacono.
09 of 10
Carol Kane as Simka Gravas
Carol Kane in 'Taxi' (left); Carol Kane in August 2025 (right)
Frank Carroll/NBCU Photo Bank; Dia Dipasupil/Getty
Carol Kane began appearing on Taxi as Simka, Latka’s love interest, in 1980 and became a full time cast member in 1982. She won two Emmys for Taxi — once in the lead actress category, and once in supporting.
Kane had already established herself in movies pre-Taxi and was Oscar-nominated for 1975’s Hester Street. In 1987, she starred in The Princess Bride. Movies like Scrooged and Flashback followed. She received her third Emmy nod in 1996 for an appearance on Chicago Hope.
Kane played Madame Morrible in Wicked on Broadway, on tour, in Los Angeles and in San Francisco. She also appeared on TV shows like Two and a Half Men, Gotham and Ugly Betty.
From 2015 to 2020, she starred on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, as Lillian Kaushtupper, an eccentric landlady. Since 2023, she’s had a recurring role on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. She also starred in the 2024 movie Between the Temples.
10 of 10
Rhea Perlman as Zena Sherman
Rhea Perlman in 'Taxi' (left); Rhea Perlman in May 2025 (right)
ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty; Jesse Grant/Peacock via Getty
Rhea Perlman’s Zena was the love interest of DeVito’s Louie and appeared on the show from 1979 to 1982. In 1982, she got her own big break, as she was cast as Carla Tortelli in Cheers. During the show’s 11 seasons, she was nominated for 10 Emmys, winning four.
She also starred in movies, including the 1992 Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen movie To Grandmother's House We Go, her husband DeVito’s movie Matilda, 1995’s Canadian Bacon and 1996’s Carpool. In 2009, she and daughter Lucy starred in the off-Broadway play Love, Loss, and What I Wore.
From 2014 to 2017, she had a recurring role on The Mindy Project. In 2023, she starred in Barbie as Ruth Handler, Barbie’s creator. Other movies include 2019’s Poms and 2022’s 13: The Musical. In 2025, she appeared in the mystery series Poker Face.
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Source: “AOL Entertainment”
