Alan Mandell (born Albert Mandell; December 27, 1927) is a Canadian-American actor. He was born in Toronto, Ontario. He is known for playing Rabbi Marshak in the Coen Brothers' 2009 movie A Serious Man and as Ventril Dease in the Netflix 2019 original movie Velvet Buzzsaw. On stage, he his known for his stage works of Samuel Beckett.[1]