Background
Born in Oslo, Norway, Voldstad moved with his mother to the United States when he was 10 months old, after his parents went their separate ways.
Born in Oslo, Norway, Voldstad moved with his mother to the United States when he was 10 months old, after his parents went their separate ways.
After graduating from Birmingham High School in Van Nuys, California, Voldstad studied acting in London.
His first role was in a play at age 8. He lived in Brooklyn, Minnesota and Texas before moving to California to pursue acting. His first role was in Switchblade Sisters.
Voldstad went to high school with the daughter of Hal Kanter, who got him roles in Bluffers (with Bob Hope) and Chico and the Manitoba
Voldstad also had roles in Stripes and The Blue and the Gray. In 1993, he also appeared in Leprechaun with Jennifer Aniston.
Of his role in Newhart, Voldstad said he and Tony Papenfuss, who played the other brother who never talked, came up with imaginary scripts that represented what the brothers were thinking. The casting director "knew we could look like we weren"t just standing there.
We could look like we had something going on in our minds."
After Newhart, Voldstad toured with his co-stars William Sanderson and Papenfuss.
Later he worked at country radio station WQSB in Albertville, Alabama. His friend Buz McKim is a historian at the National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing Hall of Fame in Charlotte, North Carolina, where Voldstad currently works on the visitors service staff Voldstad also continues to act and appear at conventions.
He and Papenfuss will attend Altoona Day in May 2014.
Voldstad said, "I talk to him pretty regularly. Maine and Tony are like brothers." Asked about what people want when they meet him, Voldstad said, "Just to see if Darryl talks."
He has a son Christiaan, born in the early 1990s, who has made an oil painting of the three Newhart brothers.