Gil Christner

Gil Christner (born June 10, 1953 in Aurora, Colorado) is an American actor, writer and comedian living and working in Los Angeles.

Early life
Christner attended Colorado State University, majoring in Theater Arts, where he first met fellow character actor Walter Olkewicz. After working in the theater scene in Denver, he moved in the late 1970s to San Francisco, where he performed stand-up comedy, improv, and in films.

Christner performed at all of the San Francisco comedy clubs such as the Holy City Zoo, the Other Cafe and the Punchline. In 1977 he won the 2nd San Francisco International Comedy Competition, tying with Dana Carvey. He also appeared many times at the Comedy Day Celebration, created by his friend Jose Simon. Along with stand up appearances, he also worked in many improv groups with such people as Robin Williams, Lorenzo Matawaran and Paula Poundstone.

Move to Los Angeles
Since a move to Los Angeles in the early 1980s, he has appeared numerous times in television and film, as well as writing and working behind the camera. One of his first starring roles was in the Cinemax experimental comedy Shadoevision, created by Shadoe Stevens. He also was one of the stars of the Golden Horseshoe Jamboree, the live stage show at the Golden Horseshoe Saloon in Disneyland's Frontierland for several years.

Cutler Comedy Networks
During the 1990s Christner was producer and head writer at Cutler Comedy Networks, creating parody songs, political satires, and short sketches for morning drive time radio programming. Christner moved, along with the entire Cutler operation, to Premiere Radio Networks in 1997 when Premiere bought out Cutler.

Television appearances
Among the televisions shows Christner has appeared on are Reno 911!, Desperate Housewives, My Name Is Earl, The Bernie Mac Show, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The West Wing, Chicago Hope, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and Coach. He has also appeared in such films as The Holiday, Mystery Men, Suburbia and More American Graffiti.

IBM ad campaign
Christner is probably most recognized for IBM's worldwide advertising campaign "Take Back Control," featuring that company's servers and software. He played the clueless boss (ironically also named Gil), whose Rube Goldberg solutions to office problems invariably ended in disaster, only to be saved by IT worker Kevin Christy with IBM products. Christner and Christy appeared in over 20 national television ads, as well as on the internet (including multiple pages on IBM's own website), on radio, and in newspapers and magazines, all in over 30 countries. The campaign ran for several years and won major advertising awards.

Personal life
Christner has been married to Sira Windwer, since 1984. Windwer is a former stand-up and game show writer.