Graf made his first television appearance as a contestant on the
game show The $20,000 Pyramid in December 1979, where he teamed with actress
Patty Duke. He would later appear on subsequent versions of the show as a celebrity contestant, twice with Duke. As a struggling actor in the early 1980s, he also took small roles in popular TV shows, including
M*A*S*H,
The Dukes of Hazzard,
Airwolf,
Hardcastle and McCormick and
The A-Team. He made his film debut in 1981 when he played Gergley in the drama
Four Friends. Graf later played the trigger-happy Eugene Tackleberry in the 1984 comedy
Police Academy, and starred in each of the sequels. In 1986, Graf had a role as Councilman Harlan Nash on the short-lived sitcom ''
He's the Mayor. In 1990, Graf appeared in the final two episodes of the series Beauty and the Beast. In 1992, Graf returned to play a minor role as a police officer again for the comedy series Seinfeld during its fourth-season episode "The Ticket" and also appeared on Night Court. He played Tackleberry for the final time in a guest appearance on the short-lived Police Academy: The Series. Also in November 1992, Graf appeared on Family Matters'' where he played Sgt. Shiska. Graf made various guest appearances following his role in the
Police Academy series, including a recurring role in
The West Wing, several appearances in
Star Trek: Voyager episode ("
The 37s") and
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. In the latter series, he played a
Klingon called
Leskit in the fifth-season episode "
Soldiers of the Empire". Graf was Lt. Weismann in the movie
Suture in 1993 and Ralph Brinker in the
Disney Channel movie
Brink! in 1998. Graf made a guest appearance in an episode of the short-lived ABC sitcom
Teen Angel as a camp leader for Steve Beauchamp's little sister Katie, in the 1997–1998 season. In 2000, he made an appearance on
The Amanda Show as a paramedic who accidentally swapped pagers with
Amanda Bynes. He also made an appearance on
Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman season 2 episode 20 as a reporter for the Daily Planet. Graf had a small role in 1995's
The Brady Bunch Movie, portraying Alice's boyfriend Sam Franklin, the butcher. In 1996, Graf made a guest appearance in
Promised Land, which was a spinoff of
Touched by an Angel. He played the role of a grieving husband whose wife died while working for a company and he went there trying to find answers to her death. Graf guest starred in several episodes of ABC's sitcom
Step By Step in the 1990s. He also starred in the second episode of the third season of ABC's
Home Improvement as angler Chuck Norwood. Some of his last acting performances were two guest appearances as
The Pentagon staff member Colonel Chase in the series
The West Wing ("
The Drop-In" and "
The Portland Trip") and as Jacques Douche in the
Son of the Beach TV series episode "Grand Prix". Graf's last acting role was the
Nickelodeon sitcom
The Amanda Show, just three months before his death. ==Screen Actors Guild==