Early film and television Wright made supporting appearances on
television shows such as
WKRP in Cincinnati and was a regular cast member on
Misfits of Science, and
Buffalo Bill.
ALF From 1986 to 1990, Wright appeared in the sitcom
ALF as Willie Tanner, a typical father of a middle-class family, who finds an alien who has crash-landed on Earth. Despite this becoming his best-known performance, the actor despised the role due to its huge technical demands and the fact that he, a human, played a supporting character for an "inanimate object". "It was hard work and very grim", he stated in a 2000 interview to
People. He was also, reportedly, very happy when the show was canceled in 1990. "I was hugely eager to have it over with", he said in the same interview. According to his co-star in the show,
Anne Schedeen, "there was one take, and Max walked off the set, went to his dressing room, got his bags, went to his car, and disappeared. Nobody had to say, 'Wrap,' and there were no goodbyes". However, Wright later admitted that as the years passed he looked back at
ALF with less animosity and conceded that "It doesn't matter what I felt or what the days were like,
ALF brought people a lot of joy."
Berger in the 1994 film
The Shadow,
Günter Wendt in the 1998
HBO miniseries
From the Earth to the Moon, In 1998, he appeared on
Broadway in
Ivanov, which garnered him a
Tony nomination, In 2007, he acted at the JET (Jewish Ensemble Theatre) in Detroit and in the production of ''No Man's Land'' at the
American Repertory Theater. He also appeared in
The Public Theater's 2010 production of ''
The Winter's Tale and The Merchant of Venice'' at
Shakespeare in the Park festivals. ==Personal life==