Steve Bannos

Steve Bannos (born August 5, 1960, in Chicago, Illinois) is an American actor, writer, and vintage photograph collector and dealer. Raised in the Chicago suburbs, he began performing in the early 1990s and built a long career as a character actor in Hollywood comedies, most frequently in films associated with the Paul Feig and Judd Apatow creative circle. His best-known television role is the stern algebra teacher Frank Kowchevski on NBC's Freaks and Geeks (1999-2000), for which he also contributed to the writing staff. In film, he appeared in Superbad (2007), The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005), Bridesmaids (2011), The Heat (2013), and Spy (2015), among others. On television beyond Freaks and Geeks, he recurred as Frank, one of the hippie neighbors, on Netflix's Love (2016-2018).

Bannos has also worked as a writer, with credits including Disney's Recess, Nicktoon's Doug, and four guest stints as a writer on Saturday Night Live. Separately from his entertainment career, he maintains a prominent collection of vernacular and found photography that has been featured in museums, books, and exhibitions.

In Ghostbusters: Answer the Call (2016), Bannos portrayed the Flasher Ghost, a spectral entity that terrorizes bystanders during the film's ghost-invasion sequence.