Cygan was born in New York City to a large family of thirteen children, six of whom were his half-siblings.

Highlights include his star performance as the insane brother in Arsenic and Old Lace and his lead performance in a high school production of Bye Bye Birdie, as the ever faithful agent Albert Peterson.

[citation needed] Cygan started acting on television in 1990, his notable work included Harlan Stone on Bob and Detective Paulie "Pants" Pentangeli on The Commish, as well as guest appearances on The X-Files and Modern Family.

He was also notable for his voice work on video games such as Dash Rendar on the Star Wars games, Solidus Snake on Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and Sandman on SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs: Fireteam Bravo, as well as in animation such as Twitch on Toy Story 3, Who on Horton Hears a Who!, Big Red (JTC Leader) on Monsters University, and various voices on Regular Show, Cars, Surf's Up, WALL-E, Up, The Lorax, Despicable Me 2, Inside Out, and posthumously on Despicable Me 3.

[4] Cygan died of cancer at his home in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, on May 13, 2017, at the age of 63.