On stage, he portrayed Yogi Berra in the play Bronx Bombers (2014) and acted in the Larry Gelbart's Sly Fox (2004), Eric Simonson's Magic/Bird (2012), and Nora Ephron's Lucky Guy (2013).

[2][4] In an interview with the Toronto Star Scolari said that his father was a psychologically abusive, "rageful man", and that his mother struggled with alcoholism.

"[5] At the age of 13 Scolari did some animation voice acting work and performed in plays while attending Edgemont High School in Scarsdale, where he also participated in football, baseball and track.

[3] At 16 years of age he starred as Finch in a high school production of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and came to the realization that he wanted to be an actor professionally.

[6] In 1972, he enrolled at Occidental College in Los Angeles as a theater arts major, but left a year later and returned to New York after his father died.

[2] During this time, Scolari appeared in multiple off-Broadway plays and met Finnish actor Paavo Tammim, who taught him to juggle.

[2] Scolari and Hanks play a couple of advertising copywriters who disguise themselves as women in order to live in an affordable New York apartment — a women's-only residence called the Susan B. Anthony Hotel.

[10] Bosom Buddies started out with good ratings, but failed to hold the public's interest and was canceled after two seasons and 37 episodes.

[11] That same year Scolari joined the cast of Newhart as Michael Harris, a preppily-dressed, wannabe yuppie, and local TV producer of the fictional talk show "Vermont Today".

[14] In 1993, Scolari starred in the series Family Album about a couple who move with their children back to their hometown of Philadelphia to be closer to their aging parents.

[15] Actress Gina Hecht was initially selected to play the wife of Scolari's character, but was replaced by Pamela Reed just two days before the show's pilot was shot.

[18] In 1996, Scolari also starred as Littlechap in a version of the stage musical Stop the World – I Want to Get Off, produced for the A&E television network.

[6] During the show's run, he also played astronaut Pete Conrad in the 1998 miniseries From the Earth to the Moon, co-produced by Hanks, Ron Howard and Brian Grazer.

He later had a recurring role as Tad Horvath, the father of Lena Dunham's character on the HBO coming-of-age comedy-drama Girls from 2012 to 2017.

[6] In 2013, he returned to Broadway in the Nora Ephron's newspaper play Lucky Guy, which reunited him with his Bosom Buddies co-star Tom Hanks.