Biography
“…if the Cruise is anything, be it appreciation, be it a voyage, be it an adventure that leads back to ourselves, be it a cartwheel or a somersault, if you find the Cruise in a piece of carrot cake, if you find the Cruise in a topless bar, the one thing the Cruise always is, I think, is sincere.”
–Speed Levitch
Timothy “Speed” Levitch (born 1970) is an actor, tour guide, speaker, author, voice actor, and Kansas City and New York City tour guide.
The name “Speed” was given to him by a childhood friend in high school. Levitch has appeared in multiple films and has had his poetic and philosophical works published in books and periodicals.
Levitch was born July 9, 1970 in New York City. Along with his older brother and younger sister, he grew up in the Riverdale neighborhood of the Bronx, where he attended the Horace Mann School. When he was twelve, his parents got a house in Westchester County, New York and he was briefly a suburbanite. He longed to return to New York City and eventually he did, graduating from New York University, Tisch School of the Arts in 1992.
In 1992 he received his tour guide license from the Central Park Conservancy. He later took a position with Apple and Gray Line Tours as a tour bus guide. He soon attracted a cult following, due not only to his fast talking style, but also for his obvious love of his native city and passionate philosophical ideas.
Levitch’s fame was spread beyond NYC when Oscar winning Director, Bennett Miller, made Speed the subject of the 1998 documentary The Cruise.
Today, Speed lives in Kansas City, MO. He travels to NY to gives tours once a season or when he is commissioned by groups. In addition, Speed is growing a new “Taste of Kansas City” tour business.
Contact us for either a NY or Kansas City tour!
Works to Date:
The Cruise (1998), as himself.
Waking Life (2001), as himself.
Scotland, PA (2001), Hector. (Hippie #2)
School of Rock (2003), Waiter.
Live from Shiva’s Dance Floor (2003), as himself.
Weezer: Video Capture Device (2004), as himself.
Stroker and Hoop (2004) TV Series (voice), Hoop. (credited as Speed Levitch)
Xavier: Renegade Angel (2007) (voice), Puggler, the Punk Rock Juggler. (credited as Speed Levitch)
I would like to thank Speed for his musings. I listen to him whenever I want to center or decenter, depending on my mood. His segment in Waking Life was one of many changes in my life, but one of the few I recall and use for inspiration everyday.
Oh the places you’ll go,
Nicole
Hey there, I just watched your documentary, “The Cruise”. I am in awe of your mind and the film touched me with your delightful, but oh so wise quirkiness. Thanks for being you!
im also tagged with cassowary…quite uncommon that
just watched waking life. I found it whilst rooting thru a packing box to find something to quench a thirst to see moving images instead of reading books and using my own imagination and waiting and writing and hermitting. I have no tv and barely any house i am sitting in the sanctuary of my bedroom in the mostly derelict rest of my house after a fire and well these things put life back into perspective and i thought there was more than a tad of synchronicity in waking life being the only ‘get to-able’ dvd and well i rather think it was just what I needed and right when i needed it. I looked you up here on the internet because you jumped out at me … not literally of course
Anyway I hope you are well and enjoying your life etc etc x
I have seen your Waking Life and part of The Cruise, and I am a big fan of yours ! Whenever I feel down because of mundaneness, your free-thinking gives me at the least, an ongoing micro-assurance that in a faraway alternate world there is intelligent life where I am no one, but your dear neighbor ! Thank you for being original.
[...] Speed’s site, http://www.speedlevitchonline.com, was to reclaim his glory as a worldwide renowned philosopher by updating his existing site and promoting new tours in New York City and Kansas City. Speed’s claim to fame was the focus of the 1998 award-winning Sunday Film documentary ‘The Cruise’ directed by Oscar winning director, Bennett Miller. He has maintained a strong, worldwide fan base through social media because of the documentary, his books and other works. You can view more of Speed’s biography here. [...]
Hey. Just watched “The Cruise.” Fantastic! Why’d you move to Kansas City?? I was hoping you’re still giving tours of New York.
best,
dylan
Wow Timothy! Your mind is amazing. I could listen to you talk for hours, it’s so poetic. I have a new passion for the arts and travel thanks to you.
Hello Timothy,
I live in Brooklyn and work for the rich, famous on and ons in New York City. As a female in this predominately male blue collar job (in which I have to wear a uniform that does atrocities to my tits) I found your take on things refreshing. I feel trapped in a world of wonderful dreams in which I see how the other half lives on a day to day basis. As the tourists wander in the ignorant bliss like a bumble bee aimlessly wandering in front of me while I carry a multimillion dollar painting across the street in a wind tunnel, I do not know how much longer I can last. New York has changed since your time here and New York has changed since my time here. New York, as you say is the never ending story of evolving cacophonous relationships that ebb and flow with…. well, money.
To the dream. To the poor and/or unemployed. To the reality of what New York stands for as a beacon for self awareness and individuality, from a small town or a foreign country. Cheers, time only moves forward. Money will always hold the best things in this world sacred. I am a dreamer but I have faced this reality and I admire your tongue.
For the parity in love for birds.
M
watched the cruise for the first time …we need more free thinkers with your fealessness…come see me sometime …if new york stirs your juices .. good ol souith florida should put you in restraints…
i have watched The Cruise numerous times, and have recommended it to many. it has NOT left my thoughts, it’s a fabulous study of the mind and the city. can’t wait to watch more of Mr. Levitch’s work. i call him gilliant, a cross between genious and brilliant. bravo!
my sixteen year old daughter and I watched Cruise last night. She as well as I were ignited by your points of views. Thankyou for being such an inner pulsed compendium of humanism. If this country has a spirit that informs it you are it. With subcontaneous delight I salute you