Barney Frank (born March 31, 1940) is an American politician, and a member of the United States House of Representatives. He is a Democrat, and has represented Massachusetts's 4th congressional district since 1981. Following the Democratic takeover of the House of Representatives in the 2006 midterm elections, Frank is in line to assume the chairmanship of the powerful House Banking Committee.

Frank was born in Bayonne, New Jersey and was educated at Harvard College, where he resided in Winthrop House, graduating in 1962. He taught undergraduates at Harvard while studying for a PhD, but left in 1968, before completing that degree, to become the Chief Assistant to Mayor Kevin White of Boston, a position he held for three years. He then served for one year as Administrative Assistant to Congressman Michael J. Harrington.

In 1972, Frank was elected to the Massachusetts Legislature, where he served for eight years. During that time, he entered Harvard Law School and graduated in 1977.

While in state and local government, Frank taught part time at the University of Massachusetts Boston, the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and at Boston University. He published numerous articles on politics and public affairs, and in 1992 he published Speaking Frankly, an essay on the role the Democratic Party should play in the 1990s.