Anthony LaPaglia
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox person
Anthony LaPaglia (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell, Template:IPA; born 31 January 1959)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> is an Australian actor. Known for his roles on stage and screen he has received several accolades including three AACTA Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Tony Award.
For his starring role as Jack Malone on the American television crime drama series Without a Trace (2002–09), he received a Golden Globe Award in 2004. For his role as Simon Moon on the NBC sitcom Frasier (2000–04) he won the Primetime Emmy Award. On stage, he starred in the 1997 Broadway revival of the Arthur Miller play A View from the Bridge for which he won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play.
He has won three AACTA Awards, Best Actor in a Leading Role for Lantana (2001) and Balibo (2009), and Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Nitram (2021). He acted in many feature and TV films, among them So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993), Empire Records (1995), Sweet and Lowdown (1999), and Road to Perdition (2002). He voiced a skua in Happy Feet (2006) and its 2011 sequel.
Early life and education
LaPaglia was born in Adelaide, South Australia, the son of Maria Johannes (née Brendel), a secretary and model, and Egidio "Eddie" LaPaglia, an auto mechanic and car dealer.<ref name=actors>Stated on Inside the Actors Studio, 2009Template:Full citation needed</ref> LaPaglia's mother was Dutch, and his father emigrated from Bovalino, Calabria, Italy, at the age of eighteen.<ref name=actors/> His younger brother, Jonathan LaPaglia, is also an actor, and his other brother, Michael, is a car wholesaler in Los Angeles. LaPaglia attended Rostrevor College and Norwood High School.
LaPaglia was working in Adelaide as a shoe salesman for Florsheim Shoes in the early 1980s. He asked to be transferred to the US and continued working there while studying acting as he was rejected by the prestigious Sydney drama school NIDA. LaPaglia first began his venture into dramatic art in his late teens, when he enrolled in an acting course at the South Australian Castings Agency (SA Castings) in Adelaide. The two-and-half-year course was to be supplemented with a further three months, which would have included a "boot camp" and a trial listing with SA Castings. After completing one-and-a-half years of the course, LaPaglia left Adelaide for Los Angeles.
Career
LaPaglia's earliest credit was a 1985 part in an episode of the television series Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories. His first feature film was Cold Steel in 1987, followed that same year by the title role of Frank Nitti in the telemovie Nitti: The Enforcer. LaPaglia had a supporting role as a mobster in the minor hit Betsy's Wedding (1990).
He starred alongside Danny Aiello and Lainie Kazan in 29th Street, a fact-based comedy/bio-pic, as the first New York State Lottery winner, Frank Pesce Jr. This was followed by roles in the vampire/Mafia story Innocent Blood (1992), the comedy thriller So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993), the legal thriller The Client (1994), and the comedy Empire Records (1995). LaPaglia appeared in the role of Jimmy Wyler, lead character in the TV series Murder One, during its second and final season. LaPaglia made his debut in an Australian production opposite Hugo Weaving in The Custodian (1993). He played a hit man in Bulletproof Heart (1994) with Mimi Rogers and starred alongside future wife Gia Carides in the romantic comedy Paperback Romance (1994).
During 1997–98, LaPaglia appeared in a Broadway production of Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge with the Roundabout Theatre Company and later received a Tony Award for his portrayal of the protagonist, Eddie Carbone. LaPaglia also played Tito Merelli in Ken Ludwig's Lend Me a Tenor on Broadway. Before A View From the Bridge opened, LaPaglia was sent a script for the pilot of The Sopranos and met its creator, David Chase, to discuss the role of protagonist Tony Soprano.<ref>Evan Henerson, 2005, "Tracing a friendship" Template:Webarchive, sopranos.com; accessdate 9 November 2010.</ref> However, various factors, including Fox and his Broadway role, prevented LaPaglia from obtaining the role.<ref name=casting>Template:Cite web</ref>
Spike Lee cast LaPaglia as a New York police detective in Summer of Sam (1999). During 2000–04, LaPaglia appeared in eight episodes of the sitcom Frasier, including the finale, playing Daphne Moon's brother Simon.<ref name=actors/> The role won him an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series".
He continued to live mainly in Los Angeles, returning occasionally—especially from about 2000—for roles in major Australian films such as Looking for Alibrandi (2000), Lantana (2001), The Bank (2001), Happy Feet (2006), $9.99 (2008), Balibo (2009), and Happy Feet Two (2011). In 2002, LaPaglia co-starred as a fire captain opposite Sigourney Weaver in The Guys, a film about New York firemen who died in the World Trade Center. He also played the role onstage, rotating with Bill Murray and others. "We did it as a tribute to the men," said LaPaglia. "I've been so lucky to do it, to be part of this experience. But I can't go back to that morning or watch the video. It's too painful."<ref name=parade>Template:Cite news</ref> He also played fictional Australian actor Anthony Bella (who played Nicky Caesar in the fictitious series Little Caesar) in the comedy movie Analyze That, but was uncredited in his role.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In addition to playing the central character in Without a Trace during 2002–09, LaPaglia co-wrote an episode entitled "Deep Water".<ref>tvguide.com – "Exclusive! Anthony LaPaglia Reveals His Own Take on Trace" – retrieved 21-04-2009</ref> In 2009, LaPaglia played the part of Roger East, a real-life Australian journalist, in the political thriller Balibo, about the killing in 1975 of five Australian journalists by the Indonesian Army in the town of Balibo, East Timor. The opening scene depicts East's own summary execution, during the Indonesian invasion.<ref name=actors/><ref>LaPaglia leads Balibo five thriller cast, ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), 28 September 2007.</ref>
LaPaglia was originally cast in Quentin Tarantino's 2012 film Django Unchained,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> but eventually left the project, calling the production "out of control."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2012 LaPaglia starred in the ABC drama pilot Americana,<ref name=lapaglia>Template:Cite web</ref> but it was not picked up.<ref>Leaked scenes from dropped show, Americana; retrieved 16 March 2014</ref> He next appeared in the feature adaptation of Stephen King's A Good Marriage with Joan Allen.<ref name=GoodMarriage>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2014, LaPaglia appeared in a CBS terrorism drama pilot titled Red Zone starring as a retired CIA operative and current high school football coach who returns to active duty after a terrorist attack in Washington, D.C.<ref name=RedZone>Template:Cite web</ref> It was renamed Field of Play but never aired.<ref name=Rejected>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=Fall2014>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
From about 2012, LaPaglia began accepting work in Australia more frequently. Following major roles in Underground (2012) (a biopic about Julian Assange) and the comedy Mental (2012), LaPaglia had a supporting role in the Neil Armfield's Australian romantic-drama film Holding the Man, as Bob Caleo. The 2015 film stars Ryan Corr and Craig Stott, with supporting performances from LaPaglia, Guy Pearce and Geoffrey Rush. Holding the Man was adapted from Timothy Conigrave's 1995 memoir of the same name. For his role within the film, LaPaglia was nominated for an AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role at the 5th AACTA Awards in 2015. In that year LaPaglia returned to his home city, Adelaide, to star in A Month of Sundays as Frank, a miserable real estate agent who finds solace and redemption in a chance friendship with an elderly woman (played by Julia Blake) who reminds him of his mother. In 2016, he appeared in his first Australian TV series: The Code, a political thriller set against rising geopolitical tensions between the US and China. The following year he starred in the four-part miniseries Sunshine, an Australian crime drama series screened on SBS,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> set in the western Melbourne suburb of the same name, playing the role of mentor to a promising young Sudanese-Australian soccer player. The four-part miniseries is an Essential Media production, directed by Daina Reid and written by Matt Cameron and Elise McCredie.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2018, LaPaglia appeared in the fifth season of the comedy Rake, based loosely on the life and misadventures of Charles Waterstreet.
In 2017, LaPaglia played Vito Rizzuto in the Simon Barry Canadian TV series Bad Blood, which aired on Citytv, in French on ICI Radio-Canada.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> From 2017 to 2020, he starred in Neil Jordan's series Riviera. Set in the French Riviera, the series follows Georgina Clios, a midwestern art curator whose life is turned upside down after the death of her billionaire husband Constantine Clios (LaPaglia) in a yacht accident. Georgina becomes immersed in a world of lies, double-dealing and crime, as she seeks to uncover the truth about her husband's death.<ref name="deadline2">Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2023, LaPaglia appeared in the ABC TV series The Black Hand, which explores the activities of the Italian 'Ndrangheta in the cane fields of Queensland, Australia, in the 1920s and 1930s.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The same year, he appeared in his Australian stage debut as Willy Loman in Arthur Miller's play Death of a Salesman at Her Majesty's Theatre, Melbourne, directed by Neil Armfield.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Personal life
Marriage and family
LaPaglia currently lives in Santa Monica, California. He has said that he adopted an American accent to help him get acting work after moving to the US. His current accent is neither distinctly American nor is it Australian, but, rather, a combination of both.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> According to an offhand remark by LaPaglia, he has employed an American accent since 1982.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> LaPaglia is the godfather of Poppy Montgomery and Adam Kaufman's son, Jackson. LaPaglia's first marriage was to actress Cherie Michan. His second marriage was to actress Gia Carides, whom he met at a party;<ref name=actors/> the two starred in the 1994 Australian movie Paperback Romance (a.k.a. Lucky Break) and married in 1998.Template:Citation needed Their daughter Bridget was born in January 2003. In April 2015, newspapers reported that LaPaglia and Carides had split after 17 years.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He married Alexandra Henkel (his third marriage), who is 30 years younger, on 28 April 2018.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Interest in soccer
In the 1980s, LaPaglia was a goalkeeper in the National Soccer League, playing for Adelaide City and West Adelaide.<ref name=actors/> LaPaglia was part owner of A-League club Sydney FC until 2008; flying from California to Sydney to attend their matches since their inception in 2005. He was the narrator and executive producer of The Away Game, a critically acclaimed television documentary exploring the experiences of Australian men's soccer players in Europe.
He plays occasionally with Hollywood United, an amateur organisation of which he is club president, with others in the entertainment industry including Frank Leboeuf, Vinnie Jones, Steve Jones (of the Sex Pistols) and others.
LaPaglia has a minority shareholding in the International Goalkeepers Academy. The Academy was founded and is operated by James Fraser, who represented the Australian national team leading up to the 1974 FIFA World Cup.
LaPaglia has volunteered as an actor with the Young Storytellers Program. He played in a charity soccer match in 2007 to raise funds for Southern California wildfire relief.<ref> Template:Cite news </ref>
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Cold Steel | "Spooky" | Feature film |
| 1988 | Nitti: The Enforcer | Frank Nitti | Television film |
| Police Story: Gladiator School | Sergeant Petrelli | Television film | |
| 1989 | Slaves of New York | Henry | Feature film |
| Mortal Sins | Vito | Feature film | |
| 1990 | Criminal Justice | David Ringel | Television film |
| Betsy's Wedding | Stevie Dee | Feature film | |
| 1991 | He Said, She Said | Mark | Feature film |
| One Good Cop | Detective Stevie Diroma | Feature film | |
| 29th Street | Frank Pesce Jr. | Feature film | |
| The Brotherhood | Salvatore's Brother | Television film | |
| Keeper of the City | Vince Benedetto | Television film | |
| 1992 | Whispers in the Dark | Larry Morgenstern | Feature film |
| Innocent Blood | Joe Gennaro | Feature film | |
| Black Magic | Ross Gage | Television film | |
| 1993 | So I Married an Axe Murderer | Tony Giardino | Feature film |
| The Custodian | Sergeant James Quinlan | Feature film | |
| 1994 | The Client | Barry 'The Blade' Muldano | Feature film |
| Lucky Break | Eddie Mercer | Feature film | |
| Bulletproof Heart | Mick | Feature film | |
| Past Tense | Larry Talbert | Television film | |
| Mixed Nuts | Felix | Feature film | |
| 1995 | Empire Records | Joe Reaves | Feature film |
| 1996 | Chameleon | Willie Serling | Feature film |
| Trees Lounge | Rob | Feature film | |
| Brilliant Lies | Gary Fitzgerald | Feature film | |
| Never Give Up: The Jimmy V Story | Jimmy 'Jimmy V' Valvano | Television film | |
| 1997 | Commandments | Harry Luce | Feature film |
| The Garden of Redemption | Don Paolo Montale | Television film | |
| 1998 | Phoenix | Detective Mike Henshaw | Feature film |
| Mob Law: A Film Portrait of Oscar Goodman | Narrator (voice) | Documentary film | |
| The Repair Show | Television film | ||
| 1999 | Lansky | Charles "Lucky" Luciano | Television film |
| Black and Blue | Bobby Benedetto | Television film | |
| Summer of Sam | Detective Lou Petrocelli | Feature film | |
| Sweet and Lowdown | Al Torrio | Mockumentary film | |
| 2000 | Company Man | Fidel Castro | Feature film |
| Looking for Alibrandi | Michael Andretti | Feature film | |
| The House of Mirth | Sim Rosedale | Feature film | |
| Autumn in New York | John | Feature film | |
| 2001 | Jack the Dog | Jack's Attorney | Feature film |
| Lantana | Detective Leon Zat | Feature film | |
| The Bank | Simon O'Reily | Feature film | |
| On the Edge | Dr. Maas | Television film | |
| 2002 | The Salton Sea | Al Garcetti | Feature film |
| Dead Heat | Ray LaMarr | Feature film | |
| Road to Perdition | Al Capone | Uncredited; Feature film | |
| I'm with Lucy | Bobby Staley | Feature film | |
| The Guys | Nick | Feature film | |
| Analyze That | Anthony Bella / Nicky Caesar | Uncredited cameo; Feature film | |
| 2003 | Manhood | Jack's Attorney | Feature film |
| Happy Hour | Tulley | Feature film | |
| Spinning Boris | Dick Dresner | Feature film | |
| 2004 | Winter Solstice | Jim Winters | Feature film; Also executive producer |
| 2006 | The Architect | Leo Waters | Feature film |
| The Away Game | Narrator | TV documentary; Also executive producer | |
| Played | Detective Drummond | Feature film | |
| Happy Feet | Boss Skua (voice) | Animated feature film<ref name="btva">Template:Cite web A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.</ref> | |
| 2008 | $9.99 | Jim Peck (voice) | Stop motion feature film |
| 2009 | Balibo | Roger East | Feature film; Also producer |
| 2010 | Overnight | Captain Brody | Feature film |
| Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole | Twilight (voice) | Animated feature film<ref name="btva" /> | |
| 2011 | All-Star Superman | Lex Luthor (voice) | Animated feature film<ref name="btva" /> |
| Happy Feet Two | Alpha Skua (voice) | Animated feature film<ref name="btva" /> | |
| The Ride | Driver | Short film | |
| In Loco Parentis | Dad | Short film | |
| 2012 | Overnight | Tully | Feature film |
| Crazy Kind of Love | Gordie | Feature film | |
| Mental | Barry Moochmore | Feature film | |
| Underground: The Julian Assange Story | Detective Ken Roberts | Television film | |
| Americana | Robert Soulter | Television film | |
| 2013 | Boomerang | Bill Hamilton | Television film |
| 2014 | A Good Marriage | Bob | Feature film |
| Big Stone Gap | Spec Broadwater | Feature film | |
| Newcomer | Daniel | Feature film | |
| Red Zone | Television film | ||
| 2015 | A Month of Sundays | Frank Mollard | Feature film; Also executive producer |
| This Isn't Funny | Mike | Feature film | |
| Holding the Man | Bob Caleo | Feature film | |
| The Eichmann Show | Leo Hurwitz | Television film | |
| 2016 | The Assignment | John 'Honest John' Hartunian | Feature film |
| Toy Gun | Gaetano Lolli | Feature film | |
| 2017 | Annabelle: Creation | Samuel Mullins | Feature film |
| 2019 | Below | Terry | Feature film |
| Dark Whispers: Volume 1 | Driver | Feature film; Segment: "The Ride" | |
| 2020 | Pearl | Jack Wolf<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | Feature film |
| 2021 | Nitram | Maurice<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | Feature film |
| TBA | R.U.R. | TBA<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | Feature film |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | Kenny & Dolly: A Christmas to Remember | British Flyer | Television Special (TV debut) |
| Amazing Stories | Mechanic | Episode: "The Mission" | |
| 1986 | Magnum, P.I. | Albert Stanley Higgins | Episode: "Who Is Don Luis Higgins... and Why Is He Doing These Terrible Things to Me?" |
| The Twilight Zone | Punk | Episode: "A Day in Beaumont/The Last Defender of Camelot" | |
| 1988 | The Equalizer | Agent #1 | Episode: "The Child Broker" |
| 1989 | A Man Called Hawk | Jesse | Episode: "A Time and A Place" |
| Gideon Oliver | Raskin | Episode: "Sleep Well, Professor Oliver" | |
| Hardball | Randy Stoltz | Episode: "The Silver Scream" | |
| 1990 | Equal Justice | George Griffin | Episode: "The Price of Justice" |
| Father Dowling Mysteries | Paul Damon | Episode: "The Visiting Priest Mystery" | |
| 1991 | Tales from the Crypt | Abel, The Cable Guy | Episode: "Spoiled" |
| 1996–97 | Murder One | Jimmy Wyler | 18 episodes |
| 1997 | Murder One: Diary of a Serial Killer | TV miniseries; 6 episodes | |
| 2000 | Normal, Ohio | David | Unaired pilot |
| 2000–04 | Frasier | Simon Moon | 8 episodes |
| 2002 | Nature | Narrator | Episode: "Big Red Roos" |
| 2002–09 | Without a Trace | Jack Malone | 160 episodes; (also writer - 3 episodes) |
| 2007 | CSI: Crime Scene Investigation | Jack Malone | Episode: "Who and What" |
| 2008 | Tellement vrai | ||
| 2016 | The Code | Jan Roth | 6 episodes |
| Swedish Dicks | Jack | Episode: "#1.9" | |
| 2017 | Bad Blood | Vito Rizzuto | 6 episodes |
| Sunshine | Eddie | TV miniseries, 4 episodes | |
| 2017–19 | Riviera | Constantine Clios | 16 episodes |
| 2018 | Rake | Linus | 2 episodes |
| 2020 | Halifax: Retribution | Tom Saracen<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 7 episodes |
| 2023 | Florida Man | Sonny Valentine<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | |
| The Black Hand | Presenter | ||
| 2024 | Boy Swallows Universe | Tytus Broz | 7 episodes<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
Theatre
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Bouncers | Les | Minetta Lane Theatre, New York City |
| 1993 | On the Open Road | Angel | Joseph Papp Public Theater/Martinson Hall, New York City |
| 1995 | The Rose Tattoo | Alvaro Mangiacavallo | Circle in the Square Theatre, Broadway |
| 1995–1996 | Northeast Local | Mickey | Lincoln Center Theater, New York City |
| 1997–1998 | A View from the Bridge | Eddie Carbone | Criterion Center Stage Right, Broadway |
| 2002 | The Guys | The Flea Theater, New York City | |
| 2010 | Lend Me a Tenor | Tito Merelli | Music Box Theatre, Broadway |
| 2023 | Death of a Salesman | Willy Loman | Her Majesty's Theatre, Melbourne, Australian |
| 2024 | Theatre Royal Sydney |
Awards and nominations
References
External links
- 1959 births
- People educated at Rostrevor College
- Adelaide City FC players
- Australian expatriate male actors in the United States
- Australian male film actors
- Australian male voice actors
- Australian men's soccer players
- Australian people of Dutch descent
- Australian people of Italian descent
- Australian male television actors
- Best Actor AACTA Award winners
- Best Drama Actor Golden Globe (television) winners
- Drama Desk Award winners
- Australian people of Calabrian descent
- Primetime Emmy Award winners
- Hollywood United F.C. players
- Living people
- Male actors from Adelaide
- Male actors from Santa Monica, California
- Theatre World Award winners
- Tony Award winners
- West Adelaide SC players
- 20th-century Australian male actors
- 21st-century Australian male actors
- Soccer players from Santa Monica, California
- Men's association football goalkeepers
- 20th-century Australian sportsmen
- Naturalized citizens of the United States
- Male actors from Los Angeles
- Best Supporting Actor AACTA Award winners