| Anthony LaPaglia | |
|---|---|
LaPaglia at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival |
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| Born | 31 January 1959 Adelaide, Australia |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1985–present |
| Spouse | Gia Carides (1998–present) |
Anthony M. LaPaglia[1] ( /ləˈpɑːljə/; born 31 January 1959) is an Australian actor. He is known for his role as FBI agent Jack Malone on the American TV series Without a Trace, for which he won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series and for his portrayal of Simon Moon on the TV show Frasier.[2] He is also known for his role as Barry "The Blade" Muldanno in The Client.
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LaPaglia was born in Adelaide, South Australia, the son of Maria Johannes (née Brendel), a secretary, and Gedio "Eddie" LaPaglia, an auto mechanic and car dealer.[1][2] LaPaglia's mother was Dutch and his Italian father immigrated from Bovalino, Calabria at the age of eighteen.[2] 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.
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 half years of the course, LaPaglia left Adelaide for Los Angeles.
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 a telemovie Nitti: The Enforcer. LaPaglia had a supporting role as a mobster, in the minor hit Betsy's Wedding (1990). This was followed by roles in the vampire/Mafia story Innocent Blood (1992), the comedy thriller So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993), the adaptation of John Grisham's The Client (1994) and the comedy Empire Records in 1995. That same year, LaPaglia took over the role of Jimmy Wyler, lead character in the TV series Murder One, during its second and final season.
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. Before the show 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.[3] However, various factors, including his Broadway role, prevented LaPaglia obtaining the monumental role. LaPaglia also played Tito Merelli in Ken Ludwig's Lend me a Tenor on Broadway. "'The Sopranos' thing didn’t work out...and of course it did work out perfectly, because the right person ended up with the role. You can’t imagine that show without James Gandolfini.” LaPaglia later played (in an uncredited 2002 cameo) an actor in a Sopranos-style TV show-within-a-film, in the comedy Analyze That. (In 2007, The Sopranos reciprocated, by featuring LaPaglia's brother Jonathan in a film-within-the-TV show.)
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.[2] The role won him an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series".
LaPaglia made his debut in an Australian production with Looking for Alibrandi (2000), followed by a role as a Sydney police detective in the critically acclaimed Ray Lawrence film Lantana (2001).
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."[4]
In addition to playing the central character in Without a Trace during 2002–09, LaPaglia co-wrote an episode entitled "Deep Water".[5]
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.[2][6]
In October 2011 it was announced that LaPaglia would join the cast of Quentin Tarantino's new film Django Unchained in which he would portray an Australian character once again. [7]
In the 1980s, LaPaglia was a goalkeeper in the National Soccer League, playing for Adelaide City and West Adelaide.[2] LaPaglia is now part owner of A-League club Sydney FC, and has been 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 footballers in Europe.
LaPaglia underwent a hip replacement in the summer of 2004, a result of his days playing football. He has fully recovered and has even played for a couple of amateur clubs in California.[8] He plays occasionally with Hollywood United, an amateur organization of which he is club president, with other luminaries such as 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 football match in 2007 to raise funds for Southern California wildfire relief.[9]
LaPaglia currently lives in Santa Monica, California, USA. He has said that he adopted an American accent to help him get acting work after moving to the US, and has now lost his Australian accent completely.[10] Some critics and viewers have noted his occasional dialect slips.[11] However, he is still capable of performing a flawless Australian accent in later roles in Australian movies such as Lantana and Balibo.
LaPaglia's first marriage was to actress Cherie Michan. He is currently married to actress Gia Carides, whom he met at a party;[2] the two starred in the 1994 (Ben Lewin) Australian movie Paperback Romance (a.k.a. Lucky Break) and married in 1998.[1] Their daughter Bridget was born in January 2003.
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