Anthony LaPaglia

Anthony LaPaglia (, ; born 31 January 1959) is an Australian actor.

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.

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.

He has also appeared in films such as Betsy's Wedding (1990), So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993), Empire Records (1995), Autumn in New York (2000), Happy Feet (2006) and its sequel Happy Feet Two (2011), Mental (2012), Holding the Man (2015), and Annabelle: Creation (2017).

LaPaglia was born in Adelaide, South Australia, the son of Maria Johannes (née Brendel), a secretary and model, and Egidio "Eddie" LaPaglia (deceased), an auto mechanic and car dealer.

LaPaglia's mother was Dutch, and his father emigrated from Bovalino, Calabria, Italy, at the age of eighteen.

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 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 in 1995.

That same year, 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).

The following year he appeared in the romantic comedy Paperback Romance (1994) with Gia Carides, whom he later married.

LaPaglia won a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his portrayal of Eddie Carbone in the 1997 Broadway revival of A View from the Bridge, and a Primetime Emmy Award for his role as Simon Moon on the television sitcom Frasier (2000–04).

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.

However, various factors, including Fox and his Broadway role, prevented LaPaglia from obtaining the role.

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.

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).

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).

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.

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."

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.

In addition to playing the central character in Without a Trace during 2002–09, LaPaglia co-wrote an episode entitled "Deep Water".

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.

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.

However, he eventually left the project, calling the production "out of control."

On 18 February 2012, it was announced that LaPaglia would star in the ABC drama pilot Americana.