Early life

Pantoliano was born in Hoboken, New Jersey, the son of Italian American parents Mary (née Centrella), a bookie and seamstress, and Dominic "Monk" Pantoliano, a hearse driver and factory foreman. He attended HB Studio, and studied extensively with actors John Lehne and Herbert Berghof.

Career

He first grew to fame as "Guido the Killer Pimp" in Risky Business, and continued to rise in 1985 when he appeared as the villainous Francis Fratelli in teen classic The Goonies. He gained fame amongst a new generation as Cypher in the 1999 landmark sci-fi film The Matrix, and won an Emmy as Ralph Cifaretto in HBO's The Sopranos. Pantoliano is also known for his role as Eddie Moscone, the foul-mouthed, double-crossing bail bondsman, in the Robert De Niro comedy Midnight Run, as Captain Howard in Bad Boys and its sequel Bad Boys 2", as double-crossed mafioso Caesar in Bound, as John "Teddy" Gammell in Memento, and as investigative journalist Ben Urich in Mark Steven Johnson's 2003 Daredevil adaptation. He also played Deputy Marshal Cosmo Renfro in The Fugitive along with Tommy Lee Jones, and reprised the role in the sequel U.S. Marshals. He is known for his portrayals of criminals, criminal investigators, detectives, and forensic specialists with a wisecracking touch.

In 2003, Pantoliano replaced Stanley Tucci in the Broadway play Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune. That same year he won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for The Sopranos.

In 2012, Joe Pantoliano stars as the eccentric pawn broker Oswald Oswald in the film adaptation of Wendy Mass's popular children's book Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life, written and directed by Tamar Halpern. In 2013, he was cast as Yogi Berra in the Broadway production of Bronx Bombers, but dropped out during rehearsals due to "creative differences".

When not acting, Pantoliano also writes. He is the author of two memoirs: Who's Sorry Now: The True Story of a Stand-Up Guy and Asylum: Hollywood Tales From My Great Depression: Brain Dis-Ease, Recovery and Being My Mother's Son. In the latter, he writes about his addictions to alcohol, food, sex, Vicodin and Percocet before being diagnosed with clinical depression.

Personal life

Pantoliano lives with his wife, former model Nancy Sheppard, and their four children. He was introduced to his wife by his friend, actress Samantha Phillips.

On October 9, 2007, Pantoliano announced on the National Alliance on Mental Illness blog that he has been suffering from clinical depression for the last decade, although he was only formally diagnosed recently. He claims that his recent film Canvas was what helped him come to terms with his depression. Rather than hide his struggle from the public, he has chosen to speak out about it to remove some of the stigmas that are commonly associated with mental illness. He founded a non-profit organization, "No Kidding, Me Too!", to unite members of the entertainment industry in educating the public about mental illness. He is also dyslexic. The title comes from the response he’s heard all too often after divulging how mental illness affected him and his family. He’s also shot a documentary called No Kidding, Me Too!.

Filmography

Films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1974	Road Movie	Mugger	Credited as Joseph Pantoliano
	For Pete's Sake	Undercover Cop who arrests Mark	Uncredited
1980	The Idolmaker	Gino Pilato
1982	Monsignor	Pvt. Joe Musso
1983	The Final Terror	Eggar
	Risky Business	Guido
	Eddie and the Cruisers	Doc Robbins
1985	The Mean Season	Andy Porter
	The Goonies	Francis
1986	Running Scared	Snake
1987	Scenes from the Goldmine	Manny
	La Bamba	Bob Keane
	The Squeeze	Norman
	Amazon Women on the Moon	Sy Swerdlow	Segment: "Hairlooming"
	Empire of the Sun	Frank Demarest
1988	The In Crowd	Perry Parker
	Midnight Run	Eddie
1990	Ardouous Moon		Short film
	Downtown	White
	The Last of the Finest	Wayne Gross
	Short Time	Scalese
	Backstreet Dreams	Paul Antangeli	Uncredited
1991	Zandalee	Gerri
1992	Used People	Frank
1993	Three of Hearts	Mickey
	The Fugitive	Deputy U.S. Marshal Cosmo Renfro
	Calendar Girl	Harvey Darpinian
	Me and the Kid	Roy
1994	Robot in the Family	The Father
	Teresa's Tattoo	Bruno
	Baby's Day Out	Norby
1995	Bad Boys	Captain Howard
	Congo	Eddie Ventro	Uncredited
	The Last Word	Doc
	Steal Big Steal Little	Eddie Agopian, Ruben's Lawyer
	The Immortals	Pete Tunnell
1996	Fly Away Home	Gordy
	The Flight of the Dove	Attorney Brezner
	Bound	Caesar
1997	Top of the World	Vince Castor
	Tinseltown	Arnie
1998	U.S. Marshals	Deputy U.S. Marshal Cosmo Renfro
	Hoods	Charlie Flynn
1999	Taxman	Al Benjamin
	Forces of Nature	Cab Driver	Uncredited
	The Matrix	Cypher
	Black and White	Bill King
	The Life Before This	Jake Maclean
	Olive, the Other Reindeer	Martini	Voice role
2000	Silver Man	Norbert
	Ready to Rumble	Titus Sinclair
	New Blood	Hellman
	Memento	Teddy Gammell
	A Better Way to Die	Flash
2001	Cats & Dogs	Peek	Voice role
2002	A Call for Help	Charlie
	The Adventures of Pluto Nash	Mogan
2003	Daredevil	Ben Urich
	Bad Boys II	Captain Howard
2004	Second Best	Elliot
	Perfect Opposites	Louis Carbonelli
	The Easter Egg Adventure	Terrible Timothy Takit	Voice role
2005	Racing Stripes	Goose	Voice role
	The Check Up	The Inspector	Short film
	The Amateurs	Some Idiot
2006	Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector	Mayor M.T. Gunn
	Wedding Daze	Smitty
	Canvas	John Marino
	Unknown	Bound Man
2009	The Job	Perriman
	Deadly Impact	David Kaplow
	Falling Up	George
2010	The Legend of Secret Pass	Chucksta	Voice
	Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief	Gabe Ugliano
	Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore	Peek	Voice role
	New York Street Games	self	Documentary
2011	Loosies	Carl
	Spring Break '83	Sergeant Coltrane
	Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life	Oswald Oswald III
2014	The Identical	Avi Hirshberg

TV series

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1977	McNamara's Band	Frankie Milano	TV movie
1978	Free Country	Louis Peschi	3 episodes
1979	From Here to Eternity	Pvt. Angelo Maggio	Miniseries
1980	Alcatraz: The Whole Shocking Story	Ray Neal	Movie
1981, 1984	Hart to Hart	Frank Tisdale / Nate Volkman	2 episodes
1981	M*A*S*H	Cpl. Gerald Mullen/Josh Levin	Episode: "Identity Crisis" (#10.2)
1982	Chicago Story	Cooney	Episode: "Who Needs the Truth?" (#1.12)
1983	Hardcastle and McCormick	Teddy Hollins	Episode: "The Crystal Duck" (#1.4)
1984	Mister Roberts	Insignia	Movie
	Hill Street Blues	Sonny Orsini	2 episodes
	Trapper John, M.D.	Michael Merrow	Episode: "Where There's a Will" (#5.15)
	Simon & Simon	Carl	Episode: "Who Killed the Sixties?" (#4.7)
1985	Robert Kennedy & His Times	Roy Cohn	Miniseries
1986	Amazing Stories	Joe	Episode: "One for the Road" (#1.15)
	L.A. Law	Rob Cavanaugh	Pilot
1987	Destination America	Lt. Mike Amico	Movie
1988	Rock 'n' Roll Mom	Ronnie	Movie
1989	Nightbreaker	Sgt. Jack Russell	Movie
	The Hitchhiker	Brother Charles	Episode: "Miracle of Alice Ames" (#5.7)
	Tales from the Crypt	Ulrich The Undying	Episode: "Dig That cat...He's real gone" (#1.3)
1990	El Diablo	Kid Durango	Movie
1990-91	The Fanelli Boys	Dominic Fanelli	19 episodes
1991	One Special Victory	Daniel	Movie
1992	Through the Eyes of a Killer	Jerry	Movie
	Highlander: The Series	Doctor Wilder	Episode: "Deadly Medicine" (#1.8)
1994	Dangerous Heart	Barclay	Movie
	Beethoven	Sparky (voice)	12 episodes
1995	The Marshal	Cameris	Episode: "Unprotected Witness" (#1.12)
	NYPD Blue	Vinnie Greco	3 episodes
1996	Ed McBain's 87th Precinct: Ice	Det. Meyer Meyer	Movie
	Life with Louie	Jojo Stomopolous	Voice
	Arliss	Vic Freed	Episode: "The Client's Best Interest" (#1.9)
1996-97	EZ Streets	Jimmy Murtha	Recurring role
1997	Natural Enemy	Stuart	Movie
1998	Godzilla: The Series	Animal Palotti (voice)	Episode: "New Family" (Part 1)
	Hercules	King Pan	Episode: "Hercules and the King for a Day"
	The Lionhearts	Director (voice)	5 episodes
1999	Sugar Hill	Joe	Pilot
	The Outer Limits	Stan Harbinger	Episode: "Alien Radio" (#5.1)
2000-04	The Sopranos	Ralph Cifaretto	Recurring role
2001	Roswell	Kal Langley	2 episodes
2003-04	The Handler	Joe Renato	Recurring role
2003	Gary the Rat	Anthony 'the Heel' Stilletto (voice)	Episode: "Sleeps with the Fishes" (#1.6)
2004-06	Dr. Vegas	Tommy Danko	Recurring role
2006	Deceit	Anthony	Movie
	Waterfront	James "Jimmy" Centrella	Lead role
	The Simpsons	Dante (voice)	Episode: "The Mook, the Chef, the Wife and Her Homer" (#18.1)
2011	How to Make it in America	Felix DiFlorio	2 episodes
2015	Sense8	Michael Gorski	Recurring role

Video games

Year	Title	Voice role	Notes
2001	Majestic	Tim Pritchard	Episode 4
	Grand Theft Auto III	Luigi Goterelli	From mission Luigi's Girl until mission Salvatore's Called a Meeting
2013	Call of Duty: Black Ops II	Al "The Weasel" Arlington	"Uprising" DLC, on the zombies map "Mob of the Dead"

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Nominated work	Result
1997	Saturn Awards	Best Supporting Actor	Bound	Nominated
	Television Critics Association	Individual Achievement in Drama	EZ Streets	Nominated
	Viewers for Quality Television	Best Supporting Actor in a Quality Drama Series	EZ Streets	Nominated
2002	Screen Actors Guild	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series	The Sopranos	Nominated
2003	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series	The Sopranos	Won
2004	Screen Actors Guild	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series	The Sopranos	Nominated

Charities

Joe Pantoliano supports the following charitable cause: Environment.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]