Anthony LaPaglia facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Anthony LaPaglia
LaPaglia in 2013
Born	(1959-01-31) 31 January 1959 (age 66) Adelaide, South Australia
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1977–present
Spouse(s)	Cherie Michan (divorced) Gia Carides ​ ​ (m. 1998; div. 2015)​ Alexandra Henkel ​ (m. 2018)​
Children	1
Relatives	Jonathan LaPaglia (brother)

Anthony LaPaglia is a talented actor from Australia. He is well-known for his roles in movies and TV shows, as well as on stage. He has won many important awards, including three AACTA Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Tony Award.

One of his most famous roles was playing Jack Malone in the American TV crime drama Without a Trace from 2002 to 2009. For this role, he won a Golden Globe Award in 2004. He also won a Primetime Emmy Award for his part as Simon Moon in the TV show Frasier.

On stage, Anthony LaPaglia starred in the play A View from the Bridge in 1997. His performance earned him a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play, which is a very high honor in theater. He has also won three AACTA Awards, which are Australia's top film and TV awards. These were for his roles in the films Lantana (2001), Balibo (2009), and Nitram (2021).

Early Life and Education

Anthony LaPaglia was born in Adelaide, South Australia, on January 31, 1959. His mother, Maria Johannes, was a secretary and model from the Netherlands. His father, Egidio "Eddie" LaPaglia, was an auto mechanic and car dealer who came from Italy when he was 18. Anthony has two brothers: Jonathan, who is also an actor, and Michael, who works with cars.

Anthony went to Rostrevor College and Norwood High School in Australia. In the early 1980s, he worked as a shoe salesman. He wanted to become an actor and moved to the United States to study acting. He had started acting classes in Adelaide when he was a teenager.

Acting Career Highlights

Anthony LaPaglia's acting career began in 1985 with a small part in the TV series Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories. His first movie role was in Cold Steel in 1987. He also played the main character, Frank Nitti, in the TV movie Nitti: The Enforcer that same year.

Early Film and TV Roles

In the early 1990s, LaPaglia appeared in several films. He had a supporting role in the movie Betsy's Wedding (1990). He also starred in 29th Street as Frank Pesce Jr., who was the first New York State Lottery winner. Other films from this time include Innocent Blood (1992), So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993), and The Client (1994). He also appeared in the TV series Murder One.

Broadway Success and TV Fame

From 1997 to 1998, Anthony LaPaglia performed on Broadway in Arthur Miller's play A View from the Bridge. His performance was highly praised, and he won a Tony Award for it. He also played Tito Merelli in another Broadway play called Lend Me a Tenor.

Around this time, he also became well-known for his role as Simon Moon in the sitcom Frasier. He appeared in eight episodes from 2000 to 2004 and won an Emmy Award for his guest role.

Major Roles and Australian Films

Anthony LaPaglia continued to take on many roles. He played a New York police detective in Spike Lee's film Summer of Sam (1999). He also started working more often in Australian films, such as Looking for Alibrandi (2000), Lantana (2001), and The Bank (2001).

His most famous TV role was as Jack Malone in the crime drama Without a Trace, which ran from 2002 to 2009. He even helped write one episode of the show. In 2009, he played Roger East, an Australian journalist, in the film Balibo, which told the true story of five Australian journalists killed in East Timor.

He also lent his voice to animated films, playing a skua in Happy Feet (2006) and its sequel Happy Feet Two (2011).

Recent Work

Since 2012, Anthony LaPaglia has been working more frequently in Australia. He appeared in the biopic Underground (2012) and the comedy Mental (2012). He also had a supporting role in the romantic-drama film Holding the Man (2015).

In 2016, he starred in his first Australian TV series, The Code, a political thriller. The next year, he was in the miniseries Sunshine, playing a mentor to a young soccer player. From 2017 to 2020, he starred in the series Riviera, set in the French Riviera.

In 2023, LaPaglia appeared in the ABC TV series The Black Hand, which explores Italian organized crime in Australia in the 1920s and 1930s. He also returned to the stage in Australia, playing Willy Loman in Arthur Miller's play Death of a Salesman in Melbourne and Sydney.

Personal Life

Anthony LaPaglia lives in Santa Monica, California. He has mentioned that he started using an American accent to help him get acting jobs when he first moved to the US. His accent now is a mix of American and Australian.

He has been married three times. His first marriage was to Cherie Michan. His second marriage was to actress Gia Carides, whom he met while working on a film. They married in 1998 and have a daughter named Bridget, born in 2003. They separated in 2015. In 2018, he married Alexandra Henkel.

Interest in Soccer

Anthony LaPaglia has a strong passion for soccer. In the 1980s, he was a goalkeeper for professional teams in Australia, including Adelaide City and West Adelaide.

He was also a part-owner of the Australian soccer club Sydney FC until 2008. He would often fly from California to Sydney to watch their games. He is the president of Hollywood United, an amateur soccer club for people in the entertainment industry. He also narrated and helped produce The Away Game, a documentary about Australian soccer players in Europe.

Filmography

Film Roles

Television Roles

Theatre Roles

Awards and Nominations

Anthony LaPaglia has received many awards and nominations throughout his career for his work in film, television, and theater.

See also

In Spanish: Anthony LaPaglia para niños