Tony Shalhoub facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Tony Shalhoub
Shalhoub in 2017
Born	Anthony Marc Shalhoub (1953-10-09) October 9, 1953 (age 71) Green Bay, Wisconsin, U.S.
Education	University of Wisconsin, Green Bay University of Southern Maine (BA) Yale University (MFA)
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1980–present
Spouse(s)	Brooke Adams ​ (m. 1992)​
Children	2
Relatives	Lynne Adams (sister-in-law)
Awards	Full list
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Anthony Marc Shalhoub (born October 9, 1953) is an American actor. He is well-known for his roles in many TV shows and movies.

He became famous for playing Antonio Scarpacci on the TV show Wings from 1991 to 1997. Later, he played Adrian Monk in the TV series Monk (2002-2009). For this role, he won three Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award. He also won an Emmy Award for his role as Abe Weissman in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

Tony Shalhoub has also had a great film career. He appeared in movies like Men in Black (1997) and Galaxy Quest (1999). He also lent his voice to characters in the Cars movies and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles films. On Broadway, he won a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his role in The Band's Visit in 2018.

Early Life and School

Tony Shalhoub was born and grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin. He is the ninth of ten children in his family. His family was Lebanese and followed the Maronite Christian faith.

His father, Joseph, came to the United States from Mount Lebanon. He worked as a meat seller. Tony's mother, Helen, was Lebanese-American. Tony's older sister helped him get into acting. She suggested him for a small part in a high school play called The King and I.

After high school, Tony went to the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. He then transferred to the University of Southern Maine and earned a bachelor's degree. In 1980, he earned a master's degree from the Yale School of Drama.

Career Highlights

Early Acting Roles and Wings

After finishing school, Tony Shalhoub moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts. He spent four seasons acting with the American Repertory Theater. Then he moved to New York City and worked as a waiter while looking for acting jobs.

He made his first appearance on Broadway in 1985 in a play called The Odd Couple. In 1992, he was nominated for a Tony Award for his role in Conversations with My Father. Tony met his wife, actress Brooke Adams, when they acted together in the Broadway play The Heidi Chronicles.

Tony Shalhoub got the role of Antonio Scarpacci, a cab driver, in the NBC TV show Wings. He played this character from 1991 to 1997. He used an Italian accent for the role.

During this time, Shalhoub also appeared in an episode of The X-Files called "Soft Light". He also had roles in many movies. These included a lawyer in The Man Who Wasn't There and an alien pawn shop owner named Jack Jeebs in the Men in Black films. He played a widowed father in Thirteen Ghosts and a TV star in Galaxy Quest.

In 1996, he had a co-starring role in the film Big Night. He played one of two Italian immigrant brothers who owned a struggling restaurant. In 1998, he starred in the thriller The Siege. He played FBI Special Agent Frank Haddad, a Lebanese American character who faced unfair treatment after terrorist attacks. In 1999, he returned to TV in a main role on Stark Raving Mad, but the show was canceled in 2000.

Monk and Awards

Tony Shalhoub in 2005

After a short break from TV, Tony Shalhoub starred in the series Monk. This show was on the USA Network. Shalhoub played Adrian Monk, a detective with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

He was nominated for an Emmy Award for this role for eight years in a row (2003-2010). He won the award three times: in 2003, 2005, and 2006. He also won a Golden Globe award in 2003. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, he appeared in a short Monk video called "Mr. Monk Shelters in Place".

In 2005, Tony Shalhoub helped create The Arab-American Filmmaker Award Competition. This competition helped Arab-American filmmakers get their screenplays produced in Hollywood.

Tony Shalhoub at the Paley Center in 2008

He also continued to work in films. In 2004, he was in The Last Shot. In 2007, he appeared in the horror film 1408. He also provided the voice of Luigi, a friendly car who runs a tire shop, in the Disney/Pixar film Cars (2006) and its sequels, Cars 2 (2011) and Cars 3 (2017). He was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2008 for narrating the audiobook The Cricket in Times Square.

Return to Theatre

In 2010, Tony Shalhoub returned to Broadway in a play called Lend Me a Tenor. He was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play in 2013 for his role in Golden Boy. In 2014, he received another Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play nomination for Act One.

Shalhoub voiced Splinter in the 2014 film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He played this role again in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016).

He starred in the musical The Band's Visit. The show started Off-Broadway in 2016 and then moved to Broadway in 2017. For his performance as Tewfiq Zakaria, he won the 2018 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical.

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

From 2017 to 2023, Tony Shalhoub starred as Abe Weissman in the TV comedy series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. He played the father of the main character, Midge Maisel. For this role, he won an Emmy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award in 2019.

Critics praised his acting in the show. Thelma Adams from TheWrap said that his character grew a lot and that Shalhoub's performance was great. Cristina Escobar from Roger Ebert.com even said he "came close to stealing the show."

In 2021, he voiced the character Fred in the animated film Rumble. He also returned as Adrian Monk in the 2023 TV movie Mr. Monk's Last Case: A Monk Movie.

Personal Life

Tony Shalhoub married actress Brooke Adams in 1992. They have worked together on several projects, including an episode of Wings and the show BrainDead. Brooke Adams also appeared in five episodes of Monk and in Mr. Monk's Last Case.

When they got married, Brooke Adams had an adopted daughter named Josie Lynn (born 1989), whom Tony later adopted. In 1994, they adopted another daughter named Sophie (born 1993).

Film Roles

Television Roles

Stage Roles

Video Game Roles

Producer Work

Awards and Nominations

See also

In Spanish: Tony Shalhoub para niños