Dennis Farina
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| Dennis Farina | |
|---|---|
 Dennis Farina, May 2007 |
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| Born | Dennis Farina February 29, 1944 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Years active | 1981–present |
| Spouse(s) | Patricia Farina (1964–1985)(divorced) 3 sons |
Dennis Farina[1] (born February 29, 1944) is an American film and television actor. He is a character actor, often typecast as a mobster or police officer, the latter due to his pre-acting career as a police officer.
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[edit] Early life
Farina was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Italian American parents Yolanda, a homemaker, and Joseph Farina, a Sicilian doctor.[2][3] He was raised in a large family and has three brothers and three sisters.
Farina served 18 years as a policeman on the Chicago police force before becoming an actor. Farina himself has stated several times that his handgun skills while on the force were so poor that his fellow officers nick-named him 'The Great Wounder'.
[edit] Career
Farina began his work in show business working for director Michael Mann as a police consultant on Mann's early works. This led to an interest in acting when Mann cast him in a small role in the 1981 film Thief. Farina proceeded to moonlight as an actor in the Chicago theater scene before Mann chose him for his Crime Story series. Farina played the mobster Albert Lombard in Michael Mann's other television show Miami Vice.
Two of his most well-known movie characters are Jimmy Serrano, the mob boss from Midnight Run, and Ray "Bones" Barboni, a rival criminal of Chili Palmer's in Get Shorty. He also played the FBI agent in the first Hannibal Lecter crime film, Michael Mann's Manhunter.
Other movies in Farina's filmography include Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan (as an Army Lieutenant Colonel), Striking Distance, Another Stakeout, Little Big League, Snatch, The Mod Squad and Out of Sight. He co-starred with Bette Midler in the romantic comedy That Old Feeling.
Farina has demonstrated quite a flair for comedy. He won an American Comedy Award for his performance in Get Shorty and starred in a television sitcom, In-Laws, from 2002-03. He had a comic role opposite Ed Harris and Helen Hunt in the HBO production of Empire Falls in 2005 and opposite Alan Rickman in 2008's Bottle Shock.
In early 2005, Farina provided the voice of aging boxer-turned-superhero Wildcat on Justice League Unlimited.
The producers of the long-running television series Law & Order hired Farina as Det. Joe Fontana after the death of Jerry Orbach. Farina stayed with the show for two years, but his character was not as popular with viewers as Orbach's Lennie Briscoe had been. As a result, in May 2006, it was announced that Farina was leaving Law & Order to pursue other projects, including 2007's You Kill Me opposite Ben Kingsley and 2008's What Happens in Vegas with Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher.
His role of Detective Lt. Mike Torello on Crime Story was as a Chicago police officer, who was later seconded to the U.S. Justice Department. Farina's Law & Order character, Joe Fontana, worked for Chicago Homicide before his transfer to the NYPD. As is common on Law & Order, Fontana shares a number of other characteristics with the actor who plays him: they hail from the same Chicago neighborhood, attended the same parochial school, and have the same tastes in both clothes and music (Dean Martin).
In October 2008, Farina became the new host of Unsolved Mysteries when it returned to television with a new five-season, 175-episode run on Spike TV. Farina was filling a void that the late Robert Stack left upon his death. (Stack hosted the series for its entire original 15 year run.) The series would include re-edited segments from previous incarnations on NBC, CBS, and Lifetime (all originally hosted by Stack) as well as several new original stories.[4]
[edit] Personal life
Farina is the father of three sons, Dennis, Michael, and Joseph. His youngest son, Joseph, is also an actor. He was an officer in the Chicago Police Department from 1967 to 1985. When Farina quit the force, he became a private detective. He has one granddaughter, Brianna, and four grandsons, Michael, Tyler, Matthew and Eric. Dennis is a lifelong Chicago Cubs fan and played an avid fan alongside Dennis Franz in the play "The Bleacher Bums" for a few years.
Farina was arrested on May 11, 2008 carrying a loaded .22 caliber pistol through LAX airport security. Farina was taken to LAPD's Pacific Division, booked on suspicion of carrying a concealed weapon and bail was set at $25,000. He claimed he had simply forgotten the weapon was still in his briefcase and had never intended to take it on a plane. After police determined the weapon was unregistered, the charges were upgraded to a felony and bail was increased to $35,000.[5]
On July 17, 2008 after reaching a plea agreement with prosecutors, Farina pleaded no contest and was sentenced to two years probation.[6] On July 17, 2009, the judge in his case decided he should not have been prosecuted for a criminal offense, dismissed the charge and expunged it from Farina's otherwise clean record.
[edit] Filmography
| Film | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
| 1981 | Thief | Carl | |
| 1985 | Code of Silence | Dorato | |
| 1986 | Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling | Freddy | |
| Manhunter | Jack Crawford | ||
| 1988 | Midnight Run | Jimmy Serrano | |
| 1990 | Men of Respect | Bankie Como | |
| 1992 | We're Talking Serious Money | Sal | |
| Mac | Mr. Stunder | ||
| Street Crimes | Brian | ||
| 1993 | Another Stakeout | Brian O'Hara | |
| Romeo Is Bleeding | Nick Gazzara | Uncredited Role | |
| Striking Distance | Capt. Nick Detillo | ||
| 1994 | Little Big League | George O'Farrell | |
| 1995 | Get Shorty | Ray 'Bones' Barboni | |
| 1996 | Eddie | Coach John Bailey | |
| 1997 | That Old Feeling | Dan De Mora | |
| 1998 | Out of Sight | Marshall Sisco | |
| Saving Private Ryan | Lt. Col. Walter Anderson | ||
| 1999 | The Mod Squad | Capt. Adam Greer | |
| 2000 | Reindeer Games | Jack Bangs | |
| Preston Tylk | Dick Muller | ||
| Snatch | Abraham 'Avi' Denovitz | ||
| 2001 | Sidewalks of New York | Carpo | |
| 2002 | Big Trouble | Henry Desalvo | |
| Stealing Harvard | Mr. Warner | ||
| 2004 | Paparazzi | Det. Burton | |
| Scrambled Eggs | Dr. Carlson | Short film | |
| 2007 | You Kill Me | Edward O'Leary | |
| Purple Violets | Gilmore | ||
| National Lampoon's Bag Boy | Marty Engstrom | ||
| 2008 | The Grand | L.B.J. Deuce Fairbanks | |
| Bottle Shock | Maurice | ||
| What Happens in Vegas | Banger | ||
| Television | |||
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1983 | Through Naked Eyes | Patrolman | ABC TV-Movie |
| 1984 | Hard Knox | April | NBC TV-Movie/TV-Pilot |
| 1984–1989 | Miami Vice | Albert Lombard | Episode: One Eyed Jack Episode: Lombard Episode: "World of Trouble" |
| 1985 | American Playhouse | Supervisor | Episode: "The Killing Floor" |
| Hardcastle and McCormick | Ed Coley | Episode: "Undercover McCormick" | |
| Hunter | Vic Terranova | Episode: "The Snow Queen" 1 & 2 | |
| Remington Steele | Cop | Episode: "Steele Trying" | |
| Final Jeopardy | Policeman #2 | NBC TV-Movie | |
| 1986 | The Birthday Boy | Short TV-Movie | |
| Jack and Mike | Episode: Pilot | ||
| Lady Blue | Joe Kaufman | Episode: "Sylvie" | |
| Triplecross | Ernie (Veteran Cop) | ABC TV-Movie | |
| 1986–1988 | Crime Story | Lt. Mike Torello | 44 episodes |
| 1987 | Six Against the Rock | Robert Stroud | NBC TV-Movie |
| 1988 | Open Admissions | Fred | CBS TV-Movie |
| 1989 | China Beach | Lt. Col. Edward Edward Vincent | Episode: "All About E.E.V." |
| The Case of the Hillside Stranglers | Angelo Buono, Jr. | NBC TV-Movie | |
| 1990 | Blind Faith | Prosecutor Kelly | NBC TV-Movie |
| People Like Us | Elias Renthall | NBC TV-Movie | |
| 1991 | Perfect Crimes | Armand Zaro | NBC TV-Movie/Unsold TV-Pilot |
| 1992 | Drug Wars: The Cocaine Cartel | Mike Cerone | NBC TV-Movie |
| Cruel Doubt | Tom Bereton | NBC Miniseries | |
| Tales from the Crypt | Antoine | Episode: "Werewolf Concerto" | |
| 1993 | The Disappearance of Nora | Denton | CBS TV-Movie |
| A Stranger in the Mirror | ABC TV-Movie | ||
| 1994 | One Woman's Courage | Craig McKenna | NBC TV-Movie |
| The Corpse Had a Familiar Face | Det. Harry Lindstrom | CBS TV-Movie | |
| 1995 | Out of Annie's Past | Charlie Ingle | TV-Movie |
| Bonanza: Under Attack | Charley Siringo | NBC TV-Movie | |
| 1997 | Bella Mafia | Don Roberto Luciano | CBS TV-Movie |
| 1998 | Buddy Faro | Buddy Faro | 13 episodes |
| 2002–2003 | In-Laws | Victor Pellet | 15 episodes |
| 2004–2006 | Law & Order | Det. Joe Fontana | 46 episodes |
| 2005 | Justice League Unlimited | Wildcat | Voice Role Episode: "The Cat and the Canary" |
| Law & Order: Trial by Jury | Det. Joe Fontana | Episode: "Skeleton" | |
| Empire Falls | Walt Comeau | HBO Miniseries | |
[edit] References
- ^ His name is sometimes given as Donaldo Guglielmo Farina. However, this is incorrect - it has never been his name.
- ^ Cigar Aficionado | People Profile | Dennis Farina
- ^ Dennis Farina Biography (1944-)
- ^ 'UNSOLVED MYSTERIES' GETS A NEW LOOK ON SPIKE TV
- ^ Actor Dennis Farina arrested at LA Airport. 11 May 2008. Reuters.
- ^ Actor Dennis Farina Gets Probation on Gun Charge. 11 May 2008. Reuters.
[edit] External links
- Dennis Farina at the Internet Movie Database
- Dennis Farina at Yahoo! Movies
- Dennis Farina - Hollywood.com
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