Anthony LaPaglia

Anthony LaPaglia ( , ; born 31 January 1959 ) is an Australian actor. Known for his roles on stage and screen he has received several accolades including three AACTA Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Tony Award.

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. For his role as Simon Moon on the NBC sitcom Frasier (2000–04) he won the Primetime Emmy Award. On stage, he starred in the 1997 Broadway revival of the Arthur Miller play A View from the Bridge for which he won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play.

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). He acted in many feature and TV films, among them So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993), Empire Records (1995), Sweet and Lowdown (1999), and Road to Perdition (2002). He voiced a skua in Happy Feet (2006) and its 2011 sequel.

Early life and education LaPaglia was born in Adelaide, South Australia, the son of Maria Johannes (née Brendel), a secretary and model, and Egidio "Eddie" LaPaglia, an auto mechanic and car dealer. LaPaglia's mother was Dutch, and his father emigrated from Bovalino, Calabria, Italy, at the age of eighteen. 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. 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.

LaPaglia was originally cast in Quentin Tarantino's 2012 film Django Unchained, but eventually left the project, calling the production "out of control."

In 2012 LaPaglia starred in the ABC drama pilot Americana, but it was not picked up. He next appeared in the feature adaptation of Stephen King's A Good Marriage with Joan Allen. In 2014, LaPaglia appeared in a CBS terrorism drama pilot titled Red Zone starring as a retired CIA operative and current high school football coach who returns to active duty after a terrorist attack in Washington, D.C. It was renamed Field of Play but never aired.

From about 2012, LaPaglia began accepting work in Australia more frequently. Following major roles in Underground (2012) (a biopic about Julian Assange) and the comedy Mental (2012), LaPaglia had a supporting role in the Neil Armfield's Australian romantic-drama film Holding the Man, as Bob Caleo. The 2015 film stars Ryan Corr and Craig Stott, with supporting performances from LaPaglia, Guy Pearce and Geoffrey Rush. Holding the Man was adapted from Timothy Conigrave's 1995 memoir of the same name. For his role within the film, LaPaglia was nominated for an AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role at the 5th AACTA Awards in 2015. In that year LaPaglia returned to his home city, Adelaide, to star in A Month of Sundays as Frank, a miserable real estate agent who finds solace and redemption in a chance friendship with an elderly woman (played by Julia Blake) who reminds him of his mother. In 2016, he appeared in his first Australian TV series: The Code, a political thriller set against rising geopolitical tensions between the US and China. The following year he starred in the four-part miniseries Sunshine, an Australian crime drama series screened on SBS, set in the western Melbourne suburb of the same name, playing the role of mentor to a promising young Sudanese-Australian basketball player. The four-part miniseries is an Essential Media production, directed by Daina Reid and written by Matt Cameron and Elise McCredie. In 2018, LaPaglia appeared in the fifth season of the comedy Rake, based loosely on the life and misadventures of Charles Waterstreet.

In 2017, LaPaglia played Vito Rizzuto in the Simon Barry Canadian TV series Bad Blood, which aired on Citytv, in French on ICI Radio-Canada. From 2017 to 2020, he starred in Neil Jordan's series Riviera. Set in the French Riviera, the series follows Georgina Clios, a midwestern art curator whose life is turned upside down after the death of her billionaire husband Constantine Clios (LaPaglia) in a yacht accident. Georgina becomes immersed in a world of lies, double-dealing and crime, as she seeks to uncover the truth about her husband's death.

In 2023, LaPaglia appeared in the ABC TV series The Black Hand, which explores the activities of the Italian 'Ndrangheta in the cane fields of Queensland, Australia, in the 1920s and 1930s. The same year, he appeared in his Australian stage debut as Willy Loman in Arthur Miller's play Death of a Salesman at Her Majesty's Theatre, Melbourne, directed by Neil Armfield.

Personal life Marriage and family LaPaglia currently lives in Santa Monica, California. He has said that he adopted an American accent to help him get acting work after moving to the US. His current accent is neither distinctly American nor is it Australian, but, rather, a combination of both. According to an offhand remark by LaPaglia, he has employed an American accent since 1982. LaPaglia is the godfather of Poppy Montgomery and Adam Kaufman's son, Jackson. LaPaglia's first marriage was to actress Cherie Michan. His second marriage was to actress Gia Carides, whom he met at a party; He married Alexandra Henkel (his third marriage), who is 30 years younger, on 28 April 2018. They divorced in 2025.

Interest in soccer In the 1980s, LaPaglia was a goalkeeper in the National Soccer League, playing for Adelaide City and West Adelaide.

Filmography

Film + Year Title Role Notes 1987 Cold Steel "Spooky" Feature film 1988 Nitti: The Enforcer Frank Nitti Television film Police Story: Gladiator School Sergeant Petrelli Television film 1989 Slaves of New York Henry Feature film Mortal Sins Vito Feature film 1990 Criminal Justice David Ringel Television film Betsy's Wedding Stevie Dee Feature film 1991 He Said, She Said Mark Feature film One Good Cop Detective Stevie Diroma Feature film 29th Street Frank Pesce Jr. Feature film The Brotherhood Salvatore's Brother Television film Keeper of the City Vince Benedetto Television film 1992 Whispers in the Dark Larry Morgenstern Feature film Innocent Blood Joe Gennaro Feature film Black Magic Ross Gage Television film 1993 So I Married an Axe Murderer Tony Giardino Feature film The Custodian Sergeant James Quinlan Feature film 1994 The Client Barry 'The Blade' Muldano Feature film Lucky Break Eddie Mercer Feature film Bulletproof Heart Mick Feature film Past Tense Larry Talbert Television film Mixed Nuts Felix Feature film 1995 Empire Records Joe Reaves Feature film 1996 Chameleon Willie Serling Feature film Trees Lounge Rob Feature film Brilliant Lies Gary Fitzgerald Feature film Never Give Up: The Jimmy V Story Jimmy 'Jimmy V' Valvano Television film 1997 Commandments Harry Luce Feature film The Garden of Redemption Don Paolo Montale Television film 1998 Phoenix Detective Mike Henshaw Feature film Mob Law: A Film Portrait of Oscar Goodman Narrator (voice) Documentary film The Repair Show Television film 1999 Lansky Charles "Lucky" Luciano Television film Black and Blue Bobby Benedetto Television film Summer of Sam Detective Lou Petrocelli Feature film Sweet and Lowdown Al Torrio Mockumentary film 2000 Company Man Fidel Castro Feature film Looking for Alibrandi Michael Andretti Feature film The House of Mirth Sim Rosedale Feature film Autumn in New York John Feature film 2001 Jack the Dog Jack's Attorney Feature film Lantana Detective Leon Zat Feature film The Bank Simon O'Reily Feature film On the Edge Dr. Maas Television film 2002 The Salton Sea Al Garcetti Feature film Dead Heat Ray LaMarr Feature film Road to Perdition Al Capone Uncredited; Feature film I'm with Lucy Bobby Staley Feature film The Guys Nick Feature film Analyze That Anthony Bella / Nicky Caesar Uncredited cameo; Feature film 2003 Manhood Jack's Attorney Feature film Happy Hour Tulley Feature film Spinning Boris Dick Dresner Feature film 2004 Winter Solstice Jim Winters Feature film; Also executive producer 2006 The Architect Leo Waters Feature film The Away Game Narrator TV documentary; Also executive producer Played Detective Drummond Feature film Happy Feet Boss Skua (voice) Animated feature film 2008 $9.99 Jim Peck (voice) Stop motion feature film 2009 Balibo Roger East Feature film; Also producer 2010 Overnight Captain Brody Feature film Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole Twilight (voice) Animated feature film Feature film 2021 Nitram Maurice Feature film TBA R.U.R. TBA Feature film

Television + Year Title Role Notes 1984 Kenny & Dolly: A Christmas to Remember British Flyer Television Special (TV debut) Amazing Stories Mechanic Episode: "The Mission" 1986 Magnum, P.I. Albert Stanley Higgins Episode: "Who Is Don Luis Higgins... and Why Is He Doing These Terrible Things to Me?" The Twilight Zone Punk Episode: "A Day in Beaumont/The Last Defender of Camelot" 1988 The Equalizer Agent #1 Episode: "The Child Broker" 1989 A Man Called Hawk Jesse Episode: "A Time and A Place" Gideon Oliver Raskin Episode: "Sleep Well, Professor Oliver" Hardball Randy Stoltz Episode: "The Silver Scream" 1990 Equal Justice George Griffin Episode: "The Price of Justice" Father Dowling Mysteries Paul Damon Episode: "The Visiting Priest Mystery" 1991 Tales from the Crypt Abel, The Cable Guy Episode: "Spoiled" 1996–97 Murder One Jimmy Wyler 18 episodes 1997 Murder One: Diary of a Serial Killer TV miniseries; 6 episodes 2000 Normal, Ohio David Unaired pilot 2000–04 Frasier Simon Moon 8 episodes 2002 Nature Narrator Episode: "Big Red Roos" 2002–09 Without a Trace Jack Malone 160 episodes; (also writer - 3 episodes) 2007 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Jack Malone Episode: "Who and What" 2008 Tellement vrai 2016 The Code Jan Roth 6 episodes Swedish Dicks Jack Episode: "#1.9" 2017 Bad Blood Vito Rizzuto 6 episodes Sunshine Eddie TV miniseries, 4 episodes 2017–19 Riviera Constantine Clios 16 episodes 2018 Rake Linus 2 episodes 2020 Halifax: Retribution Tom Saracen 7 episodes 2023 Florida Man Sonny Valentine The Black Hand Presenter 2024 Boy Swallows Universe Tytus Broz 7 episodes

Theatre + Anthony LaPaglia theater credits Year Title Role Notes 1987 Bouncers Les Minetta Lane Theatre, New York City 1993 On the Open Road Angel Joseph Papp Public Theater/Martinson Hall, New York City 1995 The Rose Tattoo Alvaro Mangiacavallo Circle in the Square Theatre, Broadway 1995–1996 Northeast Local Mickey Lincoln Center Theater, New York City 1997–1998 A View from the Bridge Eddie Carbone Criterion Center Stage Right, Broadway 2002 The Guys The Flea Theater, New York City 2010 Lend Me a Tenor Tito Merelli Music Box Theatre, Broadway 2023 Death of a Salesman Willy Loman Her Majesty's Theatre, Melbourne, Australia 2024Theatre Royal Sydney 2026 Her Majesty's Theatre, Melbourne, Australia

Awards and nominations