John Pollono

John Pollono (born May 23, 1972) is an American playwright, screenwriter, and actor best known for writing Small Engine Repair, where he originated the role of Frank in the 2011 Los Angeles and 2013 New York City productions. He later made his feature directorial debut with the 2021 film adaptation of the same name, penning the screenplay and reprising his role from the original production. In addition to writing several plays, Pollono has written films such as Stronger and Riff Raff (2024), the former of which he made an uncredited appearance as Blackhawk.

He is also known for his recurring roles as Pat Dolan on the TNT neo-noir crime drama series Mob City (2013) and Tyler on the first season of the NBC comedy drama series This Is Us (2016–17). Pollono is active in the Los Angeles theater scene, serving as one of the playwrights-in-residence at Rogue Machine Theatre and a part of the playwriting collective The Temblors.

Early life and education Pollono was born May 23, 1972, in New Hampshire into a working-class Italian-American family; he has three sisters. He was raised in Londonderry, New Hampshire and graduated from Londonderry High School. Pollono has said that his childhood in New England has greatly influenced his work.

Pollono attended the University of New Hampshire, from which he graduated with a Bachelors of Arts in 1994. During one college summer, he studied film directing at New York University.

2011– 2017: Success on stage and screen

Stage In 2011, Rogue Theatre produced Pollono's black comedy play Small Engine Repair, which in large part was inspired by his upbringing outside of Manchester, New Hampshire. Pollono starred as Frank, one of the play's three main characters. The play was first staged at Theatre/Theater in Los Angeles and was very successful, later transferring to the Beverly Hills Playhouse. A year-and-a-half later, the play was produced by MCC Theater in New York City and premiered at the off-Broadway Lucille Lortel Theatre. This marked Pollono's debut off-Broadway as a playwright and actor.

Simultaneously, Pollono's new play, Lost Girls premiered in Los Angeles at Theatre/Theater in Fall 2013. Lost Girls was picked up by MCC Theater for their 2015–2016 season and as produced off-Broadway in Fall 2015. Like Small Engine Repair, Lost Girls played at the Lucille Lortel Theatre and was directed by Jo Bonney.

In 2017, Pollono joined with other Los Angeles-based playwrights to form the playwriting collective The Temblors. A reworking of his play Rules of Seconds was produced in 2017 at the Los Angeles Theatre Center.

Screenwriting and acting Pollono's first notable screen acting role was as Pat Dolan in the TNT series Mob City in 2013. Pollono's character appears in all six episodes of the show. Of note, Mob City stars Jon Bernthal, who Pollono had just acted opposite in Small Engine Repair at Theatre/Theater before production of the television show began. In 2014, Pollono guest starred in an episode of Intelligence. In 2016, Pollono began portraying Tyler, a co-worker of the character Randall in This Is Us.

In 2014, Pollono was tapped to write the screenplay for what would become the 2017 film Stronger, which starred Jake Gyllenhaal as Boston Marathon bombing survivor Jeff Bauman. The screenplay, based on Bauman's memoir Stronger, was number two on the Black List in 2016 and the film was released in 2017 to critical acclaim. The film was released in September 2021.

2018–present: Upcoming projects In February 2019, it was announced that Pollono was writing a screenplay based on the life of Hulk Hogan for Netflix. Directed by Todd Phillips and co-written by Scott Silver, the team that produced 2019's Joker, the film will star Chris Hemsworth.

Personal life Pollono is married to stage actress and founding member of Rogue Machine Theatre Jennifer Pollono; they have two children together, including actress Sophie Pollono.

Pollono lives in Los Angeles.

Works and performances Plays Selected works

Lost and Found, 2006, 2010 (rewrite) Lucille Lortel Theatre:September 18–25, 2010

Theatre/Theater:March 25 – June 5, 2011

Beverly Hills Playhouse:August – September 8, 2011 2013 Small Engine Repair Frank Lucille Lortel Theatre:October 30 – December 8, 2013 MCC Theater Publications

Pollono, John. Small Engine Repair. New York: Dramatists Play Service, 2014. . Pollono, John. Lost Girls. New York: Dramatists Play Service, 2016. .