Jan 31, 1959

Adelaide, Australia

A former school teacher in his native Australia, engaging character player
Anthony LaPaglia moved to NYC and began acting in the theater, his big
break coming Off-Broadway in "Bouncers", a play in which he demonstrated
his versatility and talent for accents while rendering eight different
characters. Guest work on series like "Amazing Stories" (NBC), "Magnum,
P.I." (CBS), "Hunter" (NBC) and "Trapper John, M.D." (CBS) preceded his
landing the title role of the TV biopic "Frank Nitti: The En... ... (read more...) forcer" (ABC,
1988), after which he made his feature debut in a small role in James
Ivory's "Slaves of New York" (1989). LaPaglia gained widespread attention
for his scene-stealing performance in Alan Alda's mild comedy "Betsy's
Wedding" (1990), playing the surprisingly courtly and charming nephew of a
Mafia boss.

Similar, and often all too standardized, roles followed as the industry's
"typing" of LaPaglia as characters "whose names end in a vowel or who
carry a gun" provided a steady diet of work. Although George Gallo's "29th
Street" (1991) did cast him as a NYC Italian-American, the richly seasoned
script offered him one of his better roles as the son of Danny Aiello, and
he portrayed Barry 'The Blade', a flashy organized crime underling in the
commercial courtroom suspense drama "The Client" (1994) with the express
purpose of catching the eye of independent filmmakers whose work he
prefers. The successful strategy led to his critically-acclaimed
angst-ridden hit man in "Bulletproof Heart" (1995) and a part in
indie-heavyweight Steve Buscemi's "Trees Lounge" (1997). LaPaglia
increased his profile further with his TV series debut on the ABC legal
drama "Murder One", joining the cast for the 1996-97 season as Jimmy
Wilder, a former district attorney turned defense counsel who was willing
to bend the law to his clients' needs. Despite offering a strong
performance, he shed few tears when its cancellation freed him from the
grind of series production.

LaPaglia has returned again and again to indulge himself with fine
portrayals on the NYC stage. 1993 saw him Off-Broadway as the co-star of a
Steve Tesich play, "On the Open Road". He received raves for his
performance opposite Mercedes Ruehl in the 1995 Broadway revival of
Tennessee Williams' "The Rose Tattoo" and he was back on the Great White
Way as Eddie Carbone in a revival of Arthur Miller's "A View From the
Bridge" (1998), for which he picked up a Tony Award. Among his many TV
appearances, LaPaglia garnered a CableACE Award nomination for his work in
the HBO movie "Criminal Justice" (1990) and played college basketball
coach Jim Valvano in the CBS biopic "Never Give Up: The Jimmy V Story"
(1996). LaPaglia has also acted in two Australian features with his
significant other and fellow Aussie Gia Carides, "Paperback Romance"
(1994) and "Brilliant Lies" (1996).

La Paglia appeared in several high profile movies over the next five
years, including "Summer of Sam" and "Sweet and Lowdown," both in 1999 and
"The House of Mirth" and "Lantana," for which he received rave reviews and
a wealth of awards and nominations, in 2001. He also has a brief but
memorable recurring stint on the popular sit-com "Frasier" as Daphne's
boorish brother Simon Moon, a role that earned him and Emmy for
Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series in 2002. That same year he also
appeared in "The Salton Sea" and starred with Keifer Sutherland in the
action movie "Dead Heat." After years of solid performances and the
respect of his professional peers, LaPaglia finally achieved mainstream
recognition when he took on the lead role of FBI Missing Persons
investigator Jack Malone in the popular television crime drama "Without a
Trace" (CBS, 2002 - ), for which he won a Golden Globe for Best
Performance by an Actor in a Television Series Drama in 2004. He also
starred alongside Sigourney Weaver in "The Guys" (2003), a film inspired
by the heroism of New York City firefighters during the 2001 attacks on
the World Trade Center. After playing a once promising writer hiding in
the shadows of his famous author father in the low-budget indie, “Happy
Hour” (2003), LaPaglia gave a strong performance as a New Jersey widower
trying to get on with life with his two teenage sons (Aaron Stanford &
Mark Webber) in the well-reviewed ensemble drama, “Winter Solstice”
(2005).