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John Mahoney

John Mahoney has captivated film, television and stage audiences equally through his brilliant performances since he began his acting career. Since 1979, he has been a member of Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company and has appeared in nearly 30 plays there, including the recent productions of The Dresser and I Never Sang for My Father. He appeared in The Drawer Boy at Steppenwolf, a role he reprised at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin. He starred in Long Day's Journey Into Night with Chicago's Irish Repertory Theatre, both in Chicago and in Galway, Ireland, and in The Weir in Los Angeles. David Mamet cast him in the world premiere of The Water Engine at the St. Nicholas Theatre (a role he later re-created for TNT's televised version of the play). His other stage work includes starring roles in the off-Broadway revival of The Subject Was Roses, Uncle Vanya at Chicago's Goodman Theatre as well as Death and the Maiden and Wrong Turn at Lungfish and The Man Who Came to Dinner (directed by James Burrows) at the Steppenwolf Theatre. In addition, the entire Chicago cast of The Man Who Came to Dinner reprised their work in England, at London's Barbican Centre. He recently starred in Romance at London's Almeida Theatre and in a revival of Prelude to a Kiss on Broadway.

Mahoney's work in the theater has won him a Tony Award, a Clarence Derwent Award and a Drama Desk nomination for his portrayal of Artie Shaughnessy in the Broadway production of House of Blue Leaves. He was also honored with a Theatre World Award and a second Drama Desk nomination for his performance as Harold in the off-Broadway production of Orphans and is the most recent recipient of the Sarah Siddons Award. Mahoney has been nominated five times for Chicago's coveted Joseph Jefferson Awards, four times for Best Actor for his roles in The Hothouse, Taking Steps, After the Fall, and I Never Sang for My Father, and once for Best Supporting Actor in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman.

He was twice nominated for Emmy and Golden Globe awards for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his work as Martin Crane on the hit television series Frasier-a role he played for the eleven years that series was a mainstay of the NBC lineup. Mahoney has also appeared in numerous telefilms such as The 10 Million Dollar Getaway for the USA Network, TNT's Dinner at Eight, HBO's The Image, the NBC miniseries Favorite Son, as well as roles in Will, Listen to Your Heart, The Killing Floor, Through Naked Eyes, First Step and Dance of the Phoenix. His television series include H.E.L.P., Lady Blue and The Human Factor. He also starred in the BBC productions of Two Lumps of Ice and Buying a Landslide.

Mahoney's film work first came to the attention of critics in 1986 when he was widely praised for his performance as Richard Dreyfuss' aluminum-siding sales partner in Barry Levinson's Tin Men. He has continued to work with some of the most illustrious directors in film. Following his appearance as the drink-splashed college professor in Norman Jewison's Moonstruck, he went directly into Peter Yates' Suspect. Other screen credits include Ben Stiller's Generation X anthem Reality Bites, Rob Reiner's The American President, two films with the Coen brothers-The Hudsucker Proxy and Barton Fink, The Russia House directed by Fred Schepisi, Roman Polanski's Frantic, Costa-Gavras' Betrayed, Eight Men Out directed by John Sayles, Cameron Crowe's Say Anything, Marshall Brickman's The Manhattan Project, Streets of Gold directed by Joe Roth, Howard Deutch's Article 99, Wolfgang Peterson's In the Line of Fire with Clint Eastwood, Gregory Hoblit's Primal Fear, Ed Burns' She's the One and The Broken Hearts Club for Greg Berlanti.

John's recent films include Terry Green's Almost Salinas, with Lindsay Crouse and Virginia Madsen, and Fathers and Sons, directed by Rodrigo Garcia. His voice has been heard in such popular animated films as Antz, Iron Giant and Atlantis: The Lost Empire.


Note: This profile was written in or before 2007.
Read earlier biographies on this page.

John Mahoney Facts

OccupationActor
BirthdayJune 20, 1940 (83)
SignGemini
BirthplaceBlackpool, England, United Kingdom

Selected Filmography

Primal Fear
The Kingdom
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Dan in Real Life
Legally Blonde
Moonstruck
Odd Brodsky
The Iron Giant: Signature Edition
Frasier: The Complete Series
The American President
Continue » Find more details on the John Mahoney Movies page