Mario Cantone (born December 9, 1959) is an American comedian, writer, actor, and singer with numerous appearances on

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programmin ...

including ''

Chappelle's Show ''Chappelle's Show'' is an American sketch comedy television series created by comedians Dave Chappelle and Neal Brennan, with Chappelle hosting the show and starring in the majority of its sketches. Chappelle, Brennan, and Michele Armour were ...

''. He also played Anthony Marentino in ''

Sex and the City ''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO. An adaptation of Candace Bushnell's newspaper column and 1996 book anthology of the same name, the series premiered in the United Stat ...

'' and Terri in ''

Men In Trees ''Men in Trees'' is an American romantic comedy-drama television series starring Anne Heche as relationship coach Marin Frist, which premiered on September 12, 2006, on ABC. The series is set in the fictional town of Elmo, Alaska, and concerns M ...

'' (2006-2008). His style is fast-paced and energetic, with much of his humor coming from his impersonations of characters ranging from family members to celebrities to stereotypes.

Early life

Cantone was born in Massachusetts, and raised in Stoneham, where his Italian-American family moved when he was two. He was the fourth of five children of Mario Sr., a Boston restaurant owner, and his wife, Elizabeth (née Pescione). His father moved the family to Stoneham, according to Cantone in a 2004 ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' interview to get her away from her bookie relatives. Cantone stated that the problem "was that she was not only a bookie but she was also a compulsive gambler."Messenger, Eric (October 10, 2004)
Mario Cantone's Loud Family Reunion
" ''The New York Times. ''Retrieved August 3, 2013. His mother, who had been a big band singer in her youth, died when he was 21. As a child, Cantone would direct reenactments of shows. Cantone's first impression was of Julia Child, which he presented in a junior high school talent show.Gerani, Christine, (May 22, 2013)
Mario Cantone: The Interview
SpotOnLongIsland.com. Retrieved August 7, 2013. He graduated from Stoneham High School in 1978TCM Archive Material
Mario Catone
/ref> and Emerson College in 1982.Emerson Colleg
Notable Alumni
He moved to New York City in 1983 and got a job as a chocolate vendor at

Trump Tower Trump Tower is a 58-story, mixed-use skyscraper at 721–725 Fifth Avenue in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, between East 56th and 57th Streets. The building contains the headquarters for the Trump Organization, as well ...

Early career

While working at Trump Tower, he did impressions of people while selling chocolate truffles. He later worked as a jewelry salesman, quitting a year later to pursue comedy full time. He began his professional career hosting a children's show called '' Steampipe Alley'', which aired on New York-

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

superstation

WWOR-TV WWOR-TV (channel 9) is a television station licensed to Secaucus, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York City area as the flagship of MyNetworkTV. It is owned and operated by Fox Television Stations alongside Fox flagship WNYW ...

from 1987 to 1993.

Stand-up career

In his stand-up concerts, he is known for his occasionally campy impressions of entertainment personalities such as Liza Minnelli,

Judy Garland Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. While critically acclaimed for many different roles throughout her career, she is widely known for playing the part of Dorothy Gale in '' The ...

, Bruce Springsteen,

Jim Morrison James Douglas Morrison (December 8, 1943 – July 3, 1971) was an American singer, poet and songwriter who was the lead vocalist of the rock band the Doors. Due to his wild personality, poetic lyrics, distinctive voice, unpredictable and err ...

, and

Bette Davis Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress with a career spanning more than 50 years and 100 acting credits. She was noted for playing unsympathetic, sardonic characters, and was famous for her pe ...

as well as for his original songs. Much of his comedy derives from his boisterous

Italian-American Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, ...

family. Cantone, who is gay, has said that he considers himself an actor and comedian who happens to be gay rather than a gay comic relying on gay jokes.Eichenwald, Wes (June 2, 2010
"Mario Cantone is out and proud – and much more
Austin360.com. Retrieved August 7, 2013. "Talking about being gay is a very small part of my show and when I first started I wasn't out on stage but I was out off stage, I certainly didn't lie about it on stage but if you didn't know you were an idiot and you lived in a cave after seeing me…really??"

Acting career

''Sex and the City''

Cantone is known for his role in the HBO series ''

'' as Anthony Marentino, Charlotte York's gay wedding planner who dispensed advice with a rapid fire delivery.

Broadway

Cantone made his

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

debut in 1995, replacing

Nathan Lane Nathan Lane (born Joseph Lane; February 3, 1956) is an American actor. In a career spanning over 40 years he has been seen on stage and screen in roles both comedic and dramatic. Lane has received numerous awards including three Tony Awards, ...

in the role of Buzz in

Terrence McNally Terrence McNally (November 3, 1938 – March 24, 2020) was an American playwright, librettist, and screenwriter. Described as "the bard of American theater" and "one of the greatest contemporary playwrights the theater world has yet produced," ...

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...

–winning play, ''

Love! Valour! Compassion! ''Love! Valour! Compassion!'' is a play by Terrence McNally. The play opened Off-Broadway in 1994 and transferred to Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in pr ...

''Playbill Vault
Mario Cantone
Retrieved August 4, 2013. Later that year, he appeared in the revival of '' The Tempest'' with

Patrick Stewart Sir Patrick Stewart (born 13 July 1940) is an English actor who has a career spanning seven decades in various stage productions, television, film and video games. He has been nominated for Olivier, Tony, Golden Globe, Emmy, and Screen Actors ...

. Several years later, Cantone did a workshop for ''

The Lion King ''The Lion King'' is a 1994 American animated musical drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 32nd Disney animated feature film and the fifth produced during the Disney Renaissance ...

'' as

Timon Timon is a masculine given name and a surname which may refer to: People * Timon of Athens (person), 5th-century Athenian and legendary misanthrope * Timon of Phlius (c. 320 BCE – c. 235 BCE), a Pyrrhonist philosopher of Ptolemaic Egypt and He ...

but was not comfortable with the makeup or manipulating a puppet and eventually left the project. In 2002, he created and wrote his own one-man show for Broadway, ''An Evening With Mario Cantone''. A year later, Cantone starred as Gidger in

Richard Greenberg Richard Greenberg (born February 22, 1958) is an American playwright and television writer known for his subversively humorous depictions of middle-class American life. He has had more than 25 plays premiere on and Off-Broadway in New York City ...

's ''

The Violet Hour ''The Violet Hour'' is a play by Richard Greenberg which premiered at the South Coast Repertory in 2002 and ran on Broadway in 2003. Synopsis The play takes place in New York in 1919. A young publisher named John Pace Seavering has enough mo ...

'' in a part written specifically for him.Ernio Hernandez (November 11, 2003
Interview with Mario Cantone
. Playbill. Retrieved August 4, 2013. ''The Violet Hour ''received mixed reviews and closed after 54 performances. In 2004, Cantone appeared as Samuel Byck in Stephen Sondheim's musical '' Assassins. '''' ''Originally slated for the 2001 Broadway season, ''Assassins'' was postponed because of the

September 11, 2001 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...

attacks.'' '' In 2001, Cantone had turned down the role of Carmen Ghia in

Mel Brooks Mel Brooks (born Melvin James Kaminsky; June 28, 1926) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. With a career spanning over seven decades, he is known as a writer and director of a variety of successful broad farces and parodies. He began ...

's '' The Producers''. His other Broadway credits include his second one-man show, ''Laugh Whore, ''which ran'' ''from October 24, 2004, to January 2, 2005, at the

Cort Theatre The James Earl Jones Theatre, originally the Cort Theatre, is a Broadway theater at 138 West 48th Street, between Seventh Avenue and Sixth Avenue, in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States. It was built in ...

. ''Laugh Whore'' received a

nomination for Best Special Theatrical Event and an

Outer Critics Circle The Outer Critics Circle Awards are presented annually for theatrical achievements both on Broadway and Off-Broadway. They are presented by the Outer Critics Circle (OCC), the official organization of New York theater writers for out-of-town newspa ...

award nomination for Outstanding Solo Performance.Playbill Vault
''Laugh Whore''
. Retrieved August 4, 2013. Showtime taped the December 11, 2004 performance, which premiered on May 28, 2005. It was the network's first Broadway production to air as a comedy special.Levin, Gary and Bianco, Robert, (July 21, 2004)
Alley throws her weight behind series.
USA Today. Retrieved August 7, 2013. In September 2010, Cantone appeared in a staged reading of the Charles Messina play ''A Room of My Own'' at The Theatre at 45 Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village. As of November 2012, the play was still in development with Cantone in the cast. The Off-Broadway production is expected to begin previews in February 2016.

Other works

He started his career as the host of children’s show, “ Steampipe Alley,” which aired in the late 80’s through 1993. He has appeared in the

roasts of

Joan Rivers Joan Alexandra Molinsky (June 8, 1933 – September 4, 2014), known professionally as Joan Rivers, was an American comedian, actress, producer, writer and television host. She was noted for her blunt, often controversial comedic persona—heavi ...

and fellow Boston-area native and Emerson College alumnus

Denis Leary Denis Colin Leary (born August 18, 1957) is an American actor and comedian. A native of Massachusetts, Leary first came to prominence as a stand-up comedian, especially through appearances on MTV (including the comedic song "Asshole") and throu ...

. The network's ''

'' featured him in a segment called "Ask A Gay Dude." His

voice-over Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique where a voice—that is not part of the narrative (non- diegetic)—is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentation ...

work includes

Sunsilk Sunsilk is a British hair care brand produced by the company Unilever. The brand was introduced in 1954 in the UK and available in most countries globally. It is a hair care brand in Southeast Asia (Malaysia, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, an ...

"hairapy"

advertisements Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

. and the voice of talent scout Mikey Abromowitz in the 2007 computer animated movie '' Surf's Up.'' He has appeared frequently on the

Opie and Anthony ''Opie and Anthony'' was an American radio show hosted by Gregg "Opie" Hughes and Anthony Cumia that aired from March 1995 to July 2014, with comedian Jim Norton serving as third mic from 2001. The show originated in 1994 when Cumia took part in ...

radio show. He was a regular guest on the ABC daytime talk show '' The View'' since at least 2003 and became a guest co-host in 2005. In August 2013, he was in the news as a rumored replacement for retiring co-host Joy Behar and since 2014 has been co-hosting more frequently. Cantone was among the judges of the Miss America 2014 pageant. He has appeared several times on '' The $100,000 Pyramid'' and ''

Match Game ''Match Game'' is an American television panel game show that premiered on NBC in 1962 and has been revived several times over the course of the last six decades. The game features contestants trying to match answers given by celebrity panelis ...

'' as a celebrity guest star. In 2022, Cantone competed in season eight of '' The Masked Singer'' as "Maize". He was eliminated on "Andrew Lloyd Webber Night" alongside Gloria Gaynor as "Mermaid".

Personal life

In October 2011, Cantone married his partner of 20 years, musical theater director Jerry Dixon. The ceremony was officiated by pastor Jay Bakker.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cantone, Mario 1959 births Living people Male actors from Boston American male film actors American people of Italian descent American stand-up comedians American male television actors Emerson College alumni American gay actors Gay comedians LGBT people from Massachusetts 20th-century LGBT people 21st-century LGBT people 20th-century American comedians 21st-century American comedians American LGBT comedians