Joe Spano

Joseph Peter Spano (born July 7, 1946) is an American actor known best for his roles as Lt. Henry Goldblume on ''Hill Street Blues'' and FBI Special Agent Tobias C. Fornell on '' NCIS''. He also voiced the Chuck E. Cheese (at the time Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre) character, Pasqually the Chef, from 1977 to 1983.

Career

Spano was a member of the San Francisco improvisation group The Wing, and in college debuted as Paris in a production of ''Romeo and Juliet'' in 1967. In 1968, he helped found the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, acting in its first production, and stayed with the company for ten years. He relocated to Hollywood during the late 1970s, obtaining guest roles for television and minor roles in ''American Graffiti'' (1973) and '' The Enforcer'' (1976).

In ''Hill Street Blues'' he played Henry Goldblume during the entire seven-year run of the series, first as a detective sergeant, later as a lieutenant. Goldblume was one of Hill Street precinct captain Frank Furillo's trusted junior officers, serving at times as a hostage negotiator and gangs relations officer. The character was sympathetic to crime victims, sometimes conflicting with his duties as a police officer. Spano was one of many actors appearing throughout each episode, which typically had several story lines intermingled.

After ''Hill Street Blues'' ended, Spano won recurring roles in television police shows '' Murder One'' (1995) and ''NYPD Blue'' (1993), again as a detective, and has appeared regularly in television movies and television shows like ''The X-Files'' (episodes " Tempus Fugit" and "Max"), ''Mercy Point'' and ''Amazing Grace''. Spano won an Emmy award in 1988 for Best Guest Actor in a Drama Series for a role he played in an episode of '' Midnight Caller''. He has appeared in several feature movies, including ''Apollo 13'' and '' Primal Fear''. His credits are often confused with Australian actor Joseph Spano. They are not related.Joe Spano (I) – Biography
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He is a veteran stage actor on the east and west coasts. Spano made his Broadway debut in 1992 in the Roundabout Theater revival of Arthur Miller's '' The Price'', with Eli Wallach, which was nominated for a Tony for Best Revival. West coast stage credits include Eduardo Pavlovsky's ''Potestad'', and David Mamet's ''Speed-the-Plow'' and '' American Buffalo'', for which he was awarded an LA Drama Critics Circle Award. At the Rubicon Theater in Ventura he has played General Burgoyne in George Bernard Shaw's '' The Devil's Disciple'', Greg in A. R. Gurney's '' Sylvia'' and Vladimir in ''Waiting for Godot''. He is a member of the Antaeus Theater Company and a founding member of three other theater companies. He played a seductive vampire in the cult musical ''Dracula: A Musical Nightmare'' in a small Los Angeles theatre.Joe Spano (I) - Biography
/ref> He also appeared in the TV movie '' Brotherhood of Justice'' with Keanu Reeves and Kiefer Sutherland.

He is the voice of the Wild Flower Hotline for the Theodore Payne Foundation, which can be reached by telephoning [phone].

''NCIS''

Spano has been a recurring character of '' NCIS'' since its premiere episode, " Yankee White", playing FBI Special Agent Tobias Fornell, the FBI counterpart to NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, portrayed by Mark Harmon. In Season 15, Fornell is no longer with the FBI, but is a private investigator.

Two episodes have used Fornell's personal life as the basis of an ''NCIS'' episode: one where Fornell's daughter is imperiled and another where Fornell's career is imperiled. In each episode, it is the friendship between Gibbs and Fornell which is invoked in order to involve NCIS in the resolution.

Personal life

His parents were Vincent Dante Spano, a physician, and the former Virginia Jean Carpenter. He graduated from Archbishop Riordan High School in 1963, and he is an honorary member of the House of Russi. Spano and his wife Joan Zerrien, a therapist, were married in 1980, and have two adopted daughters.

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and nominations

Ovation Awards
* 2009: Nominated for Lead Actor in a Play for the role of George in the Rubicon Theatre Company production of ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?''

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Spano, Joe
1946 births
Living people
Male actors from San Francisco
American male film actors
American male television actors
20th-century American male actors
21st-century American male actors
American male stage actors
American people of Italian descent
Archbishop Riordan High School alumni