Anthony Lucidonio Jr. (born March 12, 1962) better known as Tony Luke Jr. is an American restaurateur, musician, songwriter actor, and media host who founded the cheesesteak franchise Tony Luke's.

Career

Luke married at age 18 after high school. He went to work with his father, Tony Lucidonio in food trucks and other odd jobs to support his growing family. In the early 1990s Luke, his brother, Nicky, and their father bought a property near the expressway in South Philadelphia. To compete with other local businesses, the original Tony Luke's stand offered a more diversified menu, offering

hoagie A submarine sandwich, commonly known as a sub, is a type of American cold or hot sandwich made from a submarine roll (an elongated bread roll) that is split lengthwise and filled with meats, cheeses, vegetables, and condiments. Although "subma ...

s and other fare, along with cheesesteaks. Luke Jr. soon took over the store's marketing. Eventually, the business grew to include several locations in the Philadelphia area and a line of frozen sandwiches. Through a partnership with Rastelli Foods Group, the business now has several franchised locations in

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

. Luke's restaurant franchise, Tony Luke's, has expanded from its original

South Philadelphia South Philadelphia, nicknamed South Philly, is the section of Philadelphia bounded by South Street to the north, the Delaware River to the east and south, and the Schuylkill River to the west."." ''City of Philadelphia''. Retrieved November 8, ...

location to

Citizens Bank Park Citizens Bank Park is a baseball stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the city's South Philadelphia Sports Complex. Home to Major League Baseball's Philadelphia Phillies, the stadium opened April 3, 2004. It is named after Citizens Financi ...

Atlantic City Atlantic City, sometimes referred to by its initials A.C., is a Jersey Shore seaside resort city in Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Atlantic City comprises the second half of the Atlantic City- Hammonton metropolitan sta ...

, The Wildwoods, and the Kingdom of

. Luke's frozen line "Tony Luke's Pronto" is available nationally. Luke and his restaurants have earned numerous awards and recognition from both local and national publications, as well being featured in episodes of '' Throwdown! with Bobby Flay'', '' Dinner: Impossible'', '' Man v. Food'' and '' Food Wars''. Luke opened a location in

in 2010 and plans on opening 60 more in the Middle East and North Africa.

Sports broadcasting

He was the host of "Tony Luke's Eaglemania" which aired Saturday nights on Philadelphia's ABC affiliate

WPVI-TV WPVI-TV (channel 6) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Owned and operated by the ABC television network through its ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station maintains studios on City Avenue in t ...

for a portion of the

Eagles Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...

' 2010 season.

Personal life

Luke was born in

. He attended Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts. Using

methamphetamine Methamphetamine (contracted from ) is a potent central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is mainly used as a recreational drug use, recreational or Performance-enhancing substance, performance-enhancing drug and less commonly as a secon ...

and other drugs as a teenager, he now uses that experience and the fighting and hustling of his youth to tell kids that difficulties can be overcome. He was a state kickboxing champion in 1982–83. In 2011, after 31 years of marriage, Luke and his wife divorced. He has three sons, who all have worked for him. In 2017, Luke's eldest son, Anthony James Lucidonio III, died in his home from an accidental

opioid Opioids are a class of Drug, drugs that derive from, or mimic, natural substances found in the Papaver somniferum, opium poppy plant. Opioids work on opioid receptors in the brain and other organs to produce a variety of morphine-like effects, ...

overdose at the age of 35.

Filmography

Acting

*'' The Jamie Kennedy Experiment'' (2003) as Anthony Martinelli *''

Hack Hack may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Games * Hack (Unix video game), ''Hack'' (Unix video game), a 1984 roguelike video game * .hack (video game series), ''.hack'' (video game series), a series of video games by the multimedia fran ...

'' (2003) – episode "Dial 'O' for Murder" as vendor *''Mafioso: The Father, the Son'' (2004) as Paulie Hammer *'' 10th & Wolf'' (2006) as Rocco *'' Invincible'' (2006) as cape-clad fan *''

Sight Visual perception is the ability to detect light and use it to form an image of the surrounding Biophysical environment, environment. Photodetection without image formation is classified as ''light sensing''. In most vertebrates, visual percept ...

'' (2008) as Paul *'' The Nail: The Story of Joey Nardone'' (2009) as Joey Nardone *'' The Mighty Macs'' (2010) as Salvatore Galentino

As self

*''Tony Luke's Eaglemania'' (2010) *''Frankenfood'' (SpikeTV) (2014) Co-host and judge *''Food Mashups With Tony Luke Jr.'' (2015) web series, host

As producer

*'' The Nail: The Story of Joey Nardone'' (2009)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Luke, Tony Jr. Living people 1962 births American male screenwriters Male actors from Philadelphia Screenwriters from Pennsylvania Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts alumni