Joe Grifasi
Acting
- Born:
- 1944-06-14
- Place of birth:
- Buffalo - New York - USA
Biography
Joseph G. "Joe" Grifasi (born June 14, 1944) is an American character actor of film, stage and television. Born in Buffalo, New York, Grifasi joined the U.S. Army prior to studying acting. He has appeared in more than 50 feature films including Presumed Innocent, The Deer Hunter, Big Business, Beaches, Auto Focus, Matewan, Naked Gun, Dark Matter, Natural Born Killers, Chances Are, Changing Lanes, One Fine Day, F/X, Benny & Joon, The Pope of Greenwich Village, Brewster’s Millions, Batman Forever, The Flamingo Kid, Ironweed, and Splash. His television credits include The Bronx is Burning (as Yogi Berra), 61* (as Phil Rizzuto), Law & Order, ER, LA Law, Chicago Hope, Hill Street Blues, SCTV, Roseanne, and The Practice. Grifasi’s Broadway credits include Dinner at Eight, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, A Memory of Two Mondays, Boy Meets Girl, The Accidental Death of an Anarchist, The 1940’s Radio Hour and Happy End. His off-Broadway credits include Conversations in Tusculum, The Boys Next Door (Drama Desk Nomination), Once Around the City, Golden Boy, Filumena and Says I, Says He. He has been married to jazz soprano saxophonist and composer Jane Ira Bloom, whom he met while studying at the Yale School of Drama, since 1974.
Known For
Filmography
Tornado
Endgame
The Dreams of Rene Sendam
Me To Play
Radium Girls
I Know This Much Is True
Evil
New Amsterdam
Lodge 49
The Good Fight
No Pay, Nudity
Baked in Brooklyn
Bull
The American Side
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Elementary
The Front
The Last New Yorker
The Good Wife
Canterbury's Law
The Bronx Is Burning
A Crime
Lewis Black: Red, White & Screwed
Conviction
Slow Burn
A Jersey Tale
13 Going on 30
Tarzan
Hope & Faith
Auto Focus
Changing Lanes
Queenie in Love
61*
Some of My Best Friends
Looking for an Echo
Deadline
The Other Me
The Beat
Switching Goals
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
The Out-of-Towners
The Naked Man
The Deal
Sunday
The Practice
One Fine Day
Shadow of a Doubt
Early Edition
Undue Influence
Remember WENN
Heavy
Money Train
Two Bits
Batman Forever
Jack Reed: A Search for Justice
ER
Chicago Hope
Natural Born Killers
Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult
The Hudsucker Proxy
Household Saints
Moon Over Miami
Taking the Heat
Benny & Joon
Class of '96
Sinatra
Citizen Cohn
Primary Motive
City of Hope
WIOU
Law & Order
Presumed Innocent
Capital News
Kojak: Ariana
Perfect Witness
The Feud
Chances Are
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
Roseanne
The Appointments of Dennis Jennings
Big Business
Ironweed
Moonstruck
Matewan
One Police Plaza
L.A. Law
Matlock
F/X
Bad Medicine
The Equalizer
Brewster's Millions
Moonlighting
The Flamingo Kid
The Pope of Greenwich Village
Splash
Will There Really Be a Morning?
Still of the Night
American Playhouse
The Elephant Man
The 6th Annual Young Comedians
Honky Tonk Freeway
The Gentleman Bandit
Hill Street Blues
Hide in Plain Sight
Something Short of Paradise
The Deer Hunter
On the Yard
Secret Service
Great Performances