Tony Shalhoub Biography

TONY SHALHOUB

Date of Birth: October 9, 1953

Born in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Shalhoub attended college in Maine and studied theater at the Yale School of Drama. He then spent four seasons with the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge performing in such plays as Three Sisters, Rundown, The School for Scandal, Measure for Measure, Waiting for Godot and Rameau's Nephew. On Broadway, he appeared in the Tony Award-winning Conversations With My Father, and the Pulitzer Prize-winner, The Heidi Chronicles.

After spending a decade working on stage in New York, he decided to give Hollywood a try. Starting with the small screen, he made appearances on such series as The Equalizer, Spenser: For Hire, Dinosaurs, The X-Files and Gargoyles, voicing The Emir. In 1990 he landed a guest appearance as a bumbling Italian waiter/cab driver on the series Wings. His character, Antonio Scarpacci, got such a positive response from viewers that the producers made Shalhoub a regular.

Coincidentally, Shalhoub made his feature film debut playing a cab driver in the film Quick Change (1990). In the next few years, he had strong performances in such films as Barton Fink (1991), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Addams Family Values (1993), Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993) and I.Q. (1994).

In 1996 he took the lead role in the film, Big Night, and won kudos from various awards for his performance of an Italian cook. After his memorable scene in Men in Black (1997) when his head is blown off, only to grow back again, he had little trouble filling his resumé with major motion pictures such as A Life Less Ordinary (1997), Paulie (1998), Galaxy Quest (2000), Spy Kids (2001), back to Men in Black for a sequel in 2002, Against the Ropes (2004) and How Do You Know (2010). He also provided the voice of Luigi in Cars (2006) and Cars 2 (2011).

He has appeared in Pain & Gain (2013) alongside Mark Wahlberg, lent his voice to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014), acted in eight episodes of the Golden Globe-nominated series Nurse Jackie (2015), reprised his role as Splinter in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016), worked with Michelle Rodriguez and Sigourney Weaver in the action thriller The Assignment (2017), and once again voiced Luigi in the animated flick Cars 3 (2017).

More recently, he played Diego Giacometti alongside Geoffrey Rush in the biopic Final Portrait (2018), directed by Stanley Tucci.

On TV he's received Emmy nominations every year from 2003 to 2010 for his starring role as Adrian Monk in the USA Cable series Monk, winning in 2003, 2005 and 2006. He also won a Golden Globe in 2003 for the role in was nominated six subsequent times.

Shalhoub has been married to actress Brooke Adams since 1992. They have two daughters, Josie and Sophie.

Filmography:

Final Portrait (2018)
Cars 3 (2017)
The Assignment (2017)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016)
Custody (2016)
Guns for Hire (2015)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)
Pain & Gain (2013)
Men in Black 3 (2012)
Cars 2 (2011)
How Do You Know (2010)
Feed the Fish (2009)
AmericanEast (2008)
1408 (2007)
Careless (2007)
Cars (2006)
The Last Shot (2004)
Against the Ropes (2004)
Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over (2003)
Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams (2002)
Men in Black II (2002)
Life or Something Like It (2002)
Made-Up (2002)
Impostor (2001)
Thir13en Ghosts (2001)
The Man Who Wasn't There (2001)
Spy Kids (2001)
Galaxy Quest (1999)
The Tic Code (1999)
A Civil Action (1998)
The Siege (1998)
The Impostors (1998)
Paulie (1998)
Primary Colors (1998)
A Life Less Ordinary (1997)
Gattaca (1997)
Men in Black (1997)
Big Night (1996)
I.Q. (1994)
Addams Family Values (1993)
Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993)
Honeymoon in Vegas (1992)
Barton Fink (1991)
Quick Change (1990)
Longtime Companion (1989)
Heartburn (1986)