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Anthony LaPaglia

Anthony LaPaglia has built a career around characters carrying more than they initially let on. Equally at home with crime, comedy and bruising drama, the Adelaide-born Australian actor brings a grounded, direct presence to roles that might otherwise tip into caricature. Born on January 31, 1959, LaPaglia began studying acting in Adelaide before leaving for Los Angeles. His earliest screen credit came in a 1985 episode of Amazing Stories, followed by his first feature, Cold Steel, in 1987. Early film work quickly established his range: he played Frank Pesce Jr. in 29th Street and appeared in Innocent Blood, So I Married an Axe Murderer, The Client and Empire Records. His first Australian production was The Custodian, opposite Hugo Weaving. LaPaglia has often been drawn to men operating under pressure. Spike Lee cast him as a New York police detective in Summer of Sam, while Lantana gave him a substantial place in Australian screen drama. In Balibo, he played real-life journalist Roger East in a political thriller about the killing of five Australian journalists in East Timor. His later Australian films included Mental, Holding the Man and A Month of Sundays, in which he played Frank, an unhappy real estate agent changed by an unexpected friendship. Television gave LaPaglia one of his longest-running roles as the central character in Without a Trace from 2002 to 2009; he also co-wrote the episode “Deep Water.” His comic turn as Simon, Daphne Moon’s brother in Frasier, earned him an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series. Later series included Bad Blood, Riviera, The Code, Sunshine, Rake and The Black Hand. His stage work is just as significant. LaPaglia received a Tony Award for playing Eddie Carbone in the Broadway production of Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge. In 2023, he made his Australian stage debut as Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman. Across those parts, and across several decades of film and television, his strength has remained consistent: making complicated men feel recognisably human.