- Born December 27, 1962 in Rockford, Illinois, US as Joseph Mantello, he is an American actor, director, and producer, best known for his work in Broadway theatre. His mother Judy was of half Italian descent and his father Richard Mantello, an accountant, was of Italian descent. He graduated the North Carolina School of the Arts and in 1984 moved to New York City. His first acting roles were in the plays "Walking the Dead" and "The Baltimore Waltz" and in 1993 he played Louis in the original Broadway production of Tony Kushner's "Angels in America". The production won both Tony and Drama Desk awards, and Mantello himself was nominated for both as well. He later switched from acting to directing, winning the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play in 2003 for Richard Greenberg's "Take Me Out" and the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical a year later for Stephen Sondheim's "Assassins". He directs a wide variety of shows on Broadway, his directing credits include the hit musical "Wicked" and the play "The Boys in the Band", which was later made into the movie The Boys in the Band (2020). He also returns to acting from time to time, both on Broadway (as Ned in Larry Kramer's "The Normal Heart" and as Tom in Tennessee Williams's "The Glass Menagerie") and in television (in a smaller role of Mickey in The Normal Heart (2014) and as Dick Samuels in Hollywood (2020), both directed by Mantello's friend Ryan Murphy). In 2018 he was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame. He lives in New York City with his partner Paul Marlow.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Evil_Herbivore
- ParentsJudy MantelloRichard Mantello
- Has twice won Broadway's Tony Award: in 2003 as Best Director (Play) for "Take Me Out." and in 2004 as Best Director (Musical) for a revival of "Assassins." He has also received two other Tony nominations: in 1993, as Best Actor (Featured Role - Play) for "Angels in America: Millennium Approaches," and in 1995, as Best Director (Play) for "Love! Valour! Compassion!".
- He was nominated for a 2005 Joseph Jefferson Award for Director of a Musical for "Wicked", at the Broadway in Chicago-Wicked Chicago Theatre in Chicago, Illinois.
- His father is of Italian descent. His mother is of half Italian ancestry.
- Kathleen Chalfant, K. Todd Freeman, Jeffrey King, Ron Leibman, Cynthia Mace, Ellen McLaughlin, Stephen Spinella and he were awarded the 1992 Drama Logue Award for Ensemble Performance for "Angels in America" Part One "Millennium Approaches" and Part Two: "Perestroika" in a Gordon Davidson/Mark Taper Forum production at the Mark Taper Forum Theatre in Los Angeles, California.
- He and Stephen Spinella were awarded the 1993 New York Drama Desk Award for (tied) Best Featured Actor in a Play for "Angels in America Part One Millennium Approaches," on Broadway in New York City.
- For some reason, I was deeply ashamed of the theater early on. I think it had to do with this growing sense I was gay, although I couldn't have put a word to it back then. Where I grew up, boys played sports. When [my teacher] Mrs. Windsor wrote in my yearbook, 'Have you ever considered a career in the theater?' it was literally like she wrote the word 'faggot.'
- [re one of his Broadway musical failures] One of my favorite experiences was "9 to 5," for one reason: Dolly Parton. I learned what it means to really work hard and do it with a sense of humor about yourself. Every day was joyful. We did two or three workshops, and at each point, the room went crazy. There were investors throwing money at it, and you think, This is going to be a huge hit. But that has no bearing on anything. How you experience it is not how the audience experiences it.
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