Calogero Lorenzo Palminteri was born on May 15, 1952, in The Bronx, New York. He is the son of Rose, a homemaker, and Lorenzo Palminteri, a bus driver.[2] He was raised in the Belmont neighborhood of the Bronx.[3] Palminteri is of Sicilian origin; his grandparents, Calogero Palminteri and Rosa Bonfante, married in 1908, and emigrated to live in the United States in 1910 from Menfi in the province of Agrigento, Sicily. At the age of nine, Palminteri allegedly witnessed the murder of a mobster in front of his apartment building; the police questioned him, but he maintained that he did not see the incident. He graduated from Theodor Roosevelt high school in the Bronx in 1965[4]
He struggled to become an actor, splitting his time between acting in off-Broadway plays and moonlighting as a bouncer, alongside Dolph Lundgren.[5] In 1988, Palminteri was working at a New York nightclub where a party was being thrown for Hollywood talent agent and dealmaker Irving Paul "Swifty" Lazar. When Lazar tried to enter, Palminteri stopped him as he did not know who he was. Lazar got him fired which led to the broke (and unemployed) Palminteri writing A Bronx Tale for himself to star in since he was not being offered any work.[6]
Career
Theater
Palminteri starred on Broadway in A Bronx Tale, the autobiographical one-man show based on his childhood that he first performed at Theatre West in Los Angeles in 1989.[7] Palminteri states that he began writing the play after being fired for refusing entry to super agentSwifty.[8][9] The Broadway production, directed by Jerry Zaks and with music by John Gromada, began previews October 4, 1988, at the Walter Kerr Theatre and opened on October 25, running for 18 weeks. Palminteri plays 18 roles in A Bronx Tale, which depicts a rough childhood on the streets of the Bronx. The play ran for two months at Playhouse 91 in 1989.[10]
Palminteri starred opposite Kenny D'Aquila in D'Aquila's play, Unorganized Crime.[11][12] Palminteri always appreciated the shot that Robert De Niro gave him, so he in turn agreed to star in D'Aquila's mafia-themed drama.[13]
Palminteri performed in the Broadway musical version of A Bronx Tale in 2018.
Film career
Robert De Niro saw Palminteri's Broadway show of A Bronx Tale in 1990, and the two partnered together to adapt the play into a film. Palminteri created the screenplay and starred as Sonny, the gangster Calogero meets, while De Niro directed the film, making his directorial debut, and co-starring as Lorenzo, Calogero's father.[14] The film was a commercial and critical success.[15] In 1994, Palminteri played mob henchman Cheech in the black comedy film Bullets Over Broadway, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
During its run, he appeared in many advertisements for Vanilla Coke, in which he portrayed a mob boss who would threaten celebrities if they did not praise the taste of the product in question, and then let them walk away with the Vanilla Coke to "reward their curiosity", touching on its slogan at the time. Palminteri has voiced characters in various animated films, the most notable being Smokey in Stuart Little and Woolworth in Hoodwinked.
He made his directorial debut with an episode of Oz, then the television film Women vs. Men and the 2004 feature film Noel.
On January 20, 2010, Palminteri guested on Modern Family and played the same character on the November 2, 2011, episode.[16] Palminteri has reprised the role twice more in season 5. In June 2010, Palminteri began guest-starring on the TNTcrime dramaRizzoli & Isles as Frank Rizzoli, Sr. He guest starred twice on the CBS drama Blue Bloods as Angelo Gallo, a mob lawyer and childhood friend of main character Frank Reagan.
In 2011, Palminteri opened a restaurant, Chazz: A Bronx Original, in Baltimore's Little Italy neighborhood; their main foods are coal-fired pizza and Italian food. However, the restaurant closed in 2015.[17] Palminteri opened an Italian restaurant, Chazz Palminteri Ristorante Italiano, in New York City on Second Avenue. Also, Palminteri did the voice acting for the Call of Duty: Black Ops II character Sal De Luca in the zombies map Mob of the Dead, and his likeness was used for the character as well.
Palminteri with his wife Gianna Ranaudo in New York City, 2010.
Palminteri lives in Westchester County, New York, in the town of Bedford. He describes himself as a "very spiritual", devout Roman Catholic.[24] He married Gianna Ranaudo in 1992, and together they have two children. He is a self-avowed New York Yankees fan.
