Actor / Director Profile

Born in Jersey City. Vinny attended undergrad school at the University of Toledo and Graduate school at The Goodman School of Drama in Chicago where he earned his MFA in Acting. Vinny worked in Chicago during the burgeoning theater movement of the 70's and moved to LA in 1980. He is an established character actor with credits from Broadway film and television. He has worked with an array of stars ranging from the honorables Don Ameche and Jackie Gleason to the young hot comets of today like Phillip Seymore Hoffman and Julia Stiles. Starting in Chicago Vinny has a long standing affiliation with author/writer David Mamet and has appeared in six of his films and performed his works on stage all over the country. In film he has had the honor of working with noted directors; Ivan Reitman, Barry Levinson, Woody Allen, Michael Mann, and John Irvin, to name a few. On TV Vinny has done over a hundred guest appearances, most recently on Las Vegas, Without a Trace, West Wing, and Law & Order. He has co-starred in several TV movies, most noted is Nitti: The Enforcer, starring Anthony LaPaglia in which Vinny co-starred as Al Capone. Vinny remains active on stage and in 1998 ran on Broadway for seven months in David Mamet's hit autobiographical drama, The Old Neighborhood. More recently he was in Romance which premiered in NYC at the Atlantic Theater Company.