#258: Joe Mantegna - Everybody has a story

Funny In Failure

Joe Mantegna is an award-winning actor as well as writer, producer and director who’s been in the business for 50 + years! He has won a Tony award, been nominated for 3 Primetime Emmy Awards and has over 400 IMDB credits.

He is probably best known for his role as Joey Zasa in the Francis Ford Coppola epic The Godfather Part III, in which he stars alongside Al Pacino and Andy Garcia or his long serving role as David Rossi in Criminal Minds which he has appeared in almost 300 episodes! He also plays Fat Tony in the Simpsons and has been in a number of films and shows such as Shooting Gallery, Searching for Bobby Fischer, Joan of Arcadia, National Memorial Day Concert, Elvis and Anabelle, Homicide, Baby’s Day Out, The Rat Pack, The Last Don and The Starter Wife.

After making his Broadway debut in Stephen Schwartz's musical of Studs Terkel's Working, Joe was awarded the Tony and Joseph Jefferson Award for his acclaimed performance as cynical real-estate agent Richard Roma in David Mamet's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Glengarry Glen Ross.

Closely associated with Mamet’s work, Joe starred in the theatrical premiere of A Life in the Theater, The Disappearance of the Jews at the Goodman Theater, and in the Broadway production of Speed the Plow with Ron Silver and Madonna. In addition, Joe directed a critically acclaimed stage production of Mamet's Lakeboat, starring Ed O’Neil and George Wendt, in a successful Los Angeles theatrical run.

Other stand-out roles include Up Close and Personal, Baby's Day Out, Airheads, Queens Logic, Wait Until Spring Bandini, Eye for an Eye, The Runner, and Stephen King's Thinner. In addition to being the featured reader for numerous books-on-tape, Joe has narrated the Oscar-nominated documentary films Crack U.S.A.: Country Under Siege and Death on the Job.

He has also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2011.

If you’re a Criminal Minds fan we’ve also had AJ Cook (JJ) and Paget Brewster (Emily Prentiss) on the show as well, if you want to check them out as well.

We chat about playing Fat Tony on the Simpsons, Criminal Minds, competitive shooting, confidence, David Mamet, being a photographer, raising awareness about autism, being let go from his agent, winning awards, balance plus plenty more!

The video footage of this entire chat is now out as well (one day after release)! So check them out on YouTube under Michael Kahan Check Joe out on: Website: https://www.joemantegna.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joemantegna/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joemantegna/ Twitter / X: https://x.com/JoeMantegna