Tony Shalhoub

**Anthony Marcus Shalhoub** is an American actor. His television work includes the NBC sitcom *Wings,*the USA TV series *Monk*, for which he has won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy, two Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series and three Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.

## Early Life

Shalhoub is the ninth of ten children and was born and raised in a Christian family in Green Bay, Wisconsin. His father, Joe, was from Lebanon and immigrated to the United States as an orphan at the age of eight. He was a meat peddler who drove a refrigerated truck. He bought his meat in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and sold it to stores in the region. Joe married Shalhoub's mother, Helen (née Seroogy), a second-generation Lebanese-American. Shalhoub was introduced to acting by an older sister who put his name forward to be an extra in a high school production of *The King and I.* Despite finding himself standing on the wrong side of the curtain during the final dress rehearsal, he became enamored with the theater. Shalhoub attended Green Bay East High School. In his senior year he suffered a setback, breaking his leg in a fall off the stage into the pit during a rehearsal. Recovering quickly, he was able to perform in the school's final play of the year. After a short time at the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay, he earned a bachelor's degree in drama from the University of Southern Maine. He later went on to earn a master's degree from the Yale School of Drama in 1980.

## Career

### Stage

Shortly after graduating from Yale School of Drama, he moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he spent four seasons with the American Repertory Theater before heading to New York City, where he found work waiting tables while honing his craft and auditioning. He made his Broadway debut in the 1985 Rita Moreno/Sally Struthers production of *The Odd Couple* and was nominated for a 1992 Tony Award for his featured role in *Conversations with My Father*. Shalhoub met his wife, actress Brooke Adams when they co-starred on Broadway in *The Heidi Chronicles*.

Shalhoub returned to the stage in December 2006 to the Off-Broadway Second Stage Theatre, opposite Patricia Heaton for a run of *The Scene* by Theresa Rebeck. In 2010, he went to Broadway to act as Saunders in a revival version of *Lend Me a Tenor* in New York at the Music Box Theatre. He was nominated for a 2013 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play for Lincoln Center Theater's production of *Golden Boy* at the Belasco Theatre. He was nominated again in 2014 for a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play for Lincoln Center Theater's production of *Act One* at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre. Shalhoub and his wife appeared in Samuel Beckett's *Happy Days* in June and July 2015 in New York City.

He starred in the musical stage adaptation of the film *The Band's Visit*, in the Off-Broadway Atlantic Theatre Company production. The musical, with music and lyrics by David Yazbek and book by Itamar Moses, ran from November 11, 2016, through December 23, 2016. He reprised his role when the show moved to Broadway where it opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on November 9, 2017. For his performance, he won the 2018 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. He also appeared as Walter Franz in the 2017 Broadway revival of *The Price*.

### Screen

One of Shalhoub's first television roles was in 1991 as the Italian cabdriver Antonio Scarpacci in the sitcom *Wings*. Shalhoub was pleasantly surprised to land the role after having a guest appearance in the second season. Shalhoub affected an Italian accent for the role. In the same time period, Shalhoub played physicist Dr. Chester Ray Banton in *The X-Files* second-season episode "Soft Light".

Shalhoub's film roles following his *Wings* breakout included an excitable producer consulted by John Turturro's character in *Barton Fink* and a fast-talking lawyer in *The Man Who Wasn't There* (both directed by the Coen brothers), a linguistically unidentified cabby in *Quick Change*, a Cuban-American businessman in *Primary Colors,* sleazy alien pawn shop owner Jack Jeebs in the *Men in Black* films, a sympathetic attorney working for John Travolta's lawyer in *A Civil Action*, a widowed father in *Thirteen Ghosts*, a cameo role in the film *Gattaca*, and a has-been television star in *Galaxy Quest*.

He had a co-starring role in the film *Big Night*, where he plays an Italian-speaking chef complete with accent. In 1995 he had a role in the hit NBC sitcom *Frasier* in the episode "The Focus Group" as an Arab newsstand owner named Manu Habbib. He did voice acting for the 1997 computer game *Fallout*.

Shalhoub demonstrated his dramatic range in the 1998 big-budget thriller *The Siege*, where he co-starred alongside Denzel Washington, Annette Bening, and Bruce Willis. His character, FBI Special Agent Frank Haddad, also a Lebanese American, suffered discrimination after terrorist attacks in New York City. He returned to series television in 1999, this time in a lead role on *Stark Raving Mad*, opposite Neil Patrick Harris. The show failed to attract an audience and NBC canceled the series in 2000.

#### *Monk*

After a two-year absence from the small screen, Shalhoub starred in another TV series, *Monk*. Airing on the USA Network, the series featured Shalhoub as Adrian Monk, a brilliant detective with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Shalhoub was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series in eight consecutive years from 2003 to 2010, winning in 2003, 2005, and 2006. He also took the Golden Globe award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy, in 2003

##### During *Monk*

In addition to his acting work, Shalhoub, along with the Network of Arab-American Professionals and Zoom-in-Focus Productions, established The Arab-American Filmmaker Award Competition in 2005. Arab-American filmmakers submitted screenplays, and the chosen winner was flown to Hollywood to have their screenplay produced.

He appeared with Matthew Broderick and Alec Baldwin in the 2004 Hollywood satire *The Last Shot* as a gruff small-time mobster with a love for movies. In 2006, he appeared in Danny Leiner's drama *The Great New Wonderful* as a psychologist in post-9/11 New York City. In 2007, he appeared in the horror film *1408* and on-stage off-Broadway as Charlie in *The Scene*.

#### *The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel*

Shalhoub stars as Jewish-American math professor Abe Weissman, father of protagonist Midge Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan), in the Emmy-winning, Amazon-produced TV comedy series *The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel*.

### Voice work

He received a 2008 Grammy nomination in the category "Best Spoken Word Album for Children" for his narration of *The Cricket in Times Square*. He provided the voice of Luigi, a 1959 Fiat 500 who runs a tire shop, in the 2006 Disney/Pixar film *Cars* and it's 2011 and 2017 sequels, *Cars 2* and *Cars 3*, respectively. Shalhoub voiced Splinter in the 2014 film *Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles* and reprised the role in *Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows.*

## Personal Life

Shalhoub married actress Brooke Adams in 1992. They have worked together in several films, one episode of *Wings*, and on *BrainDead*. Adams has appeared credited as a "Special Guest Star" in five episodes of *Monk*—"Mr. Monk and the Airplane", "Mr. Monk's 100th Case", "Mr. Monk and the Kid", "Mr. Monk Visits a Farm", and "Mr. Monk and the Badge".

Shalhoub and Adams appeared on Broadway together in the 2010 revival of *Lend Me a Tenor*. At the time of their wedding, Adams had an adopted daughter, Josie Lynn (born 1989), whom Shalhoub adopted. In 1994, they adopted another daughter, Sophie (born 1993).

Tony's brother Michael is also an actor who made multiple guest appearances on *Monk*. He first appears in "Mr. Monk and the Missing Granny", as a member of a disbanded radical group suspected of involvement in a kidnapping. In "Mr. Monk Bumps His Head", he plays a Wyoming beekeeper who is annoyed when a suspect crashes a car into his farm. Michael also appears in "Mr. Monk Is the Best Man" as the minister presiding at Leland Stottlemeyer's wedding.

## Filmography

### Video Games

 2006
 2007

### Producer

 2005
 2009

## Trivia

* Is the second youngest of 10 children of the late Helen (Seroogy) and Joseph Shalhoub.

* Two daughters Josie Lynn (born 1988 - wife Brooke Adams' adopted daughter prior to marriage, whom Tony later adopted), and Sophie (born 1993), adopted by the couple after they married.

* Cousin of famous Chicago/Los Angeles radio personality Jonathon Brandmeier.

* Attended and graduated from Green Bay East High School in Green Bay, Wisconsin (1972).

* Sister-in-law is Lynne Adams.

* Received his Bachelor's degree in Drama from the University of Southern Maine in Portland, Maine (1977).

* Received his Master's degree in Fine Arts from the Yale School of Drama in New Haven, Connecticut (1980).

* Brother of actor Michael Shalhoub, Susan Shalhoub Larkin, and Daniel Shalhoub.

* Has worked both with the Coen Brothers (Barton Fink (1991), The Man Who Wasn't There(2001)) and their former cinematographer, Barry Sonnenfeld (Addams Family Values(1993), Men in Black (1997), Men in Black II (2002)).

* Attended Yale University, where his friend, Jane Kaczmarek, followed him to after he had encouraged her to shoot for stardom. They had met earlier when they both attended the University of Wisconsin.

* Comes from a family of Maronites (Arab Christians from the Maronite Church, an Eastern Catholic Church).

* Was nominated for Broadway's 1992 Tony Award as Best Actor (Featured Role-Play) for Herb Gardner's "Conversations with My Father".

* Spent four seasons with the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

* Was the best man at Patricia Heaton's marriage to David Hunt. He knew David before Patricia.

* In 2005, upon winning his second Emmy Award for Monk (2002), he told his fellow nominees that "there's always next year". Ironically, Shalhoub was the only one of the five actors to be nominated the next year.

* In 2003, when Shalhoub won the Emmy Award for his leading role of detective Adrian Monk, he dedicated the award to his nephew, 34-year-old Gregg Gensler, who passed away the day before.

* Was nominated for the 2009 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children for "The Cricket in Times Square".

* Has appeared with Cheech Marin in five films: Paulie (1998), Spy Kids 3: Game Over(2003), Cars (2006), Cars 2 (2011) and Cars 3 (2017).

* In Men in Black (1997), he played Jeebs the pawnshop owner who is an alien disguised as a human. Later, in Monk: Mr. Monk and the UFO (2009), he was human, whom people insisted was an alien in disguise.

* Nominated for the 2018 Emmy Award in the Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series category for his role as Abe Weissman in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2017), but lost to Henry Winkler from Barry (2018).

* Keynote speaker at the class of 2003 graduation at the University of Southern Maine, his alma mater.

* His famous series Monk (2002) has officially ended (on its own terms). [December 2009]

* Is a huge fan of the NFL's Green Bay Packers and holds season tickets.

* Friends with Patricia Heaton. Neighbors with Dean Parisot.