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Mario Cantone marries his partner of 20 years

Oct 28 2011

THEATER REVIEW; True Love and a Crisis at Christmas (When Else)?

Jun 29 2000

Early life

Cantone was born in Massachusetts, and raised in Stoneham, where his Italian-American family moved when he was two.¹ He was the fourth of five children of Mario Sr., a Boston restaurant owner, and his wife, Elizabeth (née Pescione).² His father moved the family to Stoneham, according to Cantone in a 2004 New York Times interview to get her away from her bookie relatives.³ Cantone stated that the problem "was that she was not only a bookie but she was also a compulsive gambler."⁴ His mother, who had been a big band singer in her youth, died when he was 21.⁵

As a child, Cantone would direct reenactments of shows.⁶ Cantone's first impression was of Julia Child, which he presented in a junior high school talent show.⁷ He graduated from Stoneham High School in 1978⁸ and Emerson College in 1982. He befriended fellow comic Denis Leary at Emerson.⁹¹⁰ He moved to New York City in 1983 and got a job as a chocolate vendor at Trump Tower.¹¹

Early career

While working at Trump Tower, he did impressions of people while selling chocolate truffles. He later worked as a jewelry salesman, quitting a year later to pursue comedy full time. He began his professional career hosting a children's show called Steampipe Alley, which aired on New York-New Jersey superstation WWOR-TV from 1988 to 1993.¹²

Stand-up career

In his stand-up concerts, he is known for his occasionally campy¹³ impressions of entertainment personalities such as Liza Minnelli, Judy Garland, Bruce Springsteen, Jim Morrison, and Bette Davis as well as for his original songs.¹⁴

Much of his comedy derives from his boisterous Italian-American family.¹⁵¹⁶ Cantone, who is gay,¹⁷ has said that he considers himself an actor and comedian who happens to be gay rather than a gay comic relying on gay jokes.¹⁸ "Talking about being gay is a very small part of my show and when I first started I wasn't out on stage but I was out off stage, I certainly didn't lie about it on stage but if you didn't know you were an idiot and you lived in a cave after seeing me...really??"¹⁹

Acting career

Sex and the City

Cantone is known for his role in the HBO series Sex and the City as Anthony Marentino, Charlotte York's gay wedding planner who dispensed advice with a rapid fire delivery.²⁰

Broadway

Cantone made his Broadway debut in 1995, replacing Nathan Lane in the role of Buzz in Terrence McNally's Tony Award–winning play, Love! Valour! Compassion! ²¹²² Later that year, he appeared in the revival of The Tempest with Patrick Stewart.²³ Several years later, Cantone did a workshop for The Lion King as Timon but was not comfortable with the makeup or manipulating a puppet and eventually left the project.²⁴²⁵ In 2002, he created and wrote his own one-man show for Broadway, An Evening With Mario Cantone.²⁶ A year later, Cantone starred as Gidger in Richard Greenberg's The Violet Hour²⁷ in a part written specifically for him.²⁸²⁹ The Violet Hour received mixed reviews³⁰ and closed after 54 performances.³¹

In 2004, Cantone appeared as Samuel Byck in Stephen Sondheim's musical Assassins. ³² Originally slated for the 2001 Broadway season, Assassins was postponed because of the September 11, 2001 attacks.^{33 34} In 2001, Cantone had turned down the role of Carmen Ghia in Mel Brooks's The Producers.³⁵ His other Broadway credits include his second one-man show, Laugh Whore, which ran from October 24, 2004, to January 2, 2005, at the Cort Theatre. Laugh Whore received a Tony Award nomination for Best Special Theatrical Event and an Outer Critics Circle award nomination for Outstanding Solo Performance.³⁶ Showtime taped the December 11, 2004 performance, which premiered on May 28, 2005.³⁷ It was the network's first Broadway production to air as a comedy special.³⁸

In September 2010, Cantone appeared in a staged reading of the Charles messina play A Room of My Own at The Theatre at 45 Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village.³⁹ As of November 2012, the play was still in development with Cantone in the cast.⁴⁰⁴¹ The Off-Broadway production is expected to begin previews in February 2016.⁴²

Other works

He started his career as the host of children's show, "Steampipe Alley," which aired in the late 1980s through 1993.

He has appeared in the Comedy Central roasts of Joan Rivers and fellow Boston-area native and Emerson College alumnus⁴³ Denis Leary.⁴⁴ The network's Chappelle's Show featured him in a segment called "Ask A Gay Dude."⁴⁵

His voice-over work includes Sunsilk "hairapy" advertisements.⁴⁶ and the voice of talent scout Mikey Abromowitz in the 2007 animated movie Surf's Up.⁴⁷ He has appeared frequently on the Opie and Anthony radio show.⁴⁸

He was a regular guest on the ABC daytime talk show The View since at least 2003 and became a guest co-host in 2005. In August 2013, he was in the news as a rumored replacement for retiring co-host Joy Behar and since 2014 has been co-hosting more frequently.^49505152

Cantone was among the judges of the Miss America 2014 pageant.⁵³ He has appeared several times on The $100,000 Pyramid and Match Game as a celebrity guest star.⁵⁴

In 2022, Cantone competed in season eight of The Masked Singer as "Maize". He was eliminated on "Andrew Lloyd Webber Night" alongside Gloria Gaynor as "Mermaid".

Personal life

In October 2011, Cantone married his partner of 20 years, musical theater director Jerry Dixon. The ceremony was officiated by pastor Jay Bakker.⁵⁵

Filmography

Film

Television

External links

• Official website
• Mario Cantone at IMDb 
• Mario Cantone at the Internet Broadway Database

References

1. Messenger, Eric (October 10, 2004) "Mario Cantone's Loud Family Reunion." The New York Times. Retrieved August 3, 2013. https://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/10/theater/newsandfeatures/10mess.html ↩

2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved October 27, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) https://web.archive.org/web/20160304140830/http://www.pqarchiver.com/titles?dids=17254979:17254979&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Dec+30%2C+1996&author=&pub=Boston+Herald&desc=Obituary+Mario+Cantone+of+Stoneham%2C+75%2C+was+restaurateur&pqatl=google ↩

3. Messenger, Eric (October 10, 2004) "Mario Cantone's Loud Family Reunion." The New York Times. Retrieved August 3, 2013. https://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/10/theater/newsandfeatures/10mess.html ↩

4. Messenger, Eric (October 10, 2004) "Mario Cantone's Loud Family Reunion." The New York Times. Retrieved August 3, 2013. https://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/10/theater/newsandfeatures/10mess.html ↩

5. Messenger, Eric (October 10, 2004) "Mario Cantone's Loud Family Reunion." The New York Times. Retrieved August 3, 2013. https://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/10/theater/newsandfeatures/10mess.html ↩

6. Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "Mario Cantone Live!". June 24, 2015 – via YouTube. https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211205/V13qm6mh54E ↩

7. Gerani, Christine, (May 22, 2013), Mario Cantone: The Interview. SpotOnLongIsland.com. Retrieved August 7, 2013. http://spotonli.com/mario-cantone-the-interview/ ↩

8. TCM Archive Materials Mario Catone https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/28242%7C0/Mario-Cantone/ ↩

9. Staff, Emerson Today (January 18, 2011). "Denis Leary's Emerson Experience". Emerson Today. https://today.emerson.edu/2011/01/18/denis-learys-emerson-experience/ ↩

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11. Stern, Marlow (July 28, 2017). "Mario Cantone on How He Nailed His Scaramucci Impression—With a Little Help from CNN's Chris Cuomo". Thedailybeast.com. Retrieved February 28, 2022. https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-chris-cuomo-helped-mario-cantone-nail-his-anthony-scaramucci-impression ↩

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23. Playbill Vault, The Tempest. Retrieved August 7, 2013. http://www.playbillvault.com/Show/Detail/2004/The-Tempest ↩

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26. Playbill Vault, An Evening with Mario Cantone. Retrieved August 4. 2013. http://www.playbillvault.com/Show/Detail/10389/An-Evening-with-Mario-Cantone ↩

27. Manhattan Theatre Club Archived July 28, 2014, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved August 4, 2013. http://www.manhattantheatreclub.com/past-shows/2003-2004_season/VioletHour/release.htm ↩

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29. Ernio Hernandez (November 11, 2003) Interview with Mario Cantone Archived July 28, 2014, at the Wayback Machine. Playbill. Retrieved August 4, 2013. http://www.playbill.com/celebritybuzz/article/82658-PLAYBILL-ON-LINES-BRIEF-ENCOUNTER-with-Mario-Cantone ↩

30. For example, see Ben Brantley's November 7, 2003 review in The New York Times, Charles Isherwood's November 6, 2003 review in Variety, and John Simon's November 17, 2003 review in New York magazine. Retrieved August 4, 2013. https://theater.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?res=9c01e0db1439f934a35752c1a9659c8b63 ↩

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33. Ernio Hernandez (April 22, 2004). "The Shots Heard Round the World: Musical Assassins Opens on Broadway" Archived October 30, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. Playbill. http://www.playbill.com/news/article/85711-The-Shots-Heard-Round-the-World-Musical-Assassins-Opens-on-Broadway-April-22 ↩

34. Sarah Beaumont (14 December 2003). "Something Just Broke". Sondheim.com. http://www.sondheim.com/news/something_just_broke.html ↩

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37. Ernio Hernandez (25 April 2005) Broadway's Laugh Whore with Mario Cantone Premieres on Showtime May 28. Archived July 28, 2014, at the Wayback Machine Playbill.com. Retrieved August 6, 2013. http://www.playbill.com/news/article/92390-Broadways-Laugh-Whore-with-Mario-Cantone-Premieres-on-Showtime-May-28 ↩

38. Levin, Gary and Bianco, Robert, (July 21, 2004) "Alley throws her weight behind series." USA Today. Retrieved August 7, 2013. http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2004-07-21-press-tour-showtime_x.htm ↩

39. Lenzi, Linda (September 21, 2010). "Photo Coverage: Cantone, Macchio et al. in A ROOM OF MY OWN". http://broadwayworld.com/article/Photo_Coverage_Cantone_Macchio_et_al_in_A_ROOM_OF_MY_OWN_20100921 ↩

40. Playbill (November 8, 2012) Mario Cantone, Rachel Dratch, Zach Galligan Set for Reading of A Room of My Own Archived July 28, 2014, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved August 4, 2013. http://www.playbill.com/news/article/171998-Mario-Cantone-Rachel-Dratch-Zach-Galligan-Set-for-Reading-of-A-Room-of-My-Own ↩

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