Name
Joe Grifasi
Known For
Acting
Birthday
1944-06-14 (82 years old)
Place of Birth
Buffalo - New York - USA
Biography
Joseph G. "Joe" Grifasi (born June 14, 1944) is an American character actor of film, stage and television. Born in Buffalo, New York, Grifasi joined the U.S. Army prior to studying acting. He has appeared in more than 50 feature films including Presumed Innocent, The Deer Hunter, Big Business, Beaches, Auto Focus, Matewan, Naked Gun, Dark Matter, Natural Born Killers, Chances Are, Changing Lanes, One Fine Day, F/X, Benny & Joon, The Pope of Greenwich Village, Brewster’s Millions, Batman Forever, The Flamingo Kid, Ironweed, and Splash. His television credits include The Bronx is Burning (as Yogi Berra), 61* (as Phil Rizzuto), Law & Order, ER, LA Law, Chicago Hope, Hill Street Blues, SCTV, Roseanne, and The Practice. Grifasi’s Broadway credits include Dinner at Eight, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, A Memory of Two Mondays, Boy Meets Girl, The Accidental Death of an Anarchist, The 1940’s Radio Hour and Happy End. His off-Broadway credits include Conversations in Tusculum, The Boys Next Door (Drama Desk Nomination), Once Around the City, Golden Boy, Filumena and Says I, Says He.
He has been married to jazz soprano saxophonist and composer Jane Ira Bloom, whom he met while studying at the Yale School of Drama, since 1974.
Known For
7.97
Three steelworkers enlist in the army and are sent to Vietnam, one leaving behind a rushed...
7.285
When the bumbling Lieutenant Frank Drebin investigates events following the shooting of hi...
5.459
Batman faces off against two foes: the schizophrenic, horribly scarred former District Att...
6.776
After total humiliation at her thirteenth birthday party, Jenna Rink wants to just hide un...
6.514
Frank Drebin is persuaded out of retirement to go undercover in a state prison. There he h...
7.054
Two victims of traumatized childhoods become lovers and serial murderers irresponsibly glo...
6.585
Young women toiling in a factory are exposed to hazardous material which takes a disastrou...
6.815
Rusty Sabich is a deputy prosecutor engaged in an obsessive affair with a coworker who is ...
6.843
37-year-old Italian-American widow Loretta Castorini believes she is unlucky in love, and ...
- 1991 City of Hope as Pauly
- 2006 A Crime as Bill
- 1995 Batman Forever as Bank Guard
- 1989 The Feud as Bud Bullard
- 1989 Chances Are as Omar
- 1983 Will There Really Be a Morning? as Wyler
- 1993 Benny & Joon as Mike
- 1985 Brewster's Millions as J.B. Donaldo
- 1990 Presumed Innocent as Tommy Molto
- 1996 One Fine Day as Manny Feldstein
- 1978 The Deer Hunter as Bandleader
- 1994 The Hudsucker Proxy as Lou
- 1982 Still of the Night as Joseph Vitucci
- 1984 The Pope of Greenwich Village as Jimmy the Cheese Man
- 1995 Two Bits as Uncle Joe
- 1982 The Elephant Man as Pinhead Manager
- 2006 Lewis Black: Red, White & Screwed as Uncle Sam
- 2023 Endgame as Nagg
- 2000 The Other Me as Conrad
- 1981 Honky Tonk Freeway as Osvaldo
- 1980 Hide in Plain Sight as Matty Stanek
- 2010 The Front as Mr. Zeffirelli
- 1988 The Appointments of Dennis Jennings as Bartender
- 1998 The Deal as Boular
- 2022 The Dreams of Rene Sendam as Dr. Bradley
- 2020 Radium Girls as Grandpa
- 1984 The Flamingo Kid as Mario Minetta
- 1979 Something Short of Paradise as Barney Collins
- 2010 The Last New Yorker as Jerry
- 2001 Queenie in Love as Berthold
- 1987 Matewan as Fausto
- 1978 On the Yard as Morris
- 1984 Splash as Manny
- 2000 Looking for an Echo as Vic
- 1988 Big Business as Desk Clerk
- 1988 The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! as Foreman
- 1986 F/X as Mickey
- 1995 Heavy as Leo
- 1994 Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult as Director
- 2004 A Jersey Tale as Alphonso "Chunks" Colon
- 1995 Money Train as Riley
- 2016 The American Side as The Serb
- 2014 A Midsummer Night's Dream as Peter Quince
- 1996 Shadow of a Doubt as Sidney Sherman
- 1989 Kojak: Ariana as Lieutenant Rastelli
- 1992 Primary Motive as Paul Melton
- 2004 13 Going on 30 as Mr. Flamhaff
- 1994 Natural Born Killers as Deputy Sheriff Duncan Homolka
- 2016 Baked in Brooklyn as David's Dad
- 1999 Switching Goals as Dave
- 1999 The Out-of-Towners as Arresting Cop
- 1981 The Gentleman Bandit as Det. Esposito
- 1987 Moonstruck as Shy Waiter
- 1989 Perfect Witness as Breeze
- 1977 Secret Service as Cpl. Matson
- 1993 Household Saints as Frank Manzone
- 2001 61* as Phil Rizzuto
- 1997 Sunday as Scottie Elster
- 2005 Slow Burn as Desk Sgt. Drown
- 1985 Bad Medicine as Gómez
- 1992 Citizen Cohn as Gerald Walpin
- 1993 Taking the Heat as Lou Valentine
- 2002 Auto Focus as Strip Club M.C.
- 1986 One Police Plaza as Insp. Nicolas Zambrano
- 1994 Jack Reed: A Search for Justice
- 1998 The Naked Man as Koski
- 2002 Changing Lanes as Judge Cosell
- 2021 Me To Play as Himself
- 1987 Ironweed as Jack
- 2016 No Pay, Nudity as Mr. Davenport
- 1981 The 6th Annual Young Comedians as Self (Audience Member) (uncredited)
- 2024 Tornado as Rich
- 1990 Law & Order ( 1 episode ) as Ezra Gould
- 1986 L.A. Law ( 5 episodes ) as Dominic Nuzzi
- 2003 Hope & Faith ( 1 episode ) as Leo
- 1996 Early Edition ( 3 episodes ) as Harry Hawks
- 1985 Moonlighting ( 1 episode ) as Kapatkin
- 1988 Roseanne ( 1 episode ) as IRS Office Supervisor
- 2000 Deadline ( 1 episode ) as Mike Phelan
- 2008 Canterbury's Law ( 1 episode )
- 1993 Moon Over Miami ( 1 episode )
- 1994 Chicago Hope ( 1 episode ) as Larry Ruscetti
- 1994 ER ( 1 episode ) as Tom Williams
- 1990 WIOU ( 13 episodes ) as Tony Pro
- 1993 Class of '96 ( 1 episode ) as Joe Morrisey
- 2012 Elementary ( 1 episode ) as Captain Moretti
- 1999 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit ( 14 episodes ) as Hashi Horowitz
- 2007 The Bronx Is Burning ( 8 episodes ) as Yogi Berra
- 1992 Sinatra ( 2 episodes ) as George Evans
- 1990 Law & Order ( 3 episodes ) as Defense Attorney James Linde
- 2016 Bull ( 1 episode ) as Judge Arlen Rand
- 2019 Evil ( 3 episodes ) as Lombino
- 2000 The Beat ( 2 episodes ) as Vince Marinelli
- 2003 Tarzan ( 1 episode ) as Lieutenant Scott Connor
- 2016 Bull ( 3 episodes ) as Judge Rand
- 2006 Conviction ( 1 episode ) as Judge Harrigan
- 2017 The Good Fight ( 1 episode ) as Judge John Mata
- 2020 I Know This Much Is True ( 1 episode ) as Steve Falice
- 1985 The Equalizer ( 1 episode ) as Lt. Vocek
- 2001 Some of My Best Friends ( 3 episodes ) as Joe Zito
- 2018 Lodge 49 ( 6 episodes )
- 1990 Capital News ( 1 episode )
- 1971 Great Performances ( 1 episode ) as Cpl. Matson
- 2009 The Good Wife ( 1 episode ) as Judge John Mata
- 2018 New Amsterdam ( 1 episode ) as Lilo Steinhauser
- 1996 Remember WENN ( 1 episode ) as Larry Looper
- 1997 The Practice ( 1 episode ) as Harry Papp
- 1981 Hill Street Blues ( 1 episode ) as Ronnie Delacroce
- 1986 Matlock ( 1 episode ) as Hot Dog Vendor
- 1996 Undue Influence ( 2 episodes ) as Clem
- 1982 American Playhouse ( 1 episode ) as Bud Bullard
