Calogero Lorenzo “Chazz” Palminteri (born May 15, 1952) is an American actor, screenwriter, producer and playwright. His breakout role came with A Bronx Tale (1993), with Robert De Niro (who also directed), Kathrine Narducci, and Joe Pesci; which he also adapted from his one man show. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Woody Allen’s Bullets Over Broadway (1994), with John Cusack, Dianne Wiest, Jennifer Tilly, Jim Broadbent, Harvey Fierstein, Mary-Louise Parker, Rob Reiner, Tracey Ullman, Joe Viterelli, and Jack Warden.
Other notable films in the early 1990s include John Landis’s Oscar (1991), with Sylvester Stallone, Peter Riegert, Ornella Muti, Vincent Spano, Marisa Tomei, Tim Curry, Linda Gray, Don Ameche, and Kirk Douglas; Innocent Blood (1992), with Anne Parillaud, Robert Loggia, Anthony LaPaglia, and Don Rickles; Jeff Daniels, Catherine O’Hara, Hector Elizondo, and Rhea Perlman; The Usual Suspects (1995), with Stephen Baldwin, Gabriel Byrne, Benicio del Toro, Kevin Pollak, Pete Postlethwaite, and Kevin Spacey; Mira Nair’s The Perez Family (1995), with Tomei, Alfred Molina, Anjelica Huston, Trini Alvarado, and Celia Cruz; The Last Word (1995), with Timothy Hutton, Joe Pantoliano, Michelle Burke, Richard Dreyfuss, Tony Goldwyn, and Cybill Shepherd; and William Friedkin’s Jade (1995), with David Caruso, Linda Fiorentino, Richard Crenna, and Michael Biehn.
Films in the mid to late 1990s include Diabolique (1996), with Sharon Stone, Isabelle Adjani, and Kathy Bates; Paul Mazursky’s Faithful (1996), with Cher and Ryan O’Neal; Mulholland Falls (1996), with Nick Nolte, Jennifer Connelly, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, Melanie Griffith, Andrew McCarthy, Treat Williams, and John Malkovich; Scar City (1998), with Stephen Baldwin, Tia Carrere and Renée Estevez; Hurlyburly (1998), with Sean Penn, Spacey, Robin Wright, Garry Shandling, Anna Paquin, Meg Ryan; and Harold Ramis’s Analyze This (1999), with De Niro, Billy Crystal, and Lisa Kudrow.
Films in the 2000s include One Eyed King (2001), with Armand Assante, William Baldwin, Jim Breuer, Bruno Kirby, and Jason Gedrick; Down to Earth (2001), with Chris Rock, Regina King, Mark Addy, Eugene Levy, Frankie Faison, Greg Germann, and Jennifer Coolidge; Poolhall Junkies (2003), with Mars Callahan (who also directed), Alison Eastwood, Michael Rosenbaum, Rick Schroder, Rod Steiger, and Christopher Walken; Just Like Mona (2003), with Andy García, Jason Schwartzman, Marcia Gay Harden, and Camryn Manheim; One Last Ride (2004), with Robert Davi, Charles Durning, and Anita Barone; and Noel (2004), which he also directed, with Penélope Cruz, Susan Sarandon, Paul Walker, Alan Arkin, Daniel Sunjata, and an uncredited Robin Williams.
Films in the mid to late 2000s include Animal (2005), with Ving Rhames, Terrence Howard, and Jim Brown; A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006), with Robert Downey Jr., Shia LaBeouf, Rosario Dawson, Melonie Diaz, Eric Roberts, Channing Tatum, and Wiest; Body Armour (2007), with Til Schweiger, Lluís Homar, Cristina Brondo, Nick Brimble, and Khan Bonfils; Yonkers Joe (2008), with Christine Lahti, Tom Guiry, Michael Lerner, and Linus Roache; The Dukes (2008), with Davi (who also directed), Peter Bogdanovich and Elya Baskin; and Once More with Feeling (2009), with Drea de Matteo and Fiorentino.
Films in the 2010s include Jolene (2010), with Jessica Chastain, Dermot Mulroney, Rupert Friend, Denise Richards, Michael Vartan, Frances Fisher, and Theresa Russell; The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure (2012), with Toni Braxton, Cloris Leachman, Christopher Lloyd, Cary Elwes, and Jaime Pressly; Mighty Fine (2012), with Andie MacDowell, Jodelle Ferland, Rainey Qualley, Paul Ben-Victor, and Arthur J. Nascarella; Once Upon a Time in Queens (2015), with Paul Sorvino and Michael Rapaport; Brian Helgeland’s Legened (2015), with Tom Hardy, Emily Browning, David Thewlis, Christopher Eccleston, Colin Morgan, Paul Bettany, Tara Fitzgerald and Taron Egerton; and Vault (2019), with Theo Rossi, Clive Standen, Samira Wiley, Don Johnson, William Forsythe, Vincent Pastore, and Burt Young.
Palminteri has also done voice work in films like Stuart Little (1999), with Geena Davis, Hugh Laurie, Jonathan Lipnicki, and the voices of Michael J. Fox, Nathan Lane, Steve Zahn, Kirby, and Tilly; Hoodwinked! (2006), with Anne Hathaway, Glenn Close, Jim Belushi, Patrick Warburton, Anthony Anderson, David Ogden Stiers, Xzibit, and Andy Dick; the US dub of Underdogs (2013), with Ariana Grande, Nicholas Hoult, Matthew Morrison, Eugenio Derbez, Taran Killam, Shawn Mendes, Katie Holmes, Brooklyn Beckham, Bobby Moynihan, Bella Thorne, John Leguizamo, and Mel Brooks; and Henry & Me (2014), with Richard Gere, Danny Aiello, Cyndi Lauper, Paul Simon, Austin Williams, Lucie Arnaz and Hank Steinbrenner.
TV movies include Excellent Cadavers (1999), with F. Murray Abraham; and Boss of Bosses (2001), with Angela Alvarado, Jay O. Sanders, Clancy Brown, Mark Margolis, and Dayton Callie. He also had recurring parts on the shows Rizzoli & Isles (2010-2016), with Angie Harmon, Sasha Alexander, Bruce McGill, and Lorraine Bracco; and Modern Family (2010-2019), with Ed O’Neill, Sofía Vergara, Julie Bowen, Ty Burrell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, and Eric Stonestreet.
Each review will be linked to the title below.
(*seen originally in theaters)
(**seen rereleased in theaters)
- Home Free for All (1984) – directed by Stewart Bird
- The Last Dragon (1985) – directed by Michael Schultz
- Glory Years (1987) – Arthur Allan Seidelman – TV movie
- Peter Gunn (1989) – directed by Blake Edwards – TV movie
- Oscar (1991) – directed by John Landis
- Innocent Blood (1992) – directed by John Landis
- There Goes the Neighborhood (1992) – directed by Bill Phillips
- A Bronx Tale (1993) – directed by Robert De Niro – also writer
- Bullets Over Broadway (1994) – directed by Woody Allen
- The Usual Suspects (1995) – directed by Bryan Singer
- The Perez Family (1995) – directed by Mira Nair
- The Last Word (1995) – directed by Tony Spiridakis
- Jade (1995) – directed by William Friedkin
- Diabolique (1996) – directed by Jeremiah Chechik
- Faithful (1996) – directed by Paul Mazursky – also writer
- Mulholland Falls (1996) – directed by Lee Tamahori
- Scar City (1998) – directed by Ken Sanzel
- Hurlyburly (1998) – directed by Anthony Drazan
- A Night at the Roxbury (1998) – directed by John Fortenberry – uncredited
- Analyze This (1999) – directed by Harold Ramis
- The Book That Wrote Itself (1999) – directed by Liam O Mochain
- Excellent Cadavers (1999) – directed by Ricky Tognazzi – TV movie
- Stuart Little (1999) – directed by Rob Minkoff
- Down to Earth (2001) – directed by Chris & Paul Weitz
- Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp’s Adventure (2001) – directed by Darrell Rooney & Jeannine Roussel – straight to video
- Boss of Bosses (2001) – directed by Dwight H. Little – TV movie
- One Eyed King (2001) – directed by Robert Moresco
- Pool Hall Junkies (2003) – directed by Mars Callahan
- Just Like Mona (2003) – directed by Joe Pantoliano
- One Last Ride (2004) – directed by Tony Vitale
- Noel (2004) – also director
- Animal (2005) – directed by David J. Burke – straight to video
- In the Mix (2005) – directed by Ron Underwood
- Hoodwinked! (2006) – directed by Cory Edwards, Todd Edwards, & Tony Leech
- Running Scared (2006) – directed by Wayne Kramer
- Push (2006) – directed by David Rodriguez
- Little Man (2006) – directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans
- Arthur and the Minimoys (2006) – directed by Luc Besson
- Drift (2006) – directed by Paul W.S. Anderson – TV movie
- A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006) – directed by Dito Montiel
- Body Armour (2007) – directed by Gerry Lively
- The Dukes (2008) – directed by Robert Davi – also co-producer
- Yonkers Joe (2009) – directed by Robert Celestino
- Once More with Feeling (2009) – directed by Jeff Lipsky – straight to video
- Jolene (2010) – directed by Dan Ireland
- Mighty Fine (2012) – directed by Debbie Goodstein
- The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure (2012) – directed by Matthew Diamond
- Hollywood & Wine (2013) – directed by Kevin P. Farley
- Final Recourse (2013) – directed by Barbara Stepansky
- Once Upon a Time in Queens 2014) – directed by David Rodriguez
- Henry & Me (2014) – directed by Barrett Esposito
- Legend (2015) – directed by Brian Helgeland
- Underdogs (2016) – directed by Juan J. Campanella
- Distefano (2017) – directed by Pamela Fryman – TV movie
- Unorganized Crime (2018) – directed by Nick Vallelonga – also co-writer – TV movie
- Vault (2019) – directed by Tom DeNucci
- Clover (2020) – directed by John Abrahams
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