This Bronx-bred tough guy endured years of struggling as a theater actor/writer and bit player before hitting it big in the early 1990s with his feature lead and screenwriting debut in "A Bronx Tale" (1993). Chazz (originally Calogero) Palminteri spent much of the 80s acting in such off-Broadway productions as "The Guys in the Truck", "The Flatbush Faithful" and "Twenty-Two Years" while taking acting classes and working as a doorman at the chic Limelight disco. He also appeared in several student films, including Ang Lee's "Fine Line" (1984). Palminteri moved to Los Angeles in 1986 and began making guest appearances in numerous TV series, including "Wiseguy" (as an attorney), "Sydney" (as a kidnapper), "Hill Street Blues", "Matlock" and "The Hogan Family.”Discouraged by his inability to land "great roles" in Hollywood, Palminteri wrote the play "A Bronx Tale" (1988), a one-man showcase featuring 35 characters. This powerful story of an Italian-American boy and the struggle between his father and a local gangster for his devotion garnered great reviews and a long run. Financially aided by Limelight owner Peter Gatien, he moved the play from L.A. to New York, where it ran for four sold-out months.
After his feature debut in "An Even Break" (1989), Palminteri subsequently appeared in the unsuccessful Sylvester Stallone comedy "Oscar" (1991), as well as supporting roles in "Innocent Blood" and "Night and the City" (both 1992). But his big break and so-called "overnight success" came with his co-starring role (as a neighborhood thug) opposite first-time director Robert De Niro in the film version of "A Bronx Tale" (1993). Woody Allen next made use of Palminteri's screen image when he cast him as the poetic gangster Cheech in his ode to the theater, "Bullets Over Broadway" (1994). For his efforts, Palminteri walked away with an Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actor. He went from gangster to law officer in "The Perez Family" (his first romantic lead) and "The Usual Suspects" and played a lawyer in the pallid thriller "Jade" (all 1995). He also returned to TV in 1995, with the Showtime movie "The Last Word.”
In 1996, Palminteri was a member of the 1950s "Hat Squad" with Nick Nolte and Chris Penn in the cop drama "Mulholland Falls.” His second screenplay, "Faithful" (in which he also appeared as a hit man after whining wife Cher) also opened that year. Then in “Diabolique,” a remake Henri-Georges Clouzot’s 1954 French thriller, Palminteri played the brutish spouse of the frail owner (Isabelle Adjani) of a private school for boys who has an affair with a sexy and self-assured woman (Sharon Stone). After a cameo as a nightclub owner in “A Night at the Roxbury” (1998), he starred in the film version of David Rabe’s “Hurlyburly” (1998), playing an out-of-work actor kicked out of his home by his wife. Palminteri made the rare crossover to television to appear as a homicidal police lieutenant chasing down a renegade cop (Stephen Baldwin) and a street-tough prostitute (Tia Carrere) in “Scarred City” (HBO, 1998).
Palminteri then starred in the true-life story “Excellent Cadavers” (HBO, 1999), playing Giovanni Falcone, a courageous prosecutor who waged a one-man war against the Sicilian Mafia, faced little public support and obstruction from officials, and eventually was assassinated, making him the cause célèbre in a wave of anti-Mafia reform. Returning to feature films, Palminteri provided his distinct voice for the animated hit “Stuart Little” (1999), then appeared as himself in the Irish-made comedy, “The Book That Wrote Itself” (1999). In “Analyze This” (1999), he donned his Mafia cap once more, playing the chief rival of a mob boss (Robert De Niro) seeking help from a psychiatrist (Billy Crystal) for his anxiety attacks. Diversifying his resume, Palminteri made his television directing debut with an episode of “Oz” (HBO, 1997-2003), then provided his voice for an episode of the short-lived animated series, “Dilbert” (UPN, 1998-2000), and for the straight-to-video release, “The Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp’s Adventure” (2000).
In the comedy “Down to Earth” (2001), Palminteri played an inept angel who takes the life of a struggling standup comic (Chris Rock) and puts his spirit into the body of a wealthy old white mogul until it’s time for him to pass through the Pearly Gates. Returning briefly to television, he starred in “Boss of Bosses” (TNT, 2001), the true story of crime boss Paul Castellano, whose radical plan to evolve the Costra Nostra into a legitimate enterprise lead to his eventual downfall. He then returned to directing with “Men vs. Women” (Showtime, 2002), a romantic comedy about two married men (Joe Mantegna and Robert Pastorelli) whose night at a gentleman’s club leaves them out in the cold after their wives (Glenne Headly and Christine Lahti) kick them out of their homes, leaving the two saps to beg for mercy. Then in “Poolhall Junkies” (2003), Palminteri was a pool hustler whose protégé (Mars Callahan), sick of being under his mentor’s thumb, tries to break away by joining another hustler (Christopher Walken) who wants to take his rival down.
After playing a police detective in “One Eyed Kings” (2004), a low-budget drama about love, betrayal and redemption in New York’s famed Hell’s Kitchen, Palminteri played a sadistic prison warden in the straight-to-video release, “Animal” (2005). He next starred in the mafia-comedy, “In the Mix” (2005), playing a mob boss whose life is saved by a nightclub DJ (Usher Raymond), thus rewarding him with the company of his beautiful daughter (Emmanuelle Chriqui). Meanwhile, Palminteri was set to be seen in “Running Scared” (2006), a thriller about two ten-year-old boys who get their hands on a gun used by the mob to kill a cop. In late 2005, he filmed “The Marconi Brothers” (2005), a comedy about two brothers (Dan Folger and Brendan Sexton, III) who want nothing more than to leave their family’s retail carpet business.
