Joe Mantello is an American actor and director who is best known for his work on Broadway in shows like “Wicked,” “Take Me Out,” and “Assassins.” He was also in the original Broadway cast of “Angels in America” when he started his career.
Joseph Mantello was born in Rockford, Illinois, on December 27, 1962. His parents, Judy and Richard Mantello, both worked as accountants. His mother is half-Italian, and both his father and mother have Italian roots. He had a Catholic upbringing.
Mantello went to school at the North Carolina School of the Arts. With actress Mary-Louise Parker and writer Peter Hedges, he started the Edge Theater in New York City. He is part of the theatre group Naked Angels and works as an associate artist for the Roundabout Theatre Company.
His Journey As An Actor
Mantello moved to New York from Illinois in 1984, during the height of the AIDS crisis. He told a reporter in 2013 that he had gotten over a feeling he had as a young man, that “Early on, I was very embarrassed by the theatre for some reason.
I think it was because I felt more and more like I was gay, even though I didn’t know what that meant at the time. Boys my age played sports where I grew up. When Mrs. Windsor wrote in my yearbook, “Have you ever thought about a career in the theatre?” it looked like she wrote “Faggot.”
Mantello’s first roles on stage were in Walking the Dead by Keith Curran and The Baltimore Waltz by Paula Vogel. Mantello said this about his move from acting to directing: “Some people might disagree with me, but I think I’ve become a better actor since I started directing.
Since I’m no longer part of the process, I can see what actors do wrong. Part of me is no longer involved in the process and can look at it from a distance.”
In February 2017, a new version of The Glass Menagerie opened at the Belasco Theatre on Broadway. Mantello was in the cast. In the play, Sally Field plays Amanda Wingfield, and Mantello plays Tom. The play is directed by Sam Gold.
In 2018, the American Theater Hall of Fame made Joe Mantello a member.
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Is Joe Mantello Gay?
Yes, Joe Mantello is gay. He dated Jon Robin Baitz from 1990 to 2002. As of 2018, he lives with Paul Marlow, who runs a cloth manufacturing company based in Manhattan.
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