Tony Shalhoub Bio

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Anthony Marcus "Tony" Shalhoub (born October 9, 1953) is an American actor of Lebanese origin, best known for his role as manic-obsessive sleuth Adrian Monk on the TV series Monk.

Tony Shalhoub: Early life

Shalhoub was born and raised in Green Bay, Wisconsin. His father, Joe Shalhoub, emigrated from Lebanon to the United States as an orphan at the age of 10. He married Shalhoub's mother, Helen, a second-generation Lebanese-American, and founded a family grocery chain, starting with a store in downtown Green Bay.

The second youngest of the couple's 10 children, Tony Shalhoub was introduced to the theater by an older sister who put his name forward as an extra in a high school production of The King and I. Despite finding himself standing on the wrong side of the curtain during the final dress rehearsal, he became addicted to the theater. Shalhoub graduated from Green Bay East High School, where his senior peers named him the best dressed and most likely to succeed. In his senior year he suffered a setback, breaking his leg in a fall off the stage into the pit during a rehearsal. Recovering quickly, he was able to perform in the school's final play of the year. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in drama from the University of Southern Maine in Portland, going on to earn a masters from the Yale School of Drama in 1980.

Tony Shalhoub: The stage

Shortly thereafter, he moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he spent four seasons with the American Repertory Theater before heading to New York City, where he found work waiting tables while honing his craft and auditioning. He made his Broadway debut in the 1985 Rita Moreno/Sally Struthers production of The Odd Couple and was nominated for a 1992 Tony Award for his featured role in Conversations with My Father. Shalhoub met his wife, actress Brooke Adams, when they co-starred on Broadway in The Heidi Chronicles. His Off-Broadway credits include Waiting for Godot, For Dear Life, Rameau's Nephew, Zero Positive, and two productions of "Shakespeare in the Park", Henry IV, Part 1 and Richard II.

Shalhoub was to return in December 2006 to Off-Broadway at Second Stage Theatre with (Everybody Loves Raymond star) Patricia Heaton for a run of The Scene by Theresa Rebeck. Rebeck's black comedy takes a look at the NYC entertainment scene with Shalhoub starring as Charlie, a has-been actor who is married to Heaton's character Stella, a very successful producer of a morning television show.

Tony Shalhoub: Breaking into screen roles

By 1991, one of his first television roles was as the Italian cabdriver Antonio Scarpacci in the sitcom Wings. Shalhoub was pleasantly surprised to land the role after having a recurring role in the second season. Shalhoub affected an Italian accent for the role. In the same time period, Shalhoub played physicist Dr. Chester Ray Banton in the X-Files second-season episode "Soft Light."

His film roles after Wings include a fast-talking lawyer in The Man Who Wasn't There, a Cuban-American businessman in Primary Colors, a sleazy alien pawn shop owner in the Men in Black films, a sympathetic attorney in A Civil Action, a widowed father in Thir13en Ghosts, and a has-been television star in Galaxy Quest. He also had a co-starring role in the film Big Night, where he plays an Italian-speaking chef complete with accent.

Shalhoub demonstrated his dramatic range in the 1998 big-budget thriller, The Siege starring Denzel Washington, Annette Bening, and Bruce Willis. His character, FBI Special Agent Frank Haddad, was of Middle Eastern descent and suffered discrimination after Arab terrorists attack sites in New York City.

He most recently appeared with Alec Baldwin in the Hollywood satire The Last Shot as a gruff small-time mobster with a love for movies and as the voice of Luigi in the Pixar film Cars.

He later returned to series television in 1999, this time in a lead role on Stark Raving Mad opposite Neil Patrick Harris. The show did not attract much of an audience, and NBC cancelled the series in July 2000.

Shalhoub did voice acting for the computer game Fallout. He was one of the celebrity judges for the "Bush In 30 Seconds" advertisement competition.

Tony Shalhoub: Monk

After a two-year absence from the small screen, Shalhoub starred in another TV series, Monk, in which he plays a San Francisco detective diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder, for USA Network. Michael Richards had been offered the role when the show was being considered for broadcast on ABC, a network which would later rerun the first season in 2003, but he eventually turned it down. Shalhoub was nominated for Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series seven times consecutively, from 2003-2009, and won in 2003, 2005, and 2006.

Tony Shalhoub: Career during Monk

In addition to his acting work, Shalhoub, along with the Network of Arab-American Professionals and Zoom-in-Focus productions, established The Arab-American Filmmaker Award Competition in 2005. Arab-American filmmakers submitted screenplays, with the chosen winner flown to Hollywood to have their screenplay produced. Two runner ups are also invited to participate in the production.

Shalhoub appeared in the horror film 1408 as John Cusack's literary agent.

In 2007, Shalhoub played Charlie in The Scene off-Broadway.

He received a 2008 Grammy nomination in the category "Best Spoken Word Album For Children" for his narration of The Cricket In Times Square.

Tony Shalhoub: Personal life

Shalhoub married actress Brooke Adams in 1992. The two have worked together in several films, and Adams has made guest appearances on Monk.

At the time of their wedding Adams had an adopted daughter, Josie Lynn (born 1988), whom Shalhoub has made his own legal offspring. In 1994, they adopted another daughter, Sophie (born 1993). Both adoptions are open. The family resides in Los Angeles and Green Bay.

Shalhoub is a fan of the Green Bay Packers.

His brother Michael has appeared twice on Monk, first as Ron Abrash in Mr Monk And The Missing Granny and then as Ned the Beekeeper in Mr Monk Bumps His Head.

The actor's sister Susan Shalhoub Larkin appeared in Mr Monk and the Genius.

In 2006, another Shaloub, Dan, appeared on the reality show American Inventor, pitching the Sha-Poopie, a dog-crap scoop on a stick. Judges rejected it as disgusting.

Tony Shalhoub is the cousin of Chicago radio personality Jonathon Brandmeier. He is also the brother-in-law of former Guiding Light actress Lynne Adams.