Armand Anthony Assante, Jr. (born October 4, 1949) is an American actor.

Personal life[link]

Assante was born in New York City and raised in Cornwall, New York, the son of Katherine (née Healy), a music teacher and poet, and Armand Anthony Assante, Sr., a painter and artist.^[1][2] His father was Italian and his mother was Irish,^[3] and was raised in a devoutly Roman Catholic family.^[4] Assante was married to Karen McArn from 1982 to 1994, and has two daughters, Anya and Alessandra.

Career[link]

During the 1970s, Assante was a regular on two NBC soap operas, How to Survive a Marriage as Johnny McGee and The Doctors as Dr. Mike Powers. His first film was The Lords of Flatbush (1974), although the title credits misspelled his last name as Assanti. A role that brought him greater attention came in 1980's Private Benjamin as a handsome Frenchman who becomes the love interest of a U.S. soldier played by Goldie Hawn.

Assante's somewhat sinister look has made him a popular choice for tough-guy heroes, as in his starring role as private eye Mike Hammer in the film I, the Jury (1982) or as Mafia gangsters like that of Michael Moretti in Sidney Sheldon's Rage of Angels. He portrayed the notorious Bugsy Siegel in a comedy, Neil Simon's The Marrying Man (1991), another mobster in Hoffa (1992) starring Jack Nicholson, and crime kingpin John Gotti in the 1996 made-for-television biopic Gotti, for which he won his Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie.

Other notable film appearances include one as a Cuban bandleader in The Mambo Kings opposite Antonio Banderas and in the adaptation of the science-fiction story Judge Dredd with Sylvester Stallone, his co-star in two previous films. More recently he appeared in American Gangster (2007) with Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. He has had a recurring guest star role in several episodes of NCIS, playing the international arms dealer René Benoit. Outside of the U.S., he has participated in several film projects in European countries like Macedonia, Turkey, Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria.

Awards and nominations[link]

Emmy Awards[link]

• 1989 - Nominated Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor - Miniseries or a Movie for his portrayal of Richard Mansfield in Jack the Ripper
• 1996 - Won Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor - Miniseries or a Movie for his portrayal of Mafia Don John Gotti

Golden Globe Awards[link]

• 1989 - Nominated Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television for Jack the Ripper
• 1991 - Nominated Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture for Q&A
• 1997 - Nominated Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television for Gotti
• 1998 - Nominated Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television for The Odyssey

Screen Actors Guild Awards[link]

• 1997 - Nominated - Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie for Gotti

In 2010, Assante received a star on the Italian Walk of Fame in Toronto, Canada.^[5]

Filmography[link]

Films[link]

• The Lords of Flatbush (1974)
• First Ladies Diaries: Rachel Jackson (1975) (TV)
• Paradise Alley (1978)
• Human Feelings (a.k.a. Miles the Angel) (1978) (TV)
• Lady of the House (1978) (TV)
• The Pirate (1978) (TV)
• Prophecy (1979)
• Little Darlings (1980)
• Private Benjamin (1980)
• Sophia Loren: Her Own Story (1980) (TV)
• Love and Money (1982)
• I, the Jury (1982)
• Rage of Angels (1983) (TV)
• Unfaithfully Yours (1984)
• Why Me? (1984) (TV)
• Evergreen (1985) (TV)
• A Deadly Business (1986) (TV)
• Belizaire the Cajun (1986)
• Stranger in My Bed (1987) (TV)
• Hands of a Stranger (1987) (TV)
• Napoleon and Josephine: A Love Story (1987) (TV)
• The Penitent (1988)
• Jack the Ripper (1988) (TV)
• Eternity (1989)
• Passion and Paradise (1989) (TV)
• Animal Behavior (1989)
• Q&A (1990)
• The Marrying Man (1991)
• Fever (1991) (TV)
• The Mambo Kings (1992)
• 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992)
• Hoffa (1992)
• Fatal Instinct (1993)
• Blind Justice (1994) (TV)
• Trial by Jury (1994)
• Judge Dredd (1995)
• Kidnapped (1995) (TV)
• Striptease (1996)
• Gotti (1996) (TV)
• The Odyssey (1997) (TV) - Odysseus
• The Hunley (1999) (TV)
• The Road to El Dorado (2000) (voice) - Tzekel-Kan
• On the Beach (2000) (TV)
• Looking For An Echo (2000)
• Last Run (2001)
• After the Storm (2001) (TV)
• One Eyed King (2001)
• Federal Protection (2002)
• Partners in Action (2002)
• Citizen Verdict (2003)
• Tough Luck (2003)
• Consequence (2003)
• Casanova's Last Stand (2005)
• Children of Wax (a.k.a. The Killing Grounds) (2005)
• Dot.Kill (2005)
• The Third Wish (2005)
• Mirror Wars: Reflection One (2005)
• Two for the Money (2005)
• Confessions of a Pit Fighter (2005)
• Funny Money (2006)
• Dead Lenny (2006)
• Soul's Midnight (2006)
• Surveillance (2006)
• Mexican Sunrise (2007)
• California Dreamin' (2007)
• When Nietzsche Wept (2007)
• American Gangster (2007)
• Shark Swarm (2008) (TV)
• La Linea (2008)
• The Man Who Came Back (2008)
• The Lost (2009)
• Smile (2009)
• The Steam Experiment (a.k.a. The Chaos Experiment) (2009)
• Chicago Overcoat (2009)
• Breaking Point (a.k.a. Order of Redemption) (2009)
• Magic Man (2009)
• The Bleeding (2009)
• Shadows in Paradise (2010)
• Killer By Nature (2010)

Television[link]

• How to Survive a Marriage (1974–1975)
• The Doctors (1975–1977)
• Kojak (1977)
• Mrs. Columbo (1979)
• Jack the Ripper (1988)
• On The Beach (Remake - TV miniseries - Australia) (2000)
• Push, Nevada (2002)
• ER (2006)
• NCIS - René "La Grenouille" Benoit (2007)
• October Road (2008)
• Chuck - Alejandro Goya (2010)
• Human Target (2010)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Armand Assante at the Internet Movie Database
• Armand Assante at the TCM Movie Database
• Armand Assante at AllRovi
• http://www.assantefansite.dk/index.html