Dennis Boutsikaris
Dennis Boutsikaris | |
---|---|
Born | Newark, New Jersey, U.S. | December 21, 1952
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1980–present |
Spouse(s) | Deborah Hedwall (1982-2002; divorced; 2 children) |
Website | www.DennisBoutsikaris.com |
Dennis Boutsikaris (born December 21, 1952) is an American character actor who has won the Obie Award twice. He is also a narrator of audiobooks and for which he has won an Audie Award.
Early life and education
He was born in Newark, New Jersey to a Greek American father and Jewish mother,[1] and grew up in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey.[2] A graduate of Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, Boutsikaris toured the country with John Houseman's The Acting Company doing classical theatre.
Career
On Broadway Boutsikaris became the first American to play Mozart in Amadeus, and was directed by Laurence Olivier in Filumena. He was married to actress Deborah Hedwall, who later co-starred with him in the Off-Broadway production of Sight Unseen to great critical acclaim. They divorced in 2002.
Boutsikaris has received two Obie Awards: one in 1985 for Outstanding Performance in Nest of the Woodgrouse at the New York Shakespeare Festival, directed by Joseph Papp; and one in 1992 for Outstanding Performance in Sight Unseen at the Manhattan Theatre Club. He also received a Drama Desk Award nomination for Best Actor for Sight Unseen, as well as a Cable ACE nomination for Best Supporting Actor for Chasing the Dragon in 1995. He was nominated for a People's Choice Award as best Newcomer.
His film credits include leading roles in *batteries not included, The Dream Team, Crocodile Dundee II, Boys on the Side and In Dreams, among many others. His most recent indie films include Cherry Crush, The Education of Charlie Banks, and Calling it Quits for which he received the Best Actor Award at the Staten Island Film Festival and the Long island Film Festival. He is Paul Wolfowitz in Oliver Stone's "W." He plays Terrence Ward in The Bourne Legacy.
On television he had the lead in the series Stat, The Jackie Thomas Show, and Misery Loves Company. He has also had recurring roles on Sidney Lumet's 100 Centre Street, Nurse, Trinity, ER, Law & Order and, most recently, on Showtime's Shameless. Boutsikaris had a leading part in episode 20 of the second season of the hit CBS show Person of Interest which aired in the USA on Thursday, April 26, 2013.
He has starred in over 20 TV movies, including Chasing the Dragon (with Markie Post), And Then There was One, (with Amy Madigan) Three Faces of Karen, (with Gail O'Grady) Survival on the Mountain, Beyond Betrayal, and as Woody Allen in the miniseries Love and Betrayal: The Mia Farrow Story (with Patsy Kensit).
He has been seen on Broadway in Bent, Filumena (directed by Sir Laurence Olivier), and Amadeus (as the first American to play Mozart) with Frank Langella. He was seen in the Delacorte Theatre's production of Julius Caesar as Cassius. He was in the original New York productions of The Boys Next Door, A Picasso, and the revival of That Championship Season.
Off-Broadway he is probably best known for playing Jonathan Waxman in the original production of Sight Unseen at the Manhattan Theatre Club and later at the Orpheum Theatre. He received the Obie Award and a nomination for a Drama Desk Award for this performance. At the Geffen Theatre in Los Angeles he appeared in the premiere of David Mamet's The Old Neighborhood and in 2007 Jane Anderson's The Quality of Life with Laurie Metcalf and Jo Beth Williams. For that performance he received the Backstage West Garland Award for Best Actor and was nominated for Best Actor by the L.A. Critics Drama Circle and by the LA Alliance Ovation Awards.
In 2009 he was in the Broadway revivals of Brighton Beach Memoirs and Broadway Bound. The former opened to wide critical acclaim and then closed one week later. The latter never opened.
He continued his association with Laurie Metcalf appearing with her in The Other Place Off-Broadway.
He can be heard in over 100 audiobooks and has received 8 Audie Awards and two Best Voices of the Year Awards from AudioFile Magazine.
In 2015, he played the role of lawyer Rick Schweikart in the first season of the American series Better Call Saul.
References
- ^ Papapostolou, Anastasios (November 19, 2008). "Dennis Boutsikaris aka Mr. Wolfowitz in W." Retrieved September 9, 2010.
- ^ Staff. "Play It Again, Dennis: In This Week's Mia Farrow TV Bio, Dennis Boutsikaris Shows He Nose Woody", People (magazine), March 6, 1995. Accessed February 27, 2011. "His own life doesn't much resemble Allen's. He grew up in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, the son of an ad exec and a homemaker."