John Pankow (born April 28, 1954) is an American

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

. He began his career on-stage in New York, in numerous

Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

and

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

plays including

Peter Shaffer Sir Peter Levin Shaffer (; 15 May 1926 – 6 June 2016) was an English playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. He wrote numerous award-winning plays, of which several were adapted into films. Early life Shaffer was born to a Jewish family in L ...

's ''Amadeus'',

John Patrick Shanley John Patrick Shanley (born October 13, 1950) is an American playwright, screenwriter, and director. He won the 1988 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the film ''Moonstruck''. His play, '' Doubt: A Parable'', won the 2005 Pulitzer P ...

's ''

Italian American Reconciliation ''Italian American Reconciliation'' is a play by John Patrick Shanley. It premiered Off-Broadway at the Manhattan Theatre Club in 1988. Productions ''Italian American Reconciliation'' was first performed at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in ...

,'' and

Brian Friel Brian Patrick Friel (c. 9 January 1929 – 2 October 2015) was an Irish dramatist, short story writer and founder of the Field Day Theatre Company. He had been considered one of the greatest living English-language dramatists. (subscription req ...

's ''Aristocrats.'' After a starring role in

William Friedkin William "Billy" Friedkin (born August 29, 1935)Biskind, p. 200. is an American film and television director, producer and screenwriter closely identified with the "New Hollywood" movement of the 1970s. Beginning his career in documentaries in t ...

's '' To Live and Die in L.A.,'' he began appearing regularly in film and on television, playing Ira Buchman for all eight seasons of ''

Mad About You ''Mad About You'' is an American television sitcom starring Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt as a married couple in New York City. It initially aired on NBC from September 23, 1992, to May 24, 1999, winning numerous awards including four Golden Glob ...

'' and later Merc Lapidus on ''

Episodes Episodes may refer to: * Episode An episode is a narrative unit within a larger dramatic work or documentary production, such as a series intended for radio, television or streaming consumption. The noun ''episode'' is derived from the Greek ...

.''

Early life and education

Pankow was born in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

, to a Catholic family of German and Irish descent, the sixth of nine siblings. His elder brother is trombonist/composer

James Pankow James Carter Pankow is an American trombone player, songwriter and brass instrument player, best known as a founding member of the rock band Chicago. Early life, family and education Born in St. Louis, Missouri of German and Irish descent, Pa ...

, a founding member of the rock group

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. Pankow grew up in

Park Ridge, Illinois Park Ridge is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States, and a Chicago suburb. Per the 2020 census, the population was 39,656. It is located northwest of downtown Chicago. It is close to O'Hare International Airport, major expressways, a ...

, and attended

Maine South High School Maine South High School (officially known as Maine Township High School South) is a public four-year high school located in Park Ridge, Illinois, a northwest suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It is part of Maine Township High Sch ...

and

Northeastern Illinois University Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU) is a public university in Chicago, Illinois. NEIU serves approximately 9,000 students in the region and is a Hispanic-serving institution. The main campus is located in the community area of North Park wi ...

. He left the university in his junior year after he attended a performance of

David Mamet David Alan Mamet (; born November 30, 1947) is an American playwright, filmmaker, and author. He won a Pulitzer Prize and received Tony nominations for his plays ''Glengarry Glen Ross'' (1984) and '' Speed-the-Plow'' (1988). He first gained cri ...

's ''The American Buffalo'' at the St. Nicholas Theater. Inspired by the play, he enrolled in the theater's two-year theatrical training program in order to concentrate solely on acting.

Career

While visiting a friend in New York City, Pankow auditioned for, and won, a role in an episode of

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

' ''

Great Performances ''Great Performances'' is a television anthology series dedicated to the performing arts; the banner has been used to televise theatrical performances such as plays, musicals, opera, ballet, concerts, as well as occasional documentaries. It is p ...

'' entitled "Life on the Mississippi". He went on to perform in several

productions including ''Aristocrats'', ''

'', and the New York Shakespeare Festival's '' The Tempest, Two Gentlemen of Verona'' and ''Henry VIII''. He subsequently made it to Broadway with ''

Serious Money ''Serious Money'' is a satirical play written by Caryl Churchill first staged in London in 1987. Its subject is the British stock market, specifically the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange (LIFFE). Often considered ...

'', ''

The Iceman Cometh ''The Iceman Cometh'' is a play written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill in 1939. First published in 1946, the play premiered on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theatre on October 9, 1946, directed by Eddie Dowling, where it ran for 136 perf ...

'', and as

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

in ''

Amadeus Amadeus may refer to: *Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791), prolific and influential composer of classical music *Amadeus (name), a given name and people with the name * ''Amadeus'' (play), 1979 stage play by Peter Shaffer * ''Amadeus'' (film), ...

'', replacing

Tim Curry Timothy James Curry (born 19 April 1946) is an English actor and singer. He rose to prominence for his portrayal of Dr. Frank-N-Furter in the film ''The Rocky Horror Picture Show'' (1975), reprising the role he had originated in the 1973 London ...

in the role and subsequently replacing him for a touring production. After minor supporting roles in '' The Hunger'' and '' Rambo: First Blood Part II,'' he had his first starring role on-screen in '' To Live and Die in L.A.'' as rookie Secret Service agent John Vukovich, starring opposite

William Petersen William Louis Petersen (born February 21, 1953) is an American actor and producer. He is best known for his role as Gil Grissom in the CBS drama series ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'' (2000–2015), for which he won a Screen Actors Guild Aw ...

and

Willem Dafoe Willem James Dafoe (; born July 22, 1955) is an American actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, including the Volpi Cup for Best Actor, in addition to receiving nominations for four Academy Awards, four Screen Actors Guild Awards, t ...

. Pankow was cast after director

deliberately sought out young, relatively-unknown stage actors for the project. After casting fellow Chicagoan Petersen, the old friend reached out to Pankow, who brought him to Friedkin who cast him on the spot. He subsequently appeared for eight seasons as Ira Buchman on the NBC sitcom ''

,'' where he was nominated for four

Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to m ...

Awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series. He was a series regular on the Showtime/BBC series ''

'', playing American television executive Merc Lapidus. He has since appeared in numerous films and television series.

Personal life

Pankow has been married to actress Kristine Sutherland since 1986, and they have one daughter together. He resides in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Stage credits

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pankow, John 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors American male film actors American male stage actors American male television actors Northeastern Illinois University alumni Male actors from St. Louis Actors from Park Ridge, Illinois American people of German descent American people of Irish descent 1954 births Living people