Bobby Cannavale

Bobby Cannavale (/ˌkænəˈvɑːli/ kan-uh-VAH-lee; born May 3, 1970) is an American actor. His breakthrough came with the leading role as FDNY Paramedic Roberto "Bobby" Caffey in the NBC series Third Watch, a role he played from 1999 to 2001.

Cannavale received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for Will & Grace in 2005, and received nominations for his recurring role on Nurse Jackie (2012, 2013). He won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for portraying Gyp Rosetti in Boardwalk Empire in 2013. Other television roles include Vinyl, Mr. Robot, Blue Bloods and Master of None. He has also starred in the Amazon Prime series Homecoming (2018–20), the Hulu series Nine Perfect Strangers (2021), and Netflix's The Watcher (2022).

Cannavale made his Broadway debut in the 2008 Theresa Rebeck play Mauritius for which he earned a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play. In 2011, he starred in the Stephen Adly Guirgis comedic play The Motherfucker with the Hat, earning a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play nomination. He portrayed Richard Roma in the 2012 revival of David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross.

Cannavale has acted in the drama films The Station Agent (2003), Win Win (2011), Blue Jasmine (2013), I, Tonya (2017), Motherless Brooklyn (2019), The Irishman (2019), and Blonde (2022) as well as the comedy films Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009), The Other Guys (2010), Annie (2014), Spy (2015), and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017). He entered the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) portraying Jim Paxton in Ant-Man (2015) and Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018). He has voiced recurring roles for the animated Netflix series BoJack Horseman and Big Mouth, and provided voice acting work for The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature, Ferdinand (both 2017), Tom & Jerry, Sing 2 (both 2021) and Under the Boardwalk (2023).

Cannavale was born on May 3, 1970, in Union City, New Jersey, where he grew up, the son of Isabel and Salvatore "Sal" Cannavale. His father is of Italian descent, while his mother is Cuban and moved to the U.S. in 1960. His uncle is Enzo Cannavale, an Italian actor who performed in the Academy Award–winning Cinema Paradiso. He was raised Catholic and attended St. Michael's Catholic School, where he participated in a number of extracurricular activities, including being an altar boy and member of the chorus.

When he was eight, Cannavale secured the plum role of the lisping boy, Winthrop, in his school's production of The Music Man and later played a gangster in Guys and Dolls, which cemented his love for performing. Cannavale's parents divorced when he was 13 and his mother moved the family to Puerto Rico. After two years in the American territory, they settled in Margate, Florida. From 1983 to 1986, Cannavale attended Coconut Creek High School, but during his senior year, he was expelled "for being a cutup." He then returned to New Jersey to live with his grandmother, in order to be closer to New York to launch his acting career and went to summer school to earn a diploma from Union Hill High School.

Cannavale began his acting career in the theater – with no acting training – and gained early film roles in Night Falls on Manhattan (1997) and The Bone Collector (1999), Cannavale became well known when he starred as Bobby Caffey for two seasons on Third Watch. Following this, in 2001, he starred with Alan Arkin in 100 Centre Street – which was written and directed by Sidney Lumet, his then-father-in-law.

In 2002, he joined the cast of Ally McBeal for the last five episodes, but the show was then cancelled. Following this, he starred with Yancey Arias and Sheryl Lee in the miniseries Kingpin. In 2003, Cannavale briefly appeared on the last two episodes of Oz. He also appeared in the film The Station Agent as a man who befriends a little person removed from society. From 2004 to 2006, he had a recurring guest role on Will & Grace as Vince D'Angelo, the boyfriend (and eventual husband) of Will Truman (Eric McCormack). However, in the reboot, they are revealed not to be married. For this role, he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series in 2005. He has also appeared in the films The Guru (2002), Shall We Dance? (2004), Romance & Cigarettes (2005) and Snakes on a Plane, and guest-starred in Sex and the City, Six Feet Under, Oz, Law & Order – and its spin-off series Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. He appeared in The Take (2007) as Agent Steve Perelli, alongside John Leguizamo and Tyrese Gibson.