Detailed Biography

Anthony M. LaPaglia is an Australian actor. He is known for his Golden Globe Award-winning role as FBI agent Jack Malone on the American TV series Without a Trace, and for his Emmy Award-winning portrayal of Simon Moon on the TV show Frasier.

Early life

LaPaglia was born in Adelaide, South Australia, the son of Maria Johannes , a secretary, and Gedio "Eddie" LaPaglia, an auto mechanic and car dealer. LaPaglia's mother was Dutch and his Italian father immigrated from Bovalino, Calabria at the age of eighteen. His younger brother, Jonathan LaPaglia, is also an actor, and his other brother, Michael, is a car wholesaler in Los Angeles. LaPaglia attended Rostrevor College.

LaPaglia first began his venture into the world of dramatic art in his late teens. He enrolled at the South Australian Castings Agency, more commonly referred to as "S.A. Castings". Rather than completing the two and half year course offered by "S.A. Castings", LaPaglia completed one and half years of the course, and with one year still to complete he left Adelaide and headed to Los Angeles.

Career

LaPaglia's credits include the films Innocent Blood, The Client, Looking for Alibrandi, Lantana, Summer of Sam, So I Married an Axe Murderer, and Empire Records. LaPaglia also appeared in nine episodes of the sitcom Frasier, including the series finale, playing Daphne Moon's brother Simon. The role won him an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series. He also appeared uncredited in the film Analyze That playing an actor, Anthony Bella, who appeared in the TV show-within-a-film Little Caesar. LaPaglia also played the role of Jimmy Wyler, the lead during the second and final season of the television program Murder One.

LaPaglia appeared in the Australian political thriller Balibo, about the killing of the five Australian journalists in the town of the same name in East Timor in 1975. LaPaglia played the part of Roger East, another Australian journalist, who went to investigate the deaths of the newsmen, only to be killed the day after the Indonesian invasion.

In addition to leading the cast of Without a Trace, LaPaglia co-wrote an episode titled "Deep Water" with Byron Belasco, the show's usual writer.

Football

In the 1980s, LaPaglia was a goalkeeper in the National Soccer League, playing for Adelaide City and West Adelaide. LaPaglia is now part owner of A-League club Sydney FC, and has been flying from California to Sydney to attend their matches since their inception in 2005. He was the narrator and executive producer of The Away Game, a critically-acclaimed television documentary exploring the experiences of Australian footballers in Europe.

LaPaglia underwent a hip replacement in the summer of 2004, a result of his days playing football. He has fully recovered and has even played for a couple of amateur clubs in California. He plays occasionally with Hollywood United, an amateur organization of which he is club president, with other luminaries such as Frank Leboeuf, Vinnie Jones, Steve Jones and others.

LaPaglia has a minority shareholding in the International Goalkeepers Academy. The Academy was founded and is operated by James Fraser, who represented the Australian national team leading up to the 1974 FIFA World Cup.

LaPaglia has volunteered as an actor with the Young Storytellers Program. He played in a charity football match in 2007 to raise funds for Southern California wildfire relief.

Personal life

LaPaglia currently lives in Santa Monica, California. He has said that he adopted an American accent to help him get acting work after moving to America, and has now lost his Australian accent completely. Some critics and viewers have noted his occasional dialect slips. However, he is still capable of performing a flawless Australian accent in later roles in Australian movies such as Lantana and Balibo.

LaPaglia's first marriage was to actress Cherie Michan. He is currently married to Australian actress Gia Carides, whom he met at a party; the two starred jointly in the 1994 Australian movie Lucky Break and married in 1998. They have one daughter, Bridget.