
Joe Grifasi
Born June 14, 1944 · Buffalo - New York - USA
Joseph G. "Joe" Grifasi (born June 14, 1944) is an American character actor of film, stage and television. Born in Buffalo, New York, Grifasi joined the U.S. Army prior to studying acting. He has appeared in more than 50 feature films including Presumed Innocent, The Deer Hunter, Big Business, Beaches, Auto Focus, Matewan, Naked Gun, Dark Matter, Natural Born Killers, Chances Are, Changing Lanes, One Fine Day, F/X, Benny & Joon, The Pope of Greenwich Village, Brewster’s Millions, Batman Forever, The Flamingo Kid, Ironweed, and Splash. His television credits include The Bronx is Burning (as Yogi Berra), 61* (as Phil Rizzuto), Law & Order, ER, LA Law, Chicago Hope, Hill Street Blues, SCTV, Roseanne, and The Practice. Grifasi’s Broadway credits include Dinner at Eight, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, A Memory of Two Mondays, Boy Meets Girl, The Accidental Death of an Anarchist, The 1940’s Radio Hour and Happy End. His off-Broadway credits include Conversations in Tusculum, The Boys Next Door (Drama Desk Nomination), Once Around the City, Golden Boy, Filumena and Says I, Says He. He has been married to jazz soprano saxophonist and composer Jane Ira Bloom, whom he met while studying at the Yale School of Drama, since 1974.
Notable Appearances
Movies

13 Going on 30

The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!

The Deer Hunter

Batman Forever

Natural Born Killers

Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult

Moonstruck

Money Train

Presumed Innocent

Changing Lanes

Splash

The Hudsucker Proxy

The Out-of-Towners

Benny & Joon

One Fine Day

Brewster's Millions

Chances Are

Still of the Night

F/X

Big Business

Auto Focus

The Pope of Greenwich Village

Matewan

Switching Goals

Ironweed

Honky Tonk Freeway

61*

Slow Burn

Radium Girls

Hide in Plain Sight

Bad Medicine

Looking for an Echo

The Other Me
TV Shows

ER

The Practice

Elementary

Great Performances

L.A. Law

American Playhouse

Hill Street Blues

The Good Fight

Bull

Matlock

The Equalizer

New Amsterdam

Moonlighting

Evil

Early Edition

Hope & Faith

Conviction

Lodge 49

Remember WENN

I Know This Much Is True

The Beat

Roseanne

Deadline

Capital News

The Bronx Is Burning

Class of '96

Tarzan

Canterbury's Law

Moon Over Miami

WIOU

Undue Influence

Sinatra

Some of My Best Friends
More Movies

The Naked Man

A Midsummer Night's Dream

The Flamingo Kid

City of Hope

Two Bits

Something Short of Paradise

The Appointments of Dennis Jennings

A Crime

The Front

Will There Really Be a Morning?

Perfect Witness

Queenie in Love

Baked in Brooklyn

Citizen Cohn

On the Yard

Heavy

Tornado

Household Saints

No Pay, Nudity

Taking the Heat

The American Side

The Last New Yorker

Kojak: Ariana

The Gentleman Bandit

The Elephant Man

Primary Motive

The Deal

The Feud

One Police Plaza

Lewis Black: Red, White & Screwed

A Jersey Tale

Secret Service

Jack Reed: A Search for Justice

Sunday

The Dreams of Rene Sendam

Me To Play




