Mario Cantone, the celebrated New York stage actor and stand-up comedian gained critical acclaim with his Tony-nominated one-man show Laugh Whore, from its appearance at the Cort Theatre on Broadway to the Showtime Network special. He also starred on Broadway as SAM BYCK in the Tony-winning Assassins, by Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman, BUZZ in Terrence McNally’s Tony award-winning dramatic comedy, Love! Valor! Compassion! All three of these hit shows were directed by four-time Tony-winner Joe Mantello. His other Broadway credits include GIDGER, in The Violet Hour (original Broadway cast), and STEPHANO (opposite Patrick Stewart), in Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Off-Broadway Cantone also originated the roles of TERRY in The Crumple Zone, directed by Jason Moore, and MATT inSteve, for the New Group, directed by Cynthia Nixon. He is currently starring in A Room Of My Own (opposite Ralph Macchio), at the Abingdon Theatre.
The feature film from work, from Cantone, include “Quiz Show”, directed by Robert Redford, Sony’s animated film, “Surf’s Up”, “In Stereo”, “The Aristocrats”, and as Anthony Marentino, in “Sex and the City 1” and “Sex and the City 2”. He can still be seen, HBO’s series “Sex and the City”, in syndication on many television stations. He was a recurring character on ABC’s “Men In Trees”, and has a guest star on VH1’s “Hindsight”.
On Comedy Central Cantone’s performances have been featured on “The USO Comedy Tour”, “Comics Come Home”, “Chappelle Show”, “Denis Leary Roast”, and “Joan Rivers Roast”. The network was also home to his first solo stand-up special “Comedy Central Presents Mario Cantone.”
Cantone got his start hosting the local New York children’s show “Steampipe Alley”, where the comic slipped in sly pop culture innuendo that adults could enjoy. His other television credits include appearances on “Late Night with David Letterman”, “Jimmy Fallon”, “Oprah”, “Conan” “Martha Stewart”, “Meredith Viera”, “The Today Show”, and through out it’s 18 year run, multiple appearances, as guest and co-host, on “ABC’s The View”.
Cantone has appeared on the stages of Carnegie Hall, Atlantic City’s Borgata, The Golden Nugget, Cearsar’s Palace (Las Vegas), and performing arts centers of Santa Rosa, Peekskill, Scottsdale, Fort Lauderdale, and St. Louis, where he performed his comedy and music show, Mario Cantone Live!