Dan Lauria Biography

American actor (born 1947)

Dan Lauria (born April 12, 1947) is an American actor, who played the role of Jack Arnold in The Wonder Years (1988–1993), Jack Sullivan on Sullivan and Son (2012–2014), and Al Luongo on Pitch (2016–2017).

Early life

Lauria, an Italian-American, was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Carmela (née Luongo) and Joseph J. Lauria. He also lived in Lindenhurst, New York. He graduated from Lindenhurst Senior High School in 1965 as a varsity football player, and he briefly taught physical education at Lindenhurst High School. A Vietnam War veteran, Lauria served as an officer in the United States Marine Corps; he served at the same point in his life that Jack Arnold, his character in The Wonder Years, did during the Korean War. In Vietnam, he served as a platoon commander at An Loc near the Cambodian border. He got his start in acting while attending Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven, Connecticut, on a football scholarship.

Career

Lauria is best known for his portrayal of Jack Arnold, the stern, but loving, money-conscious father on the TV series The Wonder Years, that ran from 1988 to 1993. He also played NASA Administrator James Webb in the 1998 TV miniseries From the Earth to the Moon and Commanding Officer, USA in 1996's Independence Day. More recently he has appeared as Police Commissioner Eustace Dolan in The Spirit. He appeared as Coach Hamstrung in The Three Stooges N.Y.U.K. on AMC in 2000. Lauria appeared on stage in New York in the summer of 2006 in an off-Broadway production of A Stone Carver by William Mastrosimone with Jim Iorio and Elizabeth Rossa. Lauria also had a small role in a season two episode of Army Wives, as well as a season one episode of The Mentalist. In 2009, Lauria has appeared as General Lee Whitworth, M.D. in Criminal Minds season 4. He has also appeared in an episode of Boy Meets World, starring Ben Savage, the younger brother of Fred Savage. In late 2009, Lauria returned to the off-Broadway stage, appearing as Jimmy Hoffa in Brian Lee Franklin's Good Bobby, a fictionalized account of Robert F. Kennedy's rise.

In 2010, Lauria appeared as Vince Lombardi in the Broadway play Lombardi. The play received positive reviews, with sportswriter Jim Hague commenting, "Lauria truly becomes Vince Lombardi. You almost forget you're watching an actor. He's Lombardi through and through, down to the wire-framed gl*es and intimidating scowl." North Bergen football coach Vince Ascolese, who met Lombardi, commented "I really felt like he was Lombardi. It was uncanny." Lauria's portrayal of Lombardi was used during the NFL on FOX introduction to Super Bowl XLV, where one of the two participating teams was the Green Bay Packers; the team Lombardi coached to victories in the first two Super Bowls in 1967 and 1968. The Packers went on to defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers in that game.

In 2012, Lauria played the part of Jean Shepherd in the Broadway production of A Christmas Story: The Musical, a role which he reprised off-Broadway at Madison Square Garden in 2013. From 2012 through 2014, he played Jack Sullivan on the Steve Byrne sitcom Sullivan & Son.

Lauria served one year as a Department of Veterans Affairs celebrity hospital visitor, during which he toured many VA hospitals, meeting patients.

Filmography

Lauria at the 41st Emmy Awards on September 17, 1989

Film

• 1981 C.O.D. as Secret Service Man #2
• 1983 Without a Trace as Baker
• 1985 South Bronx Heroes as FBI Agent
• 1987 Stakeout as Detective Phil Coldshank
• 1993 Another Stakeout as Captain Phil Coldshank
• 1995 Excessive Force II: Force on Force as Orlando Franco
• 1996 Faithful
• 1996 No One Could Protect Her as Detective Greg Coming
• 1996 Independence Day as Commanding Officer
• 1998 True Friends as Pauley
• 1998 Wide Awake as Father Peters
• 1999 Stranger in My House as Dennis
• 1999 A Wake in Providence as Rudy
• 2001 Full Disclosure as Clive Carter
• 2001 Ricochet River as Coach Garth
• 2002 Contagion as General Ryker
• 2002 Outside the Law as Detective Froman
• 2002 High Times Potluck as Carmine
• 2002 The Empath
• 2003 Dead Canaries as Vito Scaldafieri
• 2005 The Signs of the Cross as Mr. Coyne
• 2005 Jesus, Mary and Joey as Father Gino
• 2006 Big Momma's House 2 as Crawford
• 2008 Dear Me as Mr. Hunt
• 2008 The Spirit as Commissioner Eustace Dolan
• 2009 Alien Tresp* as Chief Dawson
• 2009 Donna On Demand as Detective Lewis
• 2009 Dead Air as Fred
• 2009 InSearchOf as Reverend Blackwell
• 2010 The Waiter as Father Parks
• 2011 Here's the Kicker as Dave Berry
• 2011 Life of Lemon as Arthur
• 2013 Make Your Move as Parole Officer Foster
• 2014 Sister as Jeffrey Presser
• 2017 The Concessionaires Must Die! as Jack Fisk
• 2017 An American Dog Story as Paw Poochini
• 2017 Locating Silver Lake as Speaker
• 2020 The Eagle and the Albatross as Dr. Al Wiserman
• 2020 The Way Back as Gerry Norris
• 2020 Holidate as Wally
• 2021 Potato Dreams of America
• TBA Reagan as Tip O'Neill

Television

• 1982 Muggable Mary, Street Cop (TV movie) as Vince Palucci
• 1984 Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer as John Shane (episode: 'Kill Devil')
• 1985–1987 Scarecrow and Mrs. King as Foster / Rogan
• 1986 Doing Life (TV movie) (with Tony Danza)
• 1986 Growing Pains as Hockey Coach Brockton
• 1986–1987 Growing Pains as Dan / Hockey Coach
• 1987 L.A. Law as Joseph Sears
• 1987 Wiseguy as Detective Jack Philips
• 1987–1988 Cagney & Lacey as Detective Harry Dupnick
• 1988 David (TV movie) as John
• 1988–1993 The Wonder Years as Jack Arnold
• 1990 The Big One: The Great Los Angeles Earthquake (TV movie) as Steve Winslow
• 1993 In the Line of Duty: Ambush in Waco (TV movie) as Bob Blanchard
• 1995 Amazing Grace as Harry Kramer
• 1995 Burke's Law as Coach Jimmy Jackson
• 1996 Terror in the Family (TV movie) as Todd Marten
• 1996–1997 Party of Five as Coach Russ Petrocelli
• 1997 Boy Meets World as Judge Lamb
• 1997 Prison of Secrets (TV movie) as Sergeant Ed Crang
• 1997 Walker, Texas Ranger as Salvatore Matacio
• 1997 Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman as Major Samuel Mortison
• 1998 From the Earth to the Moon (TV miniseries) as James Webb
• 1999 Batman Beyond as Bill Wallace (voice)
• 2000 Static Shock as Sean Foley (voice)
• 2000 Diagnosis Murder as Donald Purdy
• 2000 N.Y.U.K. as Coach Hamstrung
• 2001 Smallville as Coach Walt Arnold
• 2003 JAG as Allen Blaisdell
• 2003 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as Peter Kurtz
• 2003 7th Heaven as Andrew Hampton
• 2005 Ghost Whisperer as Ellis Conway
• 2007 Psych as Bill Peterson
• 2007 The Bronx Is Burning (TV miniseries) as Detective Borelli
• 2007 The Black Donnellys as Franny Kenny
• 2008 The Mentalist TV series, episode 1x20 as Santino Battaglia
• 2008 How I Met Your Mother as Nolan
• 2009 Criminal Minds as General Lee Whitworth
• 2010 Law & Order: Criminal Intent as Boxing Gym
• 2011 Nurse Jackie as Carl
• 2011 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as Ray Masters
• 2011 Harry's Law as Judge Raymond Gillot
• 2012 NCIS: Los Angeles as James Cleary
• 2012 Sullivan & Son as Jack Sullivan
• 2012 Person of Interest as Stanley Amis
• 2012–2014 Perception as Joe Moretti
• 2014 Hot in Cleveland as J.J.
• 2015 Grey's Anatomy as Martin Davis
• 2015–2019 Blue Bloods as FDNY Commissioner Stan Rourke
• 2016 Pitch as Al Luongo
• 2017 The Night Shift as Doug
• 2017 Elementary as Louis Garmendia
• 2017 NCIS as Morgan Cade
• 2018 Christmas At Grand Valley as Frank
• 2018 Man with a Plan as Frank
• 2018-2021 Shameless as Mo White
• 2018 This Is Us as Toby's Father
• 2019 The Resident as Simon Ortiz
• 2020 MacGyver as Next Door Neighbor
• 2021 The Goldbergs as Mr. Wofsy (Next Door Neighbor)
• 2023 Fantasy Island as Lou Hutchinson
• 2023 The Good Doctor as Mr. Ermey (Episode: "Loves Labor")

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dan Lauria.

• Dan Lauria at IMDb