A native New Yorker who managed to avoid the ethnic typecasting that limited so many other actors with similar backgrounds, Bobby Cannavale was an Emmy Award-winning actor known for procedural TV dramas as well as big screen comedy and numerous Broadway accomplishments. Some of Cannavale’s best-known roles found him in uniform – FDNY paramedic Bobby Caffey on “Third Watch” (NBC, 1999-2005), boss of “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” (2009), and his Emmy-winning guest appearances as Will’s cop boyfriend on “Will & Grace” (NBC, 1998-2006). But while he certainly scored as “regular Joes” – including his charming work in the indie film favorite, “The Station Agent” (2003) – he easily adapted into a wide range of characters and consistently enjoyed cross-medium success that few actors could match.
Cannavale was born on May 3, 1970 to a Cuban mother and Italian father in Union City, NJ. His strict, yet supportive mother made sure her son stayed out of trouble, making him participate in as many extracurricular activities at St. Michael’s Catholic School as possible. But domestic trouble arose in the Cannavale household and his parents divorced. At age 13, Cannavale moved to Puerto Rico with his mother for two years. He later moved to Miami where he attended high school, then went back to New Jersey to live with his grandmother.
After high school, Cannavale joined the prestigious Circle Repertory Theatre for several years, doing whatever he could to get his chance to perform. He started by sweeping floors, then served as a reader for plays being prepared for production, and was finally asked to be an understudy in the French farce, “A Flea in Her Ear.” Cannavale was asked to fill in for lead Mark-Linn Baker and had, according to the actor, the best experience of his life.
His performance in “A Flea in Her Ear” led to him being cast in “Most Fabulous Story Ever Told” by scribe Paul Rudnick. A casting director for Warner Bros. brought famed television writer-director-producer John Wells to the play. Wells enjoyed Cannavale’s performance so much that he cast him in the short-lived NBC drama, “Trinity” (1998-99). The series was cancelled after one season, but Cannavale maintained a strong relationship with Wells, who created the roll of Bobby Caffey for the actor in his next series, “Third Watch.”
After three seasons on the popular NBC drama about police, paramedics and firefighters in New York City, Cannavale’s character was killed off after he requested to leave the show. He moved on to the A&E series, “100 Centre Street” (A&E, 2001-02), a drama that recounted stories of Manhattan-based prosecutors, judges and defense attorneys. However, Cannavale did not restrict himself to television. He made brief appearances in several feature films, including “I’m Not Rappaport” (1996) and “Night Falls on Manhattan” (1997), directed by future father-in-law Sidney Lumet. (Cannavale would go on to marry Jenny Lumet, daughter to Sidney and granddaughter to Lena Horne). Cannavale then played Randy in “The Guru” (2002), co-starring Heather Graham and Jimi Mistry, as well as appearing in the critically acclaimed indie “Washington Heights” (2001), followed by a recurring stint on the final season of "Ally McBeal" (Fox, 1997-2002) in 2002.
It was not until “The Station Agent” (2003), written and directed by actor friend Tom McCarthy, that Cannavale was given the chance to sink his teeth into a major film role. Cannavale played the fast-talking, but perpetually lonely Joe Oramas, a hotdog vendor who pesters Finbar McBride (Peter Dinklage), a dwarf seeking total isolation at an abandoned train depot, into a grudging friendship. Co-starring Patricia Clarkson, “The Station Agent” won the coveted Audience Award at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival, as well as the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award and the Special Jury Prize for Outstanding Performance for Clarkson.
Cannavale's profile continued to rise with his roles on the NBC gangster family miniseries "Kingpin" (2003), an Emmy Award-winning guest stint as Will Truman's cop boyfriend Vince on the hit sitcom "Will & Grace," and a guest role on HBO’s “Six Feet Under” (HBO, 2001-05). He returned to the big screen in John Turturro’s murder musical, “Romance and Cigarettes” (2004), and played Jennifer Lopez's homophobic dance student in "Shall We Dance" (2004). Cannavale’s co-starring role in the romantic comedy “Happy Endings” (2005) was little-seen, but in the following year, he showed extraordinary range with roles in Armistead Maupin’s psychological mystery, “The Night Listener;” the character-based indie “10 Items or Less;” and the hugely hyped horror film, “Snakes on a Plane.” In addition to his feature work, Cannavale regularly revisited procedural dramas like “Law & Order” (NBC, 1990- ) and “Cold Case” (CBS, 2003- ), while appearing in supporting roles in indie films ranging from the comedy “The Ten” (2007) to the gritty urban heist flick, “The Take” (2007).
The stage veteran hit Broadway in 2008, co-starring in a production of "Mauritius" that earned him a Tony nomination for Featured Actor in a Play. The same year, he appeared off-Broadway in the premiere of Frank Pugliese's "The Talk" and in the under-the-radar feature “Diminished Capacity” (2008), starring Matthew Broderick. He once again donned a police uniform for the horror flick “100 Feet” (2008) then sent up his frequent “man in uniform” image by playing a mall cop alongside comic actor Kevin James in the hit comedy, “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” (2009). Fresh off the success of this unlikely hit, Cannavale returned to primetime in the spring of 2009 as the matchmaking mental patient lead of the series, “Cupid” (ABC, 2009- ).