People

Joe Grifasi

Acting · follow into films and chains

Biography

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 films

Where to start

Highlights from credits and KinoChain journeys.

The Hudsucker Proxy

Appears in a KinoChain journey

Batman Forever

As Bank Guard

The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!

As Foreman

13 Going on 30

As Mr. Flamhaff

Moonstruck

As Shy Waiter

Splash

As Manny

Changing Lanes

As Judge Cosell

Money Train

As Riley

Chains

KinoChain journeys

Public chains that pass through their films — or name them as a bridge.

Browse all chains

When the Cartoon Fights Back: Slapstick Meets Liability

What happens when simulated harm, comic violence, or staged ordeals crash into real-world consequences? This collection explores the unsettling borderland where...

8 films

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