American actor (b. 1946)

Joseph Peter Spano (born July 7, 1946) is an American actor best known for his roles as Lt. Henry Goldblume on Hill Street Blues and FBI Special Agent Tobias C. Fornell on NCIS. He also voiced the Chuck E. Cheese (at the time Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre) character, Pasqually the Chef, from 1977–1983.

Contents

• 1 Career
  • 1.1 NCIS
• 2 Personal life
• 3 Filmography
  • 3.1 Film and television
• 4 Awards and nominations
• 5 References
• 6 External links

Career

Spano was a member of the San Francisco improv group The Wing, and in college debuted as Paris in a production of Romeo and Juliet in 1967. In 1968, he helped found the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, appearing in its first production, and stayed with the company for ten years. He moved to Hollywood in the late 1970s, landing guest spots on TV and bit roles in American Graffiti (1973) and The Enforcer (1976).

In Hill Street Blues he played Henry Goldblume during the entire seven-year run of the series, first as a detective sergeant, later as a lieutenant. Goldblume was one of Hill Street precinct captain Frank Furillo's trusted junior officers, serving at times as a hostage negotiator and gangs relations officer. The character was sympathetic to crime victims, sometimes coming in conflict with his duties as a police officer. Spano was one of many actors appearing throughout each episode, which typically had several interwoven story lines.

After Hill Street Blues ended, Spano won recurring roles in television police shows Murder One (1995) and NYPD Blue (1993), again as a detective, and has appeared regularly in television movies and television shows like The X-Files (episodes "Tempus Fugit" and "Max"), Mercy Point and Amazing Grace. Spano won an Emmy award in 1988 for Best Guest Actor in a Drama Series for a role he played in an episode of Midnight Caller. He has appeared in several feature films, including working alongside Tom Hanks in Apollo 13 and Richard Gere and Edward Norton in Primal Fear. His credits are often confused with Australian actor Joseph Spano. They are not related.

He is a veteran stage actor on the east and west coasts. Spano made his Broadway debut in 1992 in the Roundabout Theater revival of Arthur Miller's The Price, with Eli Wallach, which was nominated for a Tony for Best Revival. West coast stage credits include Eduardo Pavlovsky's Potestad, and David Mamet's Speed-the-Plow and American Buffalo, for which he was awarded an LA Drama Critics Circle Award. At the Rubicon Theater in Ventura he has played General Burgoyne in George Bernard Shaw's The Devil's Disciple, Greg in A. R. Gurney's Sylvia and Vladimir in Waiting for Godot. He is a member of the Antaeus Theater Company and a founding member of three other theater companies. He played a seductive vampire in the cult musical Dracula: A Musical Nightmare in a small Los Angeles theatre. He also appeared in the TV movie Brotherhood of Justice with Keanu Reeves and Kiefer Sutherland.

NCIS

Spano has been a recurring character in NCIS since its premiere episode, "Yankee White", playing FBI Special Agent Tobias Fornell, the FBI counterpart to NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, portrayed by Mark Harmon. In Season 15, Fornell is no longer with the FBI, but is a private investigator.

Two episodes have used Fornell's personal life as the main crux of an NCIS episode: one where Fornell's daughter is imperiled and another where Fornell's career is imperiled. In each episode, it is the friendship between Gibbs and Fornell which is invoked in order to involve NCIS in the resolution.

Personal life

Spano was born in San Francisco, California, the son of Virginia Jean (née Carpenter) and Vincent Dante Spano, a physician. He graduated from Archbishop Riordan High School in 1963, and he is an honorary member of the House of Russi. Spano and his wife Joan Zerrien, a therapist, were married in 1980. They have two adopted daughters.

Filmography

Film and television

• One Is a Lonely Number (1972) as Earl of Kent
• American Graffiti (1973) as Vic
• Warlock Moon (1973) as John Devers
• The Streets of San Francisco (1974, TV Series) as Taxi Driver - Witness / Toomey
• The Enforcer (1976) as Mitch, Robber (uncredited)
• Northern Lights (1978) as John Sorensen
• Lou Grant (1979, TV Series) as Jack Ridgeway / Larry
• Trapper John, M.D. (1979) as Dr. Gallant
• Roadie (1980) as Ace
• Tenspeed and Brown Shoe (1980) as Duff McCoy
• Fighting Back (1980) as Captain Murphy
• Insight (1981, TV Series) as Karl Rothman
• The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981) as Guard
• Terminal Choice (1985) as Dr. Frank Holt
• Brotherhood of Justice (1986) as Bob Grootemat
• Hill Street Blues (1981–1987, TV Series) as Lt. Henry Goldblume
• Deep Dark Secrets (1987) as Eric Lloyd
• Valerie (1987) as Mr. Cameron
• L.A. Law (1988, TV Series) as George Ripley
• Disaster at Silo 7 (1988) as Sgt. Swofford
• Midnight Caller (1989) as John Saringo
• Cast the First Stone (1989) as Bill Spencer
• The Easter Story (1990) as Jesus (voice)
• Blind Faith (1990, TV Mini-Series) as Sal Caccaro
• The Girl Who Came Between Them (1990) as Jim
• The Great Los Angeles Earthquake (1990) as Chad Spaulding
• American Dreamer (1990, TV Series)
• The Summer My Father Grew Up (1991) as Louis
• For the Very First Time (1991) as Mr. Allen
• Fever (1991) as Junkman
• Civil Wars (1992, TV Series) as Carl Sherensky
• Bloodlines: Murder In the Family (1993) as Hal Leventhal
• Reasonable Doubts (1993) as Jimmy Cooper
• The Flood: Who Will Save Our Children? (1993) as Richard Koons
• Rave Review (1994) as Lou
• Dream On (1994, TV Series) as Policeman
• Apollo 13 (1995) as NASA Director
• Amazing Grace (1995) as Detective Dominick Corso
• Primal Fear (1996) as Abel Stenner
• Murder One (1996, TV Series) as Ray Velacek
• Her Costly Affair (1995-1996, TV Series) as Carl Weston
• The X-Files (1997, TV Series) as Mike Millar
• A Call To Remember (1997) as Dr. Green
• Profiler (1997–1998, TV Series) as Detective Mike Ramdak
• From the Earth to the Moon (1998, TV Mini-Series) as George Mueller
• JAG (1998, TV Series) as Captain Jack Murphy
• Break Up (1998) as Priest
• Logan's War: Bound by Honor (1998) as Special Agent John Downing
• L.A. Doctors (1998, TV Series) as Don Claybourne
• Nash Bridges (1998, TV Series) as FBI Agent Langdon
• In Quiet Night (1998) as Gold
• Mercy Point (1998–1999, TV Series) as Dr. DeMilla
• A.T.F. (1999) as Senator at Hearing (uncredited)
• Touched by an Angel (1999) as James Cooper
• A Question of Faith (2000) as Duncan
• Batman Beyond (1999-2000, TV Series) as Bennet / Boss / Sniper (voice)
• Strong Medicine (2000) as Jonathan Freid
• Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (2000)
• Texas Rangers (2001) as Mr. Dunnison
• Providence (2001, TV Series) as Dr. Carroll
• Ticker (2001) as Captain Spano
• The Invisible Man (2002, TV Series) as Father Tom Moore
• Hart's War (2002) as Col. J.M. Lange
• Static Shock (2002) as Mr. Osgood
• NYPD Blue (2002-2003, TV Series) as Det. John Clark Sr.
• Boomtown (2003, TV Series) as Henry Stein
• Fortunate Son (2004) as Robert
• L.A. Dragnet (2004, TV Series) as Bill Kutler
• Eyes (2005, TV Series) as Judge William M*ey
• Crossing Jordan (2006) as Captain Innis
• The Closer (2006, TV Series) as Dr. Rose
• Hollywoodland (2006) as Howard Strickling
• Standoff (2006, TV Series) as Joe Suser
• Fracture (2007) as Judge Joseph Pincus
• Shark (2008, TV Series) as Paul Faber
• Frost/Nixon (2008) as Network Executive
• In Plain Sight (2010) as Gabe Andrews / Gabe Marion
• If I Did It (2011) as Mayor
• NCIS (2003–present, TV Series) as Senior FBI Agent / Private Investigator Tobias "T.C." Fornell
• The Mentalist (2012, TV Series) as Greg Relin
• NCIS: New Orleans (2014, TV Series) as Senior FBI Agent Tobias "T.C." Fornell
• Pearson (2019, TV Series) as Mr. Allen

Awards and nominations

Ovation Awards

• 2009: Nominated for Lead Actor in a Play for the role of George in the Rubicon Theatre Company production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

References

External links

• Joe Spano at IMDb