Frank Vincent is an acclaimed actor, musician, comedian, author and producer. He was born in North Adams, Massachusetts of first generation Italian-Americans and raised in the Greenville section of Jersey City, New Jersey. Frank's father, an amateur actor, introduced him to show business at an early age. Frank acted in school plays and studied music at St. Paul's grammar school. He played piano, trumpet and drums, but his love for the drums soon took center stage.
Frank spent his adolescence playing and traveling with various national championship drum and bugle corps. This passion evolved into playing in small combos at various nightclubs. He then met record producer Bill Ramal who became his musical mentor. In time, he became a successful recording drummer for such prominent names as Don Costa, Paul Anka, Del Shannon, Trini Lopez and the Belmonts. He found himself playing 5-6 nights a week and recording 3-4 days a week. His insatiable desire for performing soon came to the forefront and his drum playing became secondary. At this pace, he developed a stage personality and learned the meaning of comedic timing and discipline, which would soon lend itself to his acting career.
In 1975, Frank made his feature film acting debut in Ralph DeVito's "Death Collector". Martin Scorsese saw his work and cast him in the 1980 Academy Award-nominated film of the decade, "Raging Bull"... From that point until the present day, Frank has appeared in numerous television shows, music videos and over fifty feature films.
Frank has demonstrated the ultimate degree of versatility as an actor from his Raging Bull's arrogant "Salvi", to his Do The Right Thing's soaking wet "Charlie", Jungle Fevers racist "Mike Tucci", Casino's suave "Frankie Marino" and his "Go home and get your shine box" Goodfella "Billy Batts"... Frank has worked with some of the greatest directors of our time, notably Martin Scorsese, Brian De Palma, Spike Lee, John Sayles, Andrew Bergman and Sydney Lumet... He has acted with such greats as Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Bruce Willis, Demi Moore, Richard Dreyfuss, Anthony Quinn, Sharon Stone, Adrien Brody and Sylvester Stallone, among others... His voice is featured in the multi-million dollar PlayStation game series Grand Theft Auto as "Don Salvatore Leone" as well as in DreamWorks' hit animated film "Shark Tale"... Frank is also the spokesperson for "Permanent TSB," one of the largest banks in Ireland... In addition, his career has taken him from recording with great musical legends to working on music videos with such names as Bruce Hornsby, Hype Williams, Nas, DMX, Method Man and T-Boz.
Most recently, Frank starred as feared New York mob boss "Phil Leotardo" on HBO's epic series The Sopranos. Leotardo's simmering vendetta with "Tony Soprano" brought exhilarating excitement to millions of viewers week-after-week... Frank also penned a top-selling book entitled, "A Guy's Guide to Being A Man's Man," which was published by Penguin Putnam. GQ Magazine said, "It's awesome!"... Frank also recently starred as the lead in the upcoming movie, "Chicago Overcoat". Fans are sure to be pleased with Frank's riveting performance as an aging hit man who comes back for one last score.
Over the years, Frank has received many awards for his various achievements on and off the screen. In 2002, he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the Back East Picture Show at the Hoboken Film Festival. That same year he received the Italian-American Entertainer of the Year Award presented by the Italian Tribune. In 2005, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Garden State Film Festival. In 2006, Frank received the Honorary Branford Fellow from Branford College, Yale University. That same year he received a Best Supporting Actor Award for the film "Remedy" at the International Film and Screenplay Festival. Frank was a cast member when The Sopranos received the Emmy Award in 2007. In 2008, Frank received the coveted SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series for The Sopranos.
Frank currently resides in New Jersey and Florida, and has many film and television projects in the works.
