Biography

Danza was born in Brooklyn, New York, to parents Anne Cammisa (1925-1993) and Matty Iadanza (1920-1983) His mother was a bookkeeper and his father worked as a waste collector in Brooklyn. Danza's father was an American of Italian ancestry and Danza's mother was an immigrant from the town of Campobello di Mazara in the Sicilian province of Trapani. He has a younger brother, Matty Jr. (born 1954), a Los Angeles restaurant owner. When Danza was 14, he and his family relocated to Malverne, New York, on Long Island. Danza attended Valley Stream North High School, graduating in 1969. In the first episode of his show Teach: Tony Danza, Danza describes himself as a "bad student" in high school. He earned a bachelor's degree in history in 1972 from the University of Dubuque, which he attended on a wrestling scholarship. In 1975, as a joke, Danza's friends entered him in the New York City Golden Gloves. After knocking out his first six opponents all in the first round, Danza was knocked out in the finals.

During his first year of college, he had the Robert Crumb "Keep on Truckin'" character tattooed on his upper right arm. In a 1985 interview in Us Weekly magazine, Danza remarked, "I was playing pool with a guy who had all these tattoos, and I wanted to be friends." Danza also sports a "Keep Punching" boxing gloves tattoo on his right shoulder as well as "Tracy", his (former) wife's name, on his chest. In college, Danza met and married his first wife.

Career

Boxer

Danza was a professional boxer with a record of 9-3 (9 knockouts, 7 in the first round), with all but one of his fights, wins and losses, ending in a knockout.

Acting and show business

Shortly after his college graduation from the University of Dubuque, Danza was discovered by a producer at a boxing gymnasium in New York. He then earned a spot on the television show Taxi, playing a cab driver and part-time boxer Tony Banta, and later starred on Who's the Boss?, in which he portrayed a former baseball player, housekeeper, and single father Tony Micelli. For his contribution to the television industry, in 1988, Danza was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard. Danza also plays the role of a baseball player in Angels in the Outfield (1994).

Danza also starred in the short-lived sitcoms Hudson Street (1995) and The Tony Danza Show (1997), not to be confused with his 2004-2006 talk show, The Tony Danza Show. He had a role in the TV drama Family Law from 2000 until 2002.

He was nominated for an Emmy Award for a guest-starring 1998 role in the TV series The Practice. His movie debut was in the comedy The Hollywood Knights (1980), which was followed by Going Ape! (1981). He received critical acclaim for his performance in the 1999 Broadway revival of the Eugene O'Neill play The Iceman Cometh. In 2002, Danza released his debut album The House I Live In as a 1950s-style crooner.

Danza hosted his own TV talk show, The Tony Danza Show, that was produced each weekday morning in his hometown of New York and was syndicated across the US. On May 9, 2005, during a go-kart race with NASCAR star Rusty Wallace, who was a guest on the show, Danza's kart flipped after Wallace accidentally bumped him. Neither he nor Wallace was wearing a helmet at the time, but both were uninjured. Danza returned to go-kart racing on October 20, 2005, to challenge IndyCar driver Danica Patrick, but his brakes malfunctioned and he skidded into a wall, unharmed. His daytime talk show ended in May 2006; the last live episode aired on May 26, 2006.

He starred on Broadway as Max Bialystock in The Producers, from December 19, 2006, to March 11, 2007, and reprised his role at the Paris Las Vegas from August 13, 2007, to February 9, 2008.

Danza was to host the 4th season of The Contender in 2008.

A Broadway adaptation of 1992 film Honeymoon in Vegas opened on a pre-Broadway run at New Jersey's Paper Mill Playhouse on September 26, 2013, co-starring Danza and Tony nominee Rob McClure, with Gary Griffin directing. Danza was inducted into the Ride of Fame in December 2014, and the double-decker sightseeing bus commemorated his role in the Broadway musical.

In June of 2017, Netflix announced that Danza would star in a new series, The Good Cop. Danza will portray "a disgraced, former NYPD officer who never followed the rules."

Teaching

In August 2009, it was reported that Danza would appear in a new A&E reality show Teach: Tony Danza, in which he would co-instruct a 10th grade English class at Northeast High School in Philadelphia. The series was filmed during the 2009-2010 school year and premiered on October 1, 2010. The book I'd Like to Apologize to Every Teacher I Ever Had: My Year as a Rookie Teacher at Northeast High (ISBN 9780307887863), which was released in 2012, was based on his year of teaching.

Personal life

Danza's first marriage was to Rhonda Yeoman. They wed in 1970 and divorced in 1974. Their son Marc appeared with Tony on Taxi in two episodes as Brian Sims. Tony and Rhonda reconciled in 1983 and had a daughter.

In 1986, Danza married Tracy Robinson. The couple separated in 2006 and filed for divorce on March 10, 2011; the divorce was finalized on February 6, 2013. They have two daughters.

In 2008, Danza and his son Marc published a cookbook, Don't Fill Up on the Antipasto: Tony Danza's Father-Son Cookbook.

Boxing record

Source:

Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round	Time	Date	Location	Notes
Win	9-3	Heard !Johnny Heard	KO	3 (8)	3045 !0:45	000000001979-05-14-0000May 14, 1979	Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Win	8-3	Hord !Max Hord	KO	1 (10)	1000 !	000000001979-04-27-0000April 27, 1979	Felt Forum, New York City, New York, USA
Win	7-3	Perez ! Billy Perez	KO	1 (8)	1044 !0:44	000000001978-05-26-0000May 26, 1978	Brooklyn, New York, USA
Win	6-3	Rodriguez !Tony Rodriguez	KO	1 (6)	1000 !	000000001978-04-09-0000April 9, 1978	Brooklyn, New York, USA
Win	5-3	Bryant !Ray Bryant	KO	1 (8)	1000 !	000000001977-12-21-0000December 21, 1977	Roll-a-Rama, Brooklyn, New York, USA
Loss	4-3	Watkins !Morris Watkins	TKO	1 (8)	1000 !	000000001977-11-09-0000November 9, 1977	Westchester County Center, White Plains, New York, USA
Win	4-2	Garcia !Ralph Garcia	TKO	1 (8)	1000 !	000000001977-09-09-0000September 9, 1977	Nanuet, New York, USA
Win	3-2	Mascetti !Joey Mascetti	TKO	1 (6)	1000 !	000000001977-05-24-0000May 24, 1977	Westchester County Center, White Plains, New York, USA
Win	2-2	Molloy !Tom Molloy	KO	3 (6)	3124 !1:24	000000001977-05-06-0000May 6, 1977	Long Island Arena, Commack, New York, USA
Loss	1-2	Hill !Barry Hill	Points	4	4000 !	000000001977-04-21-0000April 21, 1977	Dover, New Jersey, USA
Loss	1-1	LoCicero !John LoCicero	KO	1 (4)	1000 !	000000001976-10-01-0000October 1, 1976	Sunnyside Gardens, Queens, New York, USA
Win	1-0	Harris !Earl Harris	KO	1 (4)	1000 !	000000001976-08-13-0000August 13, 1976	New York City, New York, USA

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1980	The Hollywood Knights	Duke
1981	Going Ape!	Foster
1984	Cannonball Run II	Tony
1988	Mr. Thompson and His Bananas	Geraldo Thompson
1988	Wall of Tyranny (a.k.a. Freedom Fighter)	Victor Ross
1989	She's Out of Control	Doug Simpson	Nominated—Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor
1989	I'm from Hollywood	Himself
1994	Angels in the Outfield	Mel Clark
1996	Illtown	D'Avalon
1996	Dear God	Himself	Uncredited
1997	Glam	Sid
1997	The Girl Gets Moe	Moe
1997	A Brooklyn State of Mind	Louie Crisci
1997	Meet Wally Sparks	New York Cab Driver
2004	The Whisper	Simon
2004	Crash	Fred
2006	Cloud 9	Himself	Uncredited
2009	The Nail: The Story of Joey Nardone	Chickie
2010	Firedog	Rocky
2013	Don Jon	Jon Martello, Sr.
2013	Aftermath	King

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1978-1983	Taxi	Tony Banta	114 episodes Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Series, Miniseries or Television Film
1980	Murder Can Hurt You	Pony Lambretta	Television film
1983	The Love Boat	Bud O'Hara	2 episodes
1984	Single Bars, Single Women	Dennis	Television film
1984-1992	Who's the Boss?	Tony Micelli	196 episodes Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Television Series Musical or Comedy Nominated—TV Land Award for Single Dad of the Year
1986	Doing Life	Jerry Rosenberg	Television film
1988	1988 Kids' Choice Awards	Host
1988	Freedom Fighter	Vic Ross	Television film
1991	The Whereabouts of Jenny	Rowdy Patron	Television film
1991	Dead and Alive: The Race for Gus Farace	Constabile «Gus» Farace	Television film
1991-1992	Baby Talk	Baby Mickey Campbell (voice)	35 episodes
1994	The Mighty Jungle	Vinnie, the Alligator (voice)	Unknown episodes
1994	The Mighty Jungle	Vinnie, the Alligator (voice)	Television film
1995	Deadly Whispers	Tom Acton	Television film
1995-1996	Hudson Street	Tony Canetti	22 episodes
1996	North Shore Fish	Sal	Television film
1997	12 Angry Men	Juror #7	Television film
1997-1998	The Tony Danza Show	Tony DiMeo	14 episodes People's Choice Award for Favorite Male Performer in a Television Series
1998	The Garbage Picking Field Goal Kicking Philadelphia Phenomenon	Barney Gorman	Television film
1998	The Practice	Tommy Silva	4 episodes Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series
1998	Noah	Norman Waters	Television film
2000-2002	Family Law	Joe Celano	25 episodes
2000	King of the Hill	Himself (voice)	Episode: "Peggy's Fan Fair"
2001	Family Guy	Himself (voice)	Episode: "Ready, Willing and Disabled"
2003	Stealing Christmas	Jack Clayton	Television film
2004-2006	The Tony Danza Show	Himself	Host; 330 episodes
2005	All My Children	Hotel Manager	Episode: "May 18, 2005"
2008	Rita Rocks	Matt Morelli	Episode: "The Crying Game"
2010	Teach: Tony Danza	Himself	7 episodes
2016	Broad City	Abbi's Father	Episode: "Philadelphia"
2016	Sebastian Says	Salvo	Television film
2017	There's... Johnny!	Freddie
2018	The Good Cop	Tony Sr.

Charities

Tony Danza supports the following charitable cause: Multiple Sclerosis.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]