John Cariani

John Edward Cariani (born July 23, 1969) is an American actor and playwright. Cariani is best known as the unwavering forensic expert Julian Beck in Law & Order. On stage, he earned a Tony Award nomination for his role as Motel the Tailor in the 2004 Broadway revival of Fiddler on the Roof. As a playwright, he is best known for his first play, Almost, Maine, which has become one of the most frequently produced plays in the United States. He starred on Broadway in the Tony Award winning musical Something Rotten! as Nigel Bottom and starred in the Tony Award winning Broadway musical The Band's Visit.[1]

Early life

Born in Brockton, Massachusetts, Cariani was eight when his family moved to Presque Isle, Maine.

He attended Presque Isle High School where he was active in the music and theater programs. After graduating in 1987, he attended Amherst College,[2] where he was a member of the Zumbyes,[3] Amherst's oldest a-cappella group, and the Glee Club. After graduating from Amherst College in 1991 with a B.A. in history, he studied acting and directing at now defunct StageWest in Springfield, Massachusetts.[4] He then moved to New York at age 27 to pursue acting.

Acting career

Cariani spent his early years in New York working with the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, and acting in Off-Broadway plays, television commercials, and films.

His first break came in 1999 when he was cast in the Off-Broadway play It's My Party (and I'll Die if I Want To), starring F. Murray Abraham and Joyce Van Patten.[5] In 2000 Cariani was cast in the independent film, Scotland, PA, [6] and also appeared in the TV series Ed [7]

In 2001 he had a small role in the independent film, The Shaft[6] and played Chuck in the film Kissing Jessica Stein[7] [6] He also played a villain in Warner Brothers' film Showtime (2002)[6] and appeared on television in Big Apple.[7] From 2001-2003, he played Perry in Law and Order: Criminal Intent.[7] In 2002 he joined the cast of Law & Order, playing the role of forensic expert Julian Beck from 2002–2007.[8] In 2003, he appeared in the film Robot Stories.[7]

In 2004 Cariani made his Broadway debut in a revival of Fiddler on the Roof, starring Alfred Molina.[9] He won an Outer Critics Circle Award, Outstanding Featured Actor In A Musical,[10] and a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for his portrayal of Motel the tailor.[11] He also appeared in the films The Reunion and Messengers (1999).[7]

In 2006, he appeared on the TV series Six Degrees.[7] In 2008, appeared in the film High Street Plumbing.[7] In 2009, Cariani joined the cast of the television show Numb3rs on CBS as physicist Otto Bahnoff. In 2011, Cariani played Henry in the short film Henry[7] He also appeared in the film Certainty.[7]

From 2011–2012, he appeared in several sketches on IFC's Onion News Network, playing the role of "Michael Falk, Autistic Reporter."

In 2012 he starred opposite Ed Asner in the independent film Elephant Sighs, written and directed by Ed Simpson.[12][13] That same year, he guest-starred on the Showtime series, Homeland. In 2014 he had a guest starring role on The Good Wife, and later in the year played the role of "Zookeeper" in Sony Pictures Deliver Us From Evil.[14]

In 2014, he played Ollie in the film Child of Grace.[7][15]

In 2015, he originated the role of Nigel Bottom in the Broadway musical Something Rotten!, for which he was nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical.[16] He was also nominated for a Grammy Award as part of the original cast recording of Something Rotten.[17] He left the production in July 2016.[18]

In 2016, he performed in Transport Group's Off-Broadway productions of Picnic and Come Back, Little Sheba.[19] He also played Aaron Mulgrew on The Blacklist (TV Series).[7]

In 2016, he performed in the Off-Broadway production of a new musical, based on the film The Band's Visit, with the book by Itamar Moses and music and lyrics by David Yazbek. The musical opened at the Off-Broadway Linda Gross Theater, produced by the Atlantic Theatre Company, on November 11, 2016, closing on December 23, 2016.[20] It subsequently re-opened on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on November 9, 2017, with Cariani continuing in the cast.[21]

In 2018, he played Hank in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and appeared in the film Thrasher Road.[7]

In 2019, he played Marcellus Washburn in The Music Man at The Kennedy Center.[22]

Playwriting

As a playwright, Cariani is best known for his first play, Almost, Maine[23] which premiered at the Portland Stage Company in 2004 and became the company's most successful production to date garnering critical acclaim and breaking box office records. It was named "one of the ten must-see shows" in The Wall Street Journal's regional roundup for 2004/2005 regional theater season.[23]

Almost, Maine opened Off-Broadway in 2006 at the Daryl Roth Theatre. Since then, Almost, Maine has become one of the most frequently produced plays, produced by over 2500 theater companies in North America to date.[23] In 2014, The Washington Post reported that Almost, Maine had replaced Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream as the most frequently produced play in North American High Schools.[23][24] Almost, Maine has also been translated into nearly 20 languages.

Cariani starred in the Transport Group's 2014 Off-Broadway revival of Almost, Maine.[25] The production was named one of the ten best of 2014 by The Advocate,[26] and was also recorded by the Theatre on Film and Tape Archive of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center.[27] It was named the most-performed high school play not by a contemporary author in the United States in 2017.[28] Cariani later adapted the play into a book of the same name.[29]

Cariani's second play, cul-de-sac premiered Off-Broadway in April 2006 in a Transport Group production,[30] with Cariani performing as Joe Jones. The New York Times described cul-de-sac as "charming, witty and macabre."[31] A production was presented at High Point University in April 2016, and the play was performed at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts (New York City) in October 2016. Playbill reported that he was in the process of revising the piece,[32] which was further revised following development at the Cape Cod Theatre Project.[33]

Cariani's third play, Last Gas premiered at Portland Stage Company (Portland, Maine) in 2010.[34] Cariani noted that "Almost, Maine is almost a love letter to northern Maine and Last Gas is a more realistic look at that part of the world."[35] Last Gas became the biggest selling three-week run in Portland Stage Company's history. It has been described as "a bittersweet romance about two people who lack the courage to admit they love one another ... it's an undeniable winner."[36] The play ran at Opera House Arts, Stonington Opera House, Maine, in 2013[37] and at Geva Theatre Center in Rochester, New York in the winter of 2014. It was published by Dramatists Play Service in 2014.

Love/Sick is Cariani's most recent play. It premiered at High Point University in the fall of 2010, then was presented at the Portland Stage Company in the spring of 2013,[38] and was produced by Hartford TheaterWorks in 2014. The play ran Off-Broadway in February 2015 at the Royal Family Performing Arts Space.[39]

Personal Life

Cariani and his husband John Lloyd, a NYPD detective, have been together for 21 years and live in the Bronx.[40][41]

Filmography

Film roles

Year	Film	Role	Notes
2001	Kissing Jessica Stein	Chuck
2001	Scotland, PA	Ed the 'not-too-bright' Cop
2001	The Shaft	Security Guard Gary
2002	Showtime	Charlie Hertz
2003	Robot Stories	Salesman
2004	The Reunion	Scott	Short
2004	Messengers	Derek the Cop
2008	High Street Plumbing	Big Boy	Short
2011	Certainty	Odd Interviewer
2011	Henry	Henry	Short
2012	Elephant Sighs	Joel
2013	Sleeping With The Fishes	Louis Belsky
2014	Deliver us from Evil	Zookeeper
2014	Child of Grace	Ollie
2015	Paper Dreams	Ethan
2018	Thrasher Road	TSA Supervisor
2019	Nasa Seals	Josh Peters

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000	Ed	Howard Pissle	NBC, episode 1.2: "The World of Possibility"
2001	Big Apple	ER Doctor	CBS, Episode 1.7
2001–2003	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Perry	NBC, 2 episodes
2004	The 58th Annual Tony Awards	Himself - Nominee	CBS
2002–2007	Law & Order	CSU Tech Beck	NBC, 26 episodes
2006	Six Degrees	Blogger	ABC
2009–2010	Numb3rs	Otto Bahnoff	CBS
2011	The Onion News Network	Michael Falk	IFC, 5 episodes
2012	Homeland	Jeff Ricker	Showtime, episode "The Choice"
2014	The Good Wife	Stuart	CBS
2015	The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon	Himself - Nigel Bottom	NBC
2016	The Blacklist	Aaron Mulgrew	NBC, episode "Drexel"
	Broadway.com #LiveatFive	Himself - Guest	Broadway.com
2018	Theater Talk	Himself - Guest	PBS
	The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel	Hank	Amazon Prime Video

Stage appearances

Theatre

Start year	Production	Role	Notes
1997	As You Like It	Sylvius	Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival
1998	The Winter's Tale	The Clown
	Much Ado About Nothing	Verges
1999	Twelfth Night	Andrew Aguecheek
	It's My Party	Ted	Arclight Theatre Company
2003	The Unrepeatable	Robert	The Lark
2004	Fiddler on the Roof	Motel	Broadway
2005	Modern Orthodox	Hershel	Ars Nova
	Two Gentlemen of Verona	Speed	Off-Broadway
2006	Cul-de-sac	Joe	Transport Group
2007	The Front Page	Mr. Pincus	Williamstown Theatre Festival
2009	Minsky's	Jason	The Ahmanson
	The Mystery of Irma Vep	Lord Edgar	The Old Globe Theatre
2011	Much Ado About Nothing	Dogberry
	The Tempest	Trinculo
2015	Love/Sick	Various	Off-Broadway
	Something Rotten!	Nigel Bottom	Broadway
2016	Picnic	Howard	Transport Group
	Come Back, Little Sheba	Postman/Milkman/Messenger	Transport Group
	The Band's Visit	Itzik	Atlantic Theater Company
2017	The Band's Visit	Itzik	Broadway
2019	The Music Man	Marcellus Washburn	The Kennedy Center

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominated Work	Result
2004	Tony Award	Best Featured Actor in a Musical	Fiddler on the Roof	Nominated
	Outer Critics Circle Award	Best Featured Actor in a Musical		Won
2015			Something Rotten!	Nominated
	Grammy Award	Best Musical Theater Album	Something Rotten!	Nominated
2019	Daytime Emmy Award	Outstanding Musical Performance in a Daytime Program (with the cast of The Band's Visit)	The Band's Visit	Won

Playwriting bibliography

Bibliography
Year	Title
2004	Almost, Maine
2006	cul-de-sac
2010	Last Gas
2012	Love/Sick

References

1. Considine, Basil (30 September 2017). "Actor-playwright John Cariani on The Band's Visit, The Final Frontier, and more". Interview. Twin Cities Arts Reader. Retrieved 1 October 2017.
2. Williams, Roger M. (Winter 2012). "One Up on Shakespeare". Amheart Magazine. Amherst College. Retrieved March 17, 2015.
3. "Zumbyes alumni". thezumbyes.com. September 28, 2014.
4. Burns-Fusaro, Nancy (February 2, 2015). "10 questions with playwright John Cariani". The Westerly Sun.
5. Jones, Kenneth; Lefkowitz, David (August 4, 1999). "Abraham and van Patten are couple with no time to lose in It's My Party ...". Playbill.
6. "John Cariani Credits" rottentomatoes.com, retrieved June 23, 2019
7. "Cariani Film and TV" imdb.com, retrieved June 23, 2019
8. "A Romantic Comedy for Guys" The New York Times, March 23, 2008
9. "Fiddler on the Roof". playbillvault. Archived from the original on 2015-03-12.
10. Hernandez (May 2, 2004). "Wicked, Wonderful Town, I Am My Own Wife top 2004 Outer Critics Circle awards". Playbill.
11. "2004 Tony Award Award winners". New York Times. 2004. Retrieved March 17, 2015.
12. Elephant Sighs christianfilmdatabase.com, retrieved June 23, 2019
13. "Play 'Elephant Sighs' Written by HPU Professor Ed Simpson Filming in High Point" highpoint.edu, January 13, 2010
14. "Cast and Crew". allmovie.com. Deliver Us From Evil. Retrieved March 17, 2015.
15. " 'Child of Grace' (2014)" moviefone.com, retrieved June 23, 2019
16. Feinberg, Scott (April 20, 2015). "Tonys: Something Rotten! leads Outer Critics Circle Award nominations". The Hollywood Reporter.
17. "'Hamilton,' 'Fun Home' Cast Recordings Get Grammy Nominations" Hollywood Reporter, 2015
18. Rickwald, Bethany (May 26, 2016). "Broadway's Something Rotten! announces a new trio of stars". theatermania.com.
19. Picnic transportgroup
20. Clement, Olivia (November 11, 2016). "The Band's Visit musical begins tonight off-Broadway". Playbill.
21. Considine, Basil (10 November 2017). "Sensitive, moving, nuanced beauty in The Band's Visit (NYC/Broadway)". Review. Twin Cities Arts Reader. Retrieved 11 November 2017.
22. Tickets kennedy-center.org
23. "Official Site, Almost, Maine". almostmaine.com. Retrieved March 17, 2015.
24. Rampell, Catherine (October 27, 2014). "Theater censorship is alive and well". Washington Post.
25. "Almost, Maine". Transport Group.
26. "New York Theater 2014". The Advocate.
27. Gans, Andrew (February 25, 2014). "Transport Group's Almost, Maine will be taped for archives; One scene will be filmed two ways". Playbill.
28. BWW News Desk. "The Addams Family, Almost, Maine are most-produced high school shows for 2016–2017". Broadway World. Retrieved 1 October 2017.
29. Desk, BWW News. "ALMOST, MAINE Novel Adaptation Will Be Released in March 2020". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2020-03-05.
30. "cul-de-sac". transportgroup.
31. Horn, Miriam (May 3, 2006). "cul-de-sac: A study in suburban doldrums". Review. The New York Times.
32. Viagas, Robert (October 5, 2016). "Almost, Maine author John Cariani revises 'Cul-de-sac' for NY revival". Playbill.
33. Considine, Basil (30 September 2017). "Actor-playwright John Cariani on The Band's Visit, The Final Frontier, and more". Interview. Twin Cities Arts Reader. Retrieved 1 October 2017.
34. Feeney, Steve (November 7, 2010). "Last Gas a full tank of unfulfilled desires". Theater Review. Portland Press Herald.
35. Considine, Basil (March 26, 2014). "Playwright John Cariani talks Almost, Maine and Love/Sick". tcdailyplanet.net.
36. Morphy, Marcia (January 13, 2014). "Geva's Last Gas an everyday love story". Review. Democrat and Chronicle.
37. "Talk back to Maine playwright John Cariani". themaineedge.com. February 6, 2013.
38. "That Thing Called Love". Press Herald. 2013-03-31.
39. Clement, Olivia (February 6, 2015). "John Cariani's Love/Sick, co-starring the playwright, begins tonight off-Broadway". Playbill.
40. Gates, Anita (May 29, 2014). "Love Is Out of This World. Far Out". Interview. New York Times. Retrieved April 19, 2020.
41. Rudetsky, Seth (April 17, 2017). "StarsInTheHouse #59 Friday 4/17 at 2PM: Broadway Cast Reunion: Caroline, or Change". Interview. youtube. Event occurs at 23:40. Retrieved April 19, 2020.

External links

• John Cariani on IMDb
• John Cariani at the Internet Broadway Database
• "Cariani". Internet Off-Broadway Database.
• "Almost Maine". dramatists.com.