See also
- Vito Scotti - Italian-American character actor who frequently appeared on TV.
- List of Italian-American actors
- Growing Up Gotti
- Jersey Shore
- Mob Wives
The following is a list of notable Italian-American television characters.
To be included in this list, the character should be a main or frequently recurring character in a television series, and should have an article or section in Wikipedia. The character should be described as Italian-American in the text or categories.
The following characters are presumably (but not verifiably) meant to be Italian-American.
| Name | Show | Played by | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nat Bussichio | Murphy Brown | Joe E. Tata | Restaurateur |
| Jordan Catalano | My So-Called Life | Jared Leto | Good-looking bad boy |
| Frank Fontana | Murphy Brown | Joe Regalbuto | Reporter |
| Lionel Fusco | Person of Interest | Kevin Chapman | Corrupt police detective |
| Danny Garibaldi | Grand Hotel (TV series) | Lincoln Younes | Waiter; amateur sleuth |
| Jess Mariano | Gilmore Girls | Milo Ventimiglia | Good-looking bad boy |
| Stan Rizzo | Mad Men | Jay R. Ferguson | Art director |
| Jeff Rosso | Freaks and Geeks | Dave Allen | Hippie guidance counselor |
| Peter Russo | House of Cards | Corey Stoll | Corrupt, alcoholic congressman |
| Frankie Stecchino | Boy Meets World | Ethan Suplee | High school bully |
| Donald Twinkacetti | Perfect Strangers | Ernie Sabella | Mean landlord |
The Cosby Show is an American television sitcom created by and starring Bill Cosby that originally aired on NBC from September 20, 1984, to April 30, 1992, with a total of 201 half-hour episodes spanning eight seasons, including an outtakes special. The show focuses on the Huxtables, an upper middle-class Black-American family living in Brooklyn, New York; the series was based on comedy routines in Cosby's stand-up comedy act, which in turn were based on his family life. The series was followed by a spin-off, titled A Different World, which ran from September 24, 1987 to July 9, 1993, with a total of six seasons consisting of 144 episodes.
The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions that originally aired for one season on CBS Saturday morning from September 11, 1971, to January 1, 1972. With an ensemble voice cast of Sally Struthers, Jay North, Mitzi McCall, Gay Hartwig, Carl Esser and Lennie Weinrib, the show follows teenage Pebbles Flintstone and Bamm-Bamm Rubble as they encounter problems growing up in the fictional town of Bedrock. The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show is the first spin-off series of The Flintstones. For the 1972–73 season, the show was revamped as The Flintstone Comedy Hour, with more time given to the original Flintstones cast alongside both reruns and newly produced segments of Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm.
William West Anderson, known as Adam West, was an American actor. He portrayed Batman in the 1960s ABC series of the same name and its 1966 theatrical feature film, reprising the role in various media until 2017. Making his film debut in the 1950s, West starred opposite Chuck Connors in Geronimo (1962) and The Three Stooges in The Outlaws Is Coming (1965). He also appeared in the science fiction film Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964).
The Jeffersons is an American sitcom television series that was broadcast on CBS from January 18, 1975, to July 2, 1985, lasting 11 seasons and a total of 253 episodes. The Jeffersons is one of the longest-running sitcoms in history.
Anne Lockhart is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Lieutenant Sheba in the 1978–79 television series Battlestar Galactica.
John Smeallie Youngs, known professionally as John Savage, is an American actor. He first rose to prominence in the late 1970s for his portrayals of troubled-but-sensitive characters in films like The Deer Hunter (1978), The Onion Field (1979) and Hair (1979). His television roles include Donald Lydecker on Dark Angel (2000–2002) and Hack Scudder on Carnivàle (2003–2005).
Dorian Harewood is an American actor, best known for playing Jesse Owens in The Jesse Owens Story (1984), Det. Paul Strobber on Strike Force (1981–1982), and Rev. Morgan Hamilton in 7th Heaven (1996–2003).
Jeannie is an American animated television series that originally aired for a 16-episode season on CBS from September 8 to December 22, 1973. It was produced by Hanna-Barbera in association with Screen Gems, and its founders William Hanna and Joseph Barbera are the executive producers. Despite being a spin-off of sorts of the television sitcom I Dream of Jeannie, Jeannie has little in common with its parent show. In this version, the title character is rescued on the beaches of southern California by a high school student, Corey Anders. Jeannie is accompanied by genie-in-training Babu, and they become companions to Corey and his best friend, Henry Glopp, both of whom also help Jeannie and Babu adjust to their new home as well as life in Los Angeles. The series was marketed towards a younger demographic than I Dream of Jeannie.
Speed Buggy is an American animated television series, produced by Hanna-Barbera, which originally aired for one season on CBS from September 8, 1973, to December 22, 1973. With the voices of Mel Blanc, Michael Bell, Arlene Golonka, and Phil Luther Jr., the show follows an orange anthropomorphic dune buggy who alongside teenagers Debbie, Mark, and Tinker, solves mysteries while participating in racing competitions around the world. The series was produced by Iwao Takamoto, executive produced by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, and directed by Charles A. Nichols.
Nicholas Colasanto was an American actor and television director who is best known for his role as "Coach" Ernie Pantusso in the American television sitcom Cheers. He served in the United States Navy during World War II.
Ramon Arens Bieri was an American film and television actor.
Harry Alfred Bartell was an American actor and announcer in radio, television and film. With his rather youthful sounding voice, Bartell was one of the busiest West Coast character actors from the early 1940s until the end of network radio drama in the 1960s.
Lloyd Wolfe Bochner was a Canadian film, TV and voice actor. He appeared in many Canadian and Hollywood productions between the 1950s and 1990s, including the films Point Blank (1967), The Detective (1968), The Young Runaways (1968), Ulzana's Raid (1972) and Satan's School for Girls (1973), and the television prime time soap opera Dynasty (1981–82). Bochner also voiced Mayor Hamilton Hill in Batman: The Animated Series (1992–95) and its follow-up The New Batman Adventures (1997–99).
Kevin Michael Richardson is an American actor. Known for his distinctively deep voice, he has mostly voiced villainous characters in animation and video games. In film, Richardson voiced Goro in Mortal Kombat (1995) and reprises in Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge (2020), Captain Gantu in the Lilo & Stitch franchise, Bulkhead from Transformers: Prime, and Deus Ex Machina in The Matrix Revolutions (2003). He has also voiced characters on Seth MacFarlane's shows Family Guy, The Cleveland Show, and American Dad!, as well as several characters on The Simpsons, and Futurama.
Eileen Ryan was an American actress. The wife of actor and director Leo Penn, she was the mother of actors Sean Penn and Chris Penn, and of singer Michael Penn.
John Conte was an American stage, film and TV actor, and television station owner.
Hail to the Chief is an American sitcom that aired on ABC from April 9 to May 21, 1985. It centered on the President of the United States, portrayed by Patty Duke. The series was created by Susan Harris, and was produced by Witt/Thomas/Harris Productions. It featured one of the few recurring gay characters in a 1980s television series.
Lionel Wilson was an American voice actor, reader of audiobooks, stage actor, and author of children's books. He was known for his roles from Tom Terrific through to his last role, voicing Eustace Bagge on the Cartoon Network's Courage the Cowardly Dog.
"The Comedian" is a 1957 live television drama written by Rod Serling from a novella by Ernest Lehman, directed by John Frankenheimer, and starring Mickey Rooney, Edmond O'Brien, Kim Hunter, Mel Tormé and Constance Ford.
Johnny Midnight is an American crime drama that aired for one season in syndication from January 3, 1960, to September 21, 1960. The series stars Edmond O'Brien as the titular character.