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Actor, musician, comedian, writer, producer. 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 soon his love for the drums took
center stage.
He 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 fore 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 Vincent 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 films. Please
Click Here to View Frank's Filmography.
He has demonstrated the ultimate degree as a
character actor from his Raging Bulls arrogant "Salvi",
to his Do The Right Things soaking wet "Charlie", Jungle Fevers racist "Mike Tucci",
Casinos suave "Frankie Marino" and his "Go
home and get your shine box" Goodfella "Billy
Batts". He has carved a niche that is his alone and has joined
the great character actors in defining himself as a popular actor of
talent and versatility.
Frank has worked with some of the greatest directors
of our time, notably Martin Scorsese, Brian DePalma, Spike Lee, John
Sayles, Andrew Bergman and Sydney Lumet. He has acted with such greats
as Robert DeNiro, 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 Grand Theft Auto 3 as "Don
Salvatore Leone" and in the soon to be released DreamWorks
animated film A
Shark Tale. 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. At the Hoboken Film Festival in the summer of 2002,
he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award presented by
the Back East Picture Show. That same year he received the Italian
American Entertainer of the Year Award presented by the Italian
Tribune.
In 2003, Frank's passion turned once again toward young and independent filmmakers.
He worked on "This Thing of Ours", "Spy", "Last Request" and "Remedy".
Frank along with Vincent Pastore (Sopranos) and Louis Vanaria (Bronx Tale) starred in the soon to be released rap video called "Mobstory" produced by Jack Douglas of Beatles fame.
He appeared in the Porch Ghouls video produced by Joe Perry and had the honor of introducing Aerosmith to a packed house at Madison Square Garden.
Look for Frank in the soon to be released romantic comedy "A Tale of Two Pizzas" and on HBO's hit series the Sopranos.
Frank resides in New Jersey with his wife Kathy. They have three children and two grandchildren.
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