Mandy Patinkin

Mandy Patinkin was born in Chicagoon November 30, 1952, to Doralee Patinkin Rubin, a homemaker and cookbook author, and Lester Patinkin, a scrap metal mill owner. He is 69 years old. Mark Patinkin, a nationally syndicated writer for The Providence Journal and an author; Sheldon Patinkin, a founder of The Second City and a professor at Columbia College Chicago's Theater Department; Patinkin's cousins include Bonnie Miller Rubin, a Chicago Tribune writer, Laura Patinkin, a New York-based performer, and Louis Rosen, a musician from New York.Patinkin was raised in a Conservative Jewish home in an upper-middle-class family descending from Jewish immigrants.

He attended a religious school and sang in synagogue choirs. He went to Harvard St. George School, South Shore High School, then Kenwood High School. He graduated in 1970. Lena McLin was one of his professors. He went to the Juilliard School and the University of Kansas to study drama. In 1972, his father died of pancreatic cancer. Patinkin married Kathryn Grody, an actor, and playwright, on April 15, 1980. Isaac and Gideon are their two sons. In the mid-1990s, he developed keratoconus, a degenerative eye ailment. In 2004, he was also diagnosed with prostate cancer and got treated for it. Mandy Patinkin has had the good fortune to have a career that spans theatre, concert stages, film, television, and music.

In 1975, Patinkin debuted on Broadway, playing Arthur Gower in Trelawny of the 'Wells,' following a series of commercial and radio appearances, including one on CBS Radio Mystery Theater in 1974. The actor appeared alongside Meryl Streep as Imogen Parrott and John Lithgow as Ferdinand Gadd in the film. From 1975 until 1976, Patinkin co-starred with Sam Waterston as Fortinbras, Prince of Norway, and Player King in a Broadway revival of Hamlet. Patinkin's first big break in musical theatre came in 1979, when he played Che in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita, starring Patti LuPone on Broadway. Patinkin's portrayal in Evita earned him the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical in 1980.

He eventually transitioned to film, appearing in films such as Yent and Ragtime. He returned to Broadway in 1984 to play pointillist artist Georges Seurat in Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Sunday, for which he was nominated for another Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. Patinkin starred as Inigo Montoya in Rob Reiner's The Princess Bride in 1987, in which he played the best swordsman in the land seeking vengeance for his father's death. Over the next decade, he appeared in several films, including Dick Tracy and Alien Nation. Patinkin first appeared on Broadway in 1991 in the musical The Secret Garden, for which he received a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Musical.

Patinkin earned an Emmy Award for his portrayal of Dr. Jeffrey Geiger on CBS's Chicago Hope in 1994. Despite the show's award and rating success, Patinkin left during the second season. He desired to spend meaningful time with his family, including his wife and children. Patinkin was nominated for another Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical in the New York Shakespeare Festival's production of Michael John La Chiusa's The Wild Party in 2000. He played Rube Sofer in the Showtime comedy-drama Dead Like Me from 2003 to 2004. In 2004, he performed his one-person show at the Off-Broadway complex Dodger Stages for a six-week run.

In September 2005, the actor made his television debut in the CBS crime drama Criminal Minds as Jason Gideon, an experienced profiler returning to work after a series of nervous breakdowns. Patinkin mentioned that he had intended to tour the world with a musical and wanted to bring more comedy to the entertainment industry. At the Menier Chocolate Factory in London, he starred in Harold Prince and Susan Stroman's new musical Paradise Found. From May 2010 until June 26, 2010, the musical was only on stage for a limited time. He starred alongside Claire Danes Claire Catherine Danes is an American actress. She >> Read More... in the Showtime series Homeland premiered in 2011.

For his work, Patinkin has been nominated for a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award, among other honors. In addition to this, Patinkin has also been active in several Jewish issues and cultural events. He often sings in Yiddish in his concerts. He authored two book introductions on Jewish culture. Patinkin gave the opening speech at the Israeli Left's Annual Convention in May 2012, recounting his experiences during a trip to the West Bank with members of the Breaking the Silence movement. The actor contributed to Christopher Reeve's children's book Dewey Doo-it Helps Owlie Fly Again: A Musical Storybook.

The Christopher Reeve Foundation profits from the award-winning book. An audio CD with Patinkin singing and reading the storyis included with the book. Patinkin discussed his recent trip to Greece to rescue migrants from war-torn Syria and his playing role in the Homeland television series on PBS' Charlie Rose on December 21, 2015. He stated that he wanted to help create opportunities and better systems of living and existing. These opportunities would give freedom, justice and dignity, and quality of life to humanity all over the world.