James Ciccone

James Ciccone is an American character actor, comedian, and acting teacher. He has appeared in dozens of network television shows and popular feature films. He is known for his three-season role as mob boss Carmine Patriccia in the HBO television drama The Deuce. James Ciccone was born in Park Slope, Brooklyn as the tenth child to Anthony Ciccone and Theresa (Merrit) Ciccone; he is of Italian and Irish descent. The family owned a local luncheonette until 1965 when Ciccone's father died. Ciccone's mother sold the luncheonette and moved the family to the Bensonhurst/Gravesend section of Brooklyn where she worked full-time as a waitress. As a result, Ciccone was raised largely by his nine older siblings, two of which had artistic influence (his brother Anthony an artist, and sister Patricia a flutist). Early on Ciccone had a desire to perform. In grade school he participated in several school plays and by age 11 began playing trumpet in the music program at Public School 153, Brooklyn. For the next five years he continued studying music with Academy Award-winning composer Elliot Goldenthal, who, through marriage, happened to be the brother of Ciccone's uncle. In 1977 Ciccone was accepted into the LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts, New York City. Widely known as the "FAME" school, with esteemed alums like Al Pacino and Liza Minnelli, the tiny high school gained world recognition with the release of the 1980 Academy Award-winning film, FAME. Ciccone studied music at Performing Arts while studying acting with Uta Hagen and Bill Hickey at HB Studio. He later earned a bachelor of fine arts degree at Marist College, Poughkeepsie, NY and graduated magna cum laude. He disconnected from the performing arts community for several years and began working in the human services profession. In 1996 he enrolled in Seminary. In 2000 and 2003 respectively he earned master of divinity and doctor of ministry degrees from New York Theological Seminary. Although never ordained Ciccone taught briefly for St. John's University and in the graduate program at Metropolitan College of New York before embarking upon a professional acting career. In 2006 Ciccone became a member of the small Primary Talent community theatre group housed at the 200-seat Players Theatre in Greenwich Village, New York. During this time he appeared in several productions including the lead role in Paddy Chayefsky's Marty. Over the next few years he was cast in a variety of unknown low-budget independent films and several student films at NYU Tish before writing and appearing in his own three short films: Nothing for Nothing, Plenty of It, and Neighborhood Nonsense, the latter of which appeared in the 2010 New Filmmakers Film Festival and was featured on Funny or Die. While studying with acting coach Harold Guskin he secured his television debut in the final season of the 54-year running soap, As The World Turns. The following year in 2011 Ciccone landed a guest star role on White Collar opposite Matt Bomer. In 2012 he appeared opposite Donnie Wahlberg and Jennifer Esposito in Blue Bloods and landed a recurring role on HBO's Boardwalk Empire. For the next decade he worked consistently on a variety of hit television shows like Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Law & Order and American Horror Story, and major films, such as Scorsese's The Irishman and Todd Phillip's Joker, to name a few. He has also appeared on SNL and has shared the screen with some of the best comedians in the business, like Awkwafina, Aziz Ansari, Melissa McCarthy, Ray Romano, Sebastian Maniscalco and Tiffany Haddish. In addition to acting, Ciccone teaches the craft in his Show Up To Book The Role acting community located at Ripley Grier studios in New York City.