Dennis Farina

Dennis Farina

Birth : 1944-02-29, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Death : 2013-07-22

History

Donaldo Gugliermo "Dennis" Farina (February 29, 1944 – July 22, 2013) was an American actor. Often typecast as a mobster or police officer, he is known for roles such as FBI Agent Jack Crawford in Manhunter, mobster Jimmy Serrano in the comedy Midnight Run, Ray "Bones" Barboni in Get Shorty, Cousin Avi in Snatch, and Walt Miller in New Girl. He starred on television as Lieutenant Mike Torello on Crime Story and as NYPD Detective Joe Fontana on Law & Order. From 2008 to 2010, he hosted and narrated the television program Unsolved Mysteries on Spike TV. His last major television role was in HBO's Luck, which premiered on January 29, 2012.

Profile

Dennis Farina

Movies

Lucky Stiff
Luigi
An English shoe salesman inherits 6 million dollars from a recently deceased uncle he has never met before, on the condition that he takes the uncle's corpse on a trip to Monte Carlo.
Authors Anonymous
John K. Butzin
When a dysfunctional group of unpublished writers accept Hannah into their fold, the last thing they expect is her overnight success. Can these lovable misfits achieve their artistic dreams and avoid killing one another in the process?
The Last Rites of Joe May
Joe May
Now in his sixties, Joe is released from the hospital after a long battle with pneumonia and forced to confront the harsh reality of his legacy: everyone he knew had assumed he was dead, and life had gone on around him without missing a beat. Returning to his old neighborhood in Chicago's 'Patch' district, he finds his car gone, all his worldly possessions pawned by his landlord, and the apartment he's lived in his entire adult life rented out to a single mother and her eight-year-old daughter.
Knucklehead
Memphis Earl
A fight promoter deeply in debt to his crooked rival and desperate for a new fighter catches a break when a 450 pound church handyman who has spent his entire life in an orphanage agrees to wrestle on behalf of his fellow orphans.
Bottle Shock
Maurice Cantavale
Paris-based wine expert Steven Spurrier heads to California in search of cheap wine that he can use for a blind taste test in the French capital. Stumbling upon the Napa Valley, the stuck-up Englishman is shocked to discover a winery turning out top-notch chardonnay. Determined to make a name for himself, he sets about getting the booze back to Paris.
What Happens in Vegas
Richard Banger
During a wild vacation in Las Vegas, career woman Joy McNally and playboy Jack Fuller come to the sober realization that they have married each other after a night of drunken abandon. They are then compelled, for legal reasons, to live life as a couple for a limited period of time. At stake is a large amount of money.
Bag Boy
Marty Engstrom
A teenager enters the competitive world of grocery store bagging.
The Grand
L.B.J. Deuce Fairbanks
The Grand is in the tradition of improvisational comedies like Best In Show and This Is Spinal Tap. The story is set in the world of professional poker and follows six players who reach the final table of the world’s second most famous high stakes tournament, the Grand Championship of Poker.
Purple Violets
Gilmore
Patti Petalson is a promising writer, but her marriage and conventional job keep her from her dream. She longs to return to her writing, especially after running into her first love Brian Callahan, a successful crime novelist. Kate is Patti's best friend since college; she's a tough-talking schoolteacher who plays therapist to all Patti's problems, while she's got a few of her own.
You Kill Me
Edward O'Leary
While drying out on the West Coast, an alcoholic hit man befriends a tart-tongued woman who might just come in handy when it's time for him to return to Buffalo and settle some old scores.
Wait 'Til Next Year: The Saga of the Chicago Cubs
Narrator
Using the frame of opening day, 2006, this documentary examines the Cubs' 100 years without a World Series title. Between conversations with a half-dozen selected Cubs fans in 2006, the film looks back at the Wrigley years, sale to the Tribune, and coming oh-so-close in 1945, 1969, 1984, and 2003.
The Making of 'Heat'
Self
Behind the scenes documentary on the classic Michael Mann heist film.
Paparazzi
Detective Burton
A rising Hollywood actor decides to take personal revenge against a group of four persistent photographers to make them pay for almost causing a personal tragedy involving his wife and son.
This Old Cub
Himself
Jeff Santo explores the life and career of his father, Chicago Cub great Ron Santo.
Stealing Harvard
Mr. Warner
John and his girlfriend have vowed to marry once they save $30,000 for their dream house. But the minute they achieve their financial goal, John finds out his niece has been accepted at Harvard, and he's reminded of his promise to pay for her tuition (nearly $30,000). John's friend Duff convinces him to turn to petty crime to make the payment … but Duff's hare-brained schemes spin quickly out of control.
Big Trouble
Henry Desalvo
The story of how a mysterious suitcase brings together, and changes, the lives of a divorced dad, an unhappy housewife, two hitmen, a pair of street thugs, two love struck teens, two FBI men and a psychedelic toad. Based on Pulitzer Prize-winning humorist Dave Barry's best-selling first novel, "Big Trouble."
Sidewalks of New York
Carpo
The film follows the marital and dating lives of three men and three women who unknowingly form a tangled web of relationships. Interspersing "man on the street" interviews with scenes from the six characters' lives, the film weaves a humorous and biting commentary on the game of love -- easy to start, hard to finish.
Making 'Snatch'
Himself
The making of Guy Ritchie's 'Snatch'.
Snatch
Cousin Avi
Unscrupulous boxing promoters, violent bookmakers, a Russian gangster, incompetent amateur robbers and supposedly Jewish jewelers fight to track down a priceless stolen diamond.
Bad Seed
Dick Muller
Preston Tylk is an ordinary guy living in Seattle. When he discovers that his wife, Emily, whom he adores, is having an affair, he is devastated. Storming out of the house, he returns later only to find her brutally murdered.
Reindeer Games
Jack Banks
After assuming his dead cellmate's identity to get with his girlfriend, an ex-con finds himself the reluctant participant in a casino heist.
The Mod Squad
Captain Adam Greer
Three minor delinquints (Danes, Ribisi, and Epps) are recruited by a cop (Farina) working undercover to bust a cop/drug ring. When the officer who recruited them is killed, they go above and beyond the call of duty to solve the murder; and bust the drug ring. Suffering the jibes, and ridicule of fellow officers; they struggle to save their names, and that of their deceased benefactor.
Out of Sight
Marshall Sisco
Meet Jack Foley, a smooth criminal who bends the law and is determined to make one last heist. Karen Sisco is a federal marshal who chooses all the right moves … and all the wrong guys. Now they're willing to risk it all to find out if there's more between them than just the law.
Bella Mafia
Don Roberto Luciano
Don Roberto Luciano turns informer for the biggest Mafia trial in history, but his family pays a terrible price.
That Old Feeling
Dan De Mora
A bride's divorced parents find their old feelings for each other during the wedding reception and over the course of the next few days upsetting the newlywed's honeymoon.
Eddie
John Bailey
Eddie is a New York limo driver and a fanatical follower of the New York Knicks professional basketball team. The team is struggling with a mediocre record when, in mid-season, "Wild Bill" Burgess, the new owner, as a public relations gimmick, stages an 'honorary coach' contest, which Eddie wins. The fans love it, so "Wild Bill" fires the coach and hires her. She takes the bunch of overpaid prima
Get Shorty
Ray 'Bones' Barboni
Chili Palmer is a Miami mobster who gets sent by his boss, the psychopathic "Bones" Barboni, to collect a bad debt from Harry Zimm, a Hollywood producer who specializes in cheesy horror films. When Chili meets Harry's leading lady, the romantic sparks fly. After pitching his own life story as a movie idea, Chili learns that being a mobster and being a Hollywood producer really aren't all that different.
Out of Annie's Past
Charlie Ingle
Annie's got a secret past she's eager to hide from her husband and her family. An iconclastic bounty hunter blackmails her to keep that past a secret. As the stakes increase, though, so do the ruthless and brutal actions of all those involved. Soon, deaths of some major players in the game change the stakes from dollars and cents to life and death.
Bonanza: Under Attack
Charley Siringo
After a rogue band of Pinkerton detectives led by ruthless Charley Siringo bushwhacks reformed outlaw Frank James, he seeks sanctuary on the Ponderosa with the next generation of Cartwrights and his former Civil War compatriots. Will Frank's comrades come to his aid or turn their backs on him? Richard Roundtree also stars in this made-for-TV sequel to the popular Western series.
Little Big League
George O'Farrell
When the owner of the Minnesota Twins passes away, he bequeaths the team to his preteen grandson. The newly minted head honcho quickly appoints himself manager, causing unrest in an organisation that struggles to take orders from a 12-year-old.
The Corpse Had a Familiar Face
Detective Harry Lindstrom
The Corpse had a Familiar Face is a 1994 American TV-Movie with Elizabeth Montgomery, playing Edna Buchanan, a Miami's criminal journalist.
One Woman's Courage
Craig McKenna
A Stranger in the Mirror
Based on Sidney Sheldons novel.
Striking Distance
Capt. Nick Detillo
Coming from a police family, Tom Hardy ends up fighting his uncle after the murder of his father. Tom believes the killer is another cop, and goes on the record with his allegations. Demoted to water-way duty Tom, along with new partner Jo Christman, navigate the three rivers looking for clues and discovering bodies. This time the victims are women Tom knows, he must find the killer to prove his innocence.
Romeo Is Bleeding
Nick Gazzara (uncredited)
A corrupt cop gets in over his head when he tries to assassinate a beautiful Russian hit-woman.
Another Stakeout
Brian O'Hara
Chris and Bill are called upon for their excellent surveillance record to stakeout a lakeside home where a Mafia trial witness is believed to be heading or already hiding.
The Disappearance of Nora
Denton
A beautiful woman is found stranded in the desert with no recollection of who she is or how she got there, so a casino boss makes it his mission to help her.
Mac
Mr. Stunder
Niccolo "Mac" Vitelli is the eldest of three brothers in 1950s Queens. Mac is a construction builder, a trade he learned from his late father, and helps put his brothers on the job. When they can no longer take working for Polowski, who does shoddy work and is abusive to his staff, Mac and his brothers set up their own company. Together, Vitelli Brothers Construction builds houses with pride and care. But Mac turns out to be an overbearing workaholic, with obsessive concern about the quality of their work and incredible attention to detail. His intensity and driven ambition precludes a happy family life and begins to drive his brothers away.
Street Crimes
Brian
When two cops start a gym to help keep kids out of the drug trade, the local crime lord schemes to keep control of the streets. Meanwhile, officer Brian romances his partner’s blind daughter.
The American Gangster
Narrator
They fixed the World Series. They built Las Vegas. They terrorized America with their vicious murders and fearless robberies. They are men named Bugsy Siegel, Al Capone, John Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd, and Lucky Luciano. And, for the first time, THE AMERICAN GANGSTER tells the true story behind their ruthless rise to wealth and power. Filled with vintage film and actual photographs, THE AMERICAN GANGSTER is a gripping look at the birth of organized crime. From prohibition to prostitution, from gangland massacres to gambling empires, their most infamous deeds are chronicled in shocking detail. Even more explosive than the movies they inspired, such as Scarface and The Godfather, are the true histories of the brilliant, brutal gangsters who turned the American Dream into an ongoing nightmare.
We're Talkin' Serious Money
Sal
A couple of bumbling con men go on the lam when they can't repay a loan from the mob.
Drug Wars: The Cocaine Cartel
Mike Cerone
This follow-up to "Drug Wars: The Camarena Story" chronicles the fact-based fight by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and the Colombian government to bring down billionaire drug lords Don Pablo Escobar Gaviria and José Rodriguez Gacha, leaders of the infamous Medellin Cartel.
Perfect Crimes
Armand Zaro
True stories about individuals seeking to commit a perfect crime.
Men Of Respect
Bankie Como
In this modern day version of Shakespeare's Macbeth, a hitman heeds a spiritualist's prophesies that he will rise to the head of his family. He starts his ascension by clandestinely executing the heads of the family and casting the blame on others. However, with power comes consequences that are also predicted by the seer.
Havana
Joe Volpe's Assistant (uncredited)
An American professional gambler named Jack Weil decides to visit Havana, Cuba to gamble. On the boat to Havana, he meets Roberta Duran, the wife of a revolutionary, Arturo. Shortly after their arrival, Arturo is taken away by the secret police, and Roberta is captured and tortured. Jack frees her, but she continues to support the revolution.
People Like Us
Elias Renthall
When a wealthy scriptwriter and socialite's daughter is murdered, he feels let down by the courts, and so decides to use his powerful position to enable his own form of justice.
The Case of the Hillside Stranglers
Angelo Buono
The chilling true story of the "two of a kind" killing cousins, Angelo Buono and Kenneth Bianchi, better known as the Hillside Stranglers.
Open Admissions
Fred Carlson
An indifferent speech professor doing hack work in an urban college suddenly finds herself challenged by a ghetto youth with an intense desire to get a good education in this issue-oriented drama.
Midnight Run
Jimmy Serrano
An accountant embezzles $15 million of mob money, jumps bail and is chased by bounty hunters, the FBI, and the Mafia.
Six Against the Rock
Robert Stroud
In May of 1946, Alcatraz inmate Bernie Coy initiates a carefully thought out plan to escape the island prison. His plan, carried out with five accomplices, falls apart when they can't obtain a key to unlock a door leading to the yard.
Manhunter
Jack Crawford
FBI Agent Will Graham, who retired after catching Hannibal Lecktor, returns to duty to engage in a risky cat-and-mouse game with Lecktor to capture a new killer.
Triplecross
Veteran Cop, Ernie
Three cops become instant millionaires after saving a rich crime victim. They retire from the force and use their money to become flamboyant private detectives. They get involved in cases involving the death of an artist, underworld figures, blackmail and a fix on baseball games.
Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling
Freddy
Although Jo Jo Dancer has achieved success as a stand-up comedian, he hasn't found happiness. After receiving severe burns in a narcotics-related incident, Jo Jo remains in a coma, and, while in this state, he looks back on his life. Drifting off into memories of his troubled childhood, Jo Jo revisits his youth, recalling his eventual rise to fame and the decadence that followed. As he considers his existence, he must decide if he wants to go on living or not.
The Birthday Boy
A salesman in a sporting-goods store takes a cross-country trip on his birthday in order to visit his old gym coach, and sell him a supply of basketballs.
Final Jeopardy
Policeman #2
A small-town couple find themselves stranded in an unfamiliar, and unfriendly, big city. Weaving in and out of the proceedings are a bunch of murderous criminals with names like DOA, Ice and Slash. The couple are in for a night that they won't forget.
Code of Silence
Det. Dorato
A Chicago cop is caught in the middle of a gang war while his own comrades shun him because he wants to take an irresponsible cop down.
The Impostor
Detective
After being released from prison, small-time con artist Cade tracks down his old girlfriend. When she rebuffs him, he fakes his past in order to get hired as the principal of the school where she teaches, in the hopes of winning her back. Cade soon begins to take a sincere interest in the welfare of his students, and enlists the help of his friend Matthew to break a drug-dealing network that has infested the school.
Hard Knox
A retired fighter pilot becomes the head of his alma matter military high school for two weeks with hilarious consequences. He shapes up the school and raises morale so that they are able to win the "brass-axe" competition versus another local military academy.
The Killing Floor
Supervisor
During World War I, a poor black Southerner travels north to Chicago to get work in the city's slaughterhouses, where he becomes embroiled in the organized labor movement.
Through Naked Eyes
Patrolman
A musician living in an apartment building likes to check out the residents of the building opposite him--until he finds out one day that an attractive woman in that building is checking him out. He strikes up a relationship with her. Soon afterwards a string of serial killings occurs in the neighborhood, and suspicion begins to fall on the musician.
Thief
Carl
Frank is an expert professional safecracker, specialized in high-profile diamond heists. He plans to use his ill-gotten income to retire from crime and build a nice life for himself complete with a home, wife and kids. To accelerate the process, he signs on with a top gangster for a big score.