Trivia: His favourite food is Italian beef. 1969: Made his acting debut in a production of "Hair". Formerly an actor with an Chicago's Organic Theatre Company. 1978: Debuted on Broadway in "Working". He also helped write "Bleacher Bums", an award-winning play. The Los Angeles production of "Bums" ran over five years. His daughter, Mia, is autistic. He was a classmate of Walter Parazaider of Chicago, which is also Mantegna's favorite band. 4/26/04: Received the lifetime achievement award at the Los Angeles Italian Film Festival. Will Girardi, Mantegna's character on "Joan of Arcadia" (2003), was ranked #40 in TV Guide's list of the "50 Greatest TV Dads of All Time" [20 June 2004 issue]. As of May 15, 2005 has appeared on "The Simpsons" (1989) a record 16 times. Father of Gina Mantegna. His character on "The Simpsons" (1989), Fat Tony, has been the subject of two inside jokes. One of Fat Tony's first appearances was in the episode where Bart becomes his errand boy. At the end of the episode, the events are turned into a TV movie, in which, we are told, Joe Mantegna is playing Fat Tony. On a much later episode, after a mafia stand-off is placated by the appearance of Maggie Simpson, everyone breaks down crying. Fat Tony remarks, "I haven't cried like this since I paid to see The Godfather: Part III (1990).". 1984: Won the Tony Award as Best Actor (Featured Role - Play) for playing Richard ("Ricky") Roma in David Mamet's "Glengarry Glen Ross." In 2005, Liev Schreiber won his own Tony for playing the part originated by Mantegna in a revival of the play. The third major actor to play the part of Ricky Roma (in the film version of the play, Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)) was Al Pacino.