Biographie
Jay Acovone is a versatile actor who is best known for his ability to play authoritative characters such as Mafia bosses, villains, police/military, and lawyers. He was born in NYC; his parents later moved to Mahopac, NY, where he graduated from Mahopac High School. While he was always an avid movie fan, it was a chance encounter with a friend, urging him to take part in a play, that set him on a path for a career in acting.
Acovone attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts (AADA) and the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in New York. His break came when he was cast to play "Skip Lee", opposite Al Pacino, in the controversial movie Cruising (1980) (written and directed by William Friedkin). He spent the next few years working on daytime television in NYC, but moved to Los Angeles when he landed a co-starring role in Hollywood Beat.
Acovone went on to have several supporting roles in film and television including Women of Valor (1986) and Cold Steel (1987) before being recruited to be a series regular on Beauty and the Beast (1987). After Beauty and the Beast ended, he continued to have multiple supporting or lead roles in TV and films including: Out for Justice (1991), Lookin' Italian (1994), Matlock (1986) and Friends (1994). The mid-1990s brought a role in the blockbuster hit Independence Day (1996) and a major recurring role in the TV series Stargate SG-1 (1997). Stargate-SG1 won multiple awards, including the Saturn Award for Best Syndicated/Cable Television Series for three different years.
The following decade led to a role in Cast Away (2000), Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003), and S.W.A.T. (2003); recurring roles in Silk Stalkings (1991), Sliders (1995), NYPD Blue (1993), and The X-Files (1993); guest-starring roles in CSI: NY (2004), Monk (2002), Criminal Minds (2005), and 24 (2001). In recent years, Acovone saw a brief return to daytime television with a recurring role on General Hospital (1963) (Maurice Benard), and then went on to guest-star on multiple hit TV dramas including: The Mentalist (2008), Leverage (2008), CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000), Vegas (2012), and NCIS (2003). In 2016, he acted in the motion capture video game Mafia III (2016), playing Mafia boss Sal Marcano.
In 2017, Acovone was asked to perform the audiobook version of George R. R. Martin (Game of Thrones (2011))'s novel, "Wildcards-Dead Man's Hand", along with Adrian Paul.
Acovone lives in Los Angeles with his wife and their cat.
