Philip L. Casnoff is an American stage and TV actor and director.
Career[]
Little is known of Casnoff's early life, other than he was born on August 3, 1949 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Graduating from Central High School on June 1967, Casnoff then attended Wesleyan University. Casnoff began his stage acting career in the company of Godspell. He was cast as an understudy for the titular role in the 1976 Broadway production of Rockabye Hamlet, which was a rock musical version of William Shakespeare's play. However, the show closed after only seven performances. In 1984, he met and married actress Roxanne Hart and had two sons with her: Alexander, who was born on 1988, and Macklin McKee, who was born on November 29, 1992. In 1988, Casnoff starred in the short-lived Broadway production of the musical Chess, a performance that was warmly received by critics and brought him the Theater World Award for Best Debut Performance.
Casnoff developed the lead role of John Blackmore in Shogun: The Musical, based on the popular book and miniseries by James Clavell. During the show's previews, he suffered minor injury after being struck by a piece of scenery but quickly recuperated and returned to the performances the next day. Though the production survived only for twelve previews and 72 performances, Casnoff received a lot of critical acclaim for his work. On January 15, 2007, he returned to Broadway as Billy Flynn[1] in the musical Chicago, succeeding Huey Lewis and staying with the production until March 25, 2007.
He also launched a TV acting career, with his first major role being that of the main antagonist Elkanah Bent in the 1985 miniseries North and South and its two sequels. In 1992, he was chosen to play Frank Sinatra in the television miniseries Sinatra. Casnoff met the actual Sinatra during shooting and went on to receive a Golden Globe nomination for his performance. He also portrayed Russian criminal Nikolai Stanislofsky on the acclaimed TV series Oz. In 2000, he joined the cast of Strong Medicine, a medical drama series, staying with the show for five seasons. Casnoff also directed two episodes of the popular detective-mystery TV series Monk.
Other screen credits also include Numb3rs, Without a Trace, Material Girls, Law & Order, Frasier, For All Time, Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Diagnosis: Murder, ER, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, The Nanny, and NCIS.
On Criminal Minds[]
Casnoff appeared in "25 to Life" as serial killer James Stanworth.
Filmography[]
- Message from Space (1978) as Aaron
- Gorp (1980) as Bergman
- You Better Watch Out (1980) as Ricardo Bouma
- The Renegades (1982) as Dancer
- Remington Steele (1982) as Ben Pearson
- The Hamptons (1983) as David Landau
- George Washington (1984) as Lafayette
- ABC Afterschool Specials (1984) as Harvey Schmidt
- Tales from the Darkside (1984) as Chris Wood
- The Edge of Night (1984) as Brian Murdock
- North and South (1985) as Elkanah Bent (6 episodes)
- North and South, Book II (1986) as Elkanah Bent (6 episodes)
- Hands of a Stranger (1987) as Marty Loftus
- The Red Spider (1988) as Detective Patrick Shaunessy
- One Life to Live (1990) as Rob Riviera
- Ironclads (1991) as Lieutenant Guilford
- Red Wind (1991) as Charles Lapidus
- Jersey Girl (1992) as Mitchell
- Sinatra (1992) as Frank Sinatra
- Heaven & Hell: North & South, Book III (1994) as Elkanah Bent (3 episodes)
- Under Suspicion (1994-1995) as Detective James Vitelli (2 episodes)
- Saints and Sinners (1994) as Detective Battaglia
- Temptation (1994) as Michael Reddick
- Sisters (1995) as Jack Chambers (3 episodes)
- Zoya (1995) as Simon Hirsch
- Chicago Hope (1995) as Paul Accosta
- Special Report: Journey to Mars (1996) as Nick Van Pelt
- The Nanny (1996) as Cantor Gary Isaacs
- Wings (1996) as Eric
- Promised Land (1996) as Bill Carter
- Little Girls in Pretty Boxes (1997) as Greg Radkin
- The Hunger (1997) as William Cobb
- Blood on Her Hands (1998) as Richard Davis
- Players (1998) as John Fellowes
- Tempting Fate (1998) as Richard Davis
- How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998) as Kennedy
- Chameleon (1998) as Cortez
- The Defenders: Taking the First (1998) as John Walker
- ER (1998) as Dr. Dan Litvak
- The Practice (1999) as Danny Rogers
- Walker, Texas Ranger (1999) as Harris
- Diagnosis Murder (1999) as Grant Connor
- Oz (1999-2000) as Nikolai Stanislofsky (13 episodes)
- Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (2000) as Mackey
- For All Time (2000) as Al Glasser
- Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2001) as Ilya Korska
- The President's Man: A Line in the Sand (2002) as Jack Stanton
- Frasier (2002) as Dr. Bernard Gadston
- Law & Order (2002) as Bill Talbot
- Strong Medicine (2000-2005) as Chief of Staff Dr. Robert Jackson (108 episodes)
- Law & Order: Trial by Jury (2005) as Assistant District Attorney Nick Forster
- Material Girls (2006) as Victor Marchetta
- Without a Trace (2006) as Donald Clarence
- Numb3rs (2006) as Maurice Connors
- Crossing Jordan (2007) as Dr. Sanchez
- Jane Doe: Eye of the Beholder (2008) as Lance Saxon
- Dollhouse (2009-2010) as Clive Ambrose (3 episodes)
- Criminal Minds (2010) as James Stanworth
- Mineville (2010) as Mr. Johnson
- Law & Order: Los Angeles (2011) as Bo
- Grace Face (2011) as Steve (short)
- Field of Vision (2011) as Kenny McFarland
- NCIS (2011-2012) as Sean Latham
- CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2012) as Jonah Clyborn
- Franklin & Bash (2012) as Glenn Friedman
- Grey's Anatomy (2012) as Dr. Mel Barnett
Director[]
- Strong Medicine - 7 episodes (2003-2005)
- Monk - 2 episodes (2005-2006)
Producer[]
- Mineville (Associate Producer)
External Links[]
For an up-to-date filmography, see here.
References[]
- ↑ Not to be confused with Billy Flynn