Adolph Lestina

Adolph Lestina (1861 – August 23, 1923) was an American actor who worked in both stage and film, appearing on Broadway between 1899 and 1909 and later becoming a member of D. W. Griffith's stock company of film actors. He was married to Bessie Lee Lestina and died of heart disease in New Rochelle, New York.

Lestina's Broadway career encompassed five productions across a decade. He first appeared on Broadway in Children of the Ghetto, which ran from October through December 1899. The School for Scandal followed in January 1902, and later that same year he appeared in The Eternal City, which ran from November 1902 through February 1903. In 1908 he took part in Our American Cousin, which ran from January through April of that year. His final Broadway credit was A Citizen's Home in October 1909, a performance that received notice as being sympathetic. During his stage career he also received positive recognition for his work in Justin McCarthy's If I Were King and in Laurence Irving's The Fool Hath Said There Is No God.

Lestina is credited with having played a significant role in the early career of D. W. Griffith. While working with the Meffert Stock Company, he arranged for the young Griffith to play the role of Old Man Marks in The Lights o' London. Griffith later recalled that Lestina advised him that a person who wished to become a playwright first had to work as an actor. Griffith credited Lestina directly with having discovered him as a performer.

The professional relationship between Lestina and Griffith extended into film. Lestina appeared in numerous Griffith productions, among them Hearts of the World in 1918 and The Love Flower in 1920. His screen work began around 1909 with short films including The Cord of Life, and he continued acting in films through the early 1920s, with credits that include Orphans of the Storm in 1921, in which he played a doctor.