Dennis Parlato

Dennis Parlato is an American actor, dancer, and singer born on March 30, 1947, in Los Angeles, California. His Broadway career spanned three decades, from 1975 to 2005, and encompassed productions including A Chorus Line, Chess, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Graduate, and Woman of the Year. He is the son of Charlie Parlato and the uncle of Grammy-nominated jazz singer Gretchen Parlato.

Before pursuing performance professionally, Parlato taught high school English in San Francisco while participating in chamber concert groups. A turning point came during a vacation with his first wife, when the two attended a performance by the Nederlands Dans Theater — a production of Carmina Burana set to ballet. The experience prompted him to reduce his teaching schedule to half-time and begin studying ballet. During his time as a featured solo dancer with the Metropolitan Ballet of Oakland, he crossed paths with Austin Tichenor of the Reduced Shakespeare Company, who was then working as stage manager for the company.

Parlato relocated to New York at the age of thirty, following his fiancée Maggie Caponio, who had received a scholarship to the New York City Ballet. Despite having no formal vocal or acting training at the time, he auditioned widely and was cast in A Chorus Line in 1977, serving as an understudy. The income from that production allowed him to pursue proper lessons in voice and acting. He returned to Broadway in Chess in 1988, playing the role of Walter, and later took on the role of Captain Georg Von Trapp as a replacement in The Sound of Music in 1998. His final Broadway credit came in 2005 with Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, where he served as both understudy and replacement for the role of Lawrence.

Beyond Broadway, Parlato accumulated an extensive list of regional and Off-Broadway credits. These include El Gallo in The Fantasticks in 1985, Starbuck in Moby Dick in 1986, Dr. Bauer in The Knife in 1987, The Husband in Hello Again in 1993, Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls in 2004, and Captain Newton in Amazing Grace in 2012, among numerous other productions.

Parlato is perhaps most widely recognized for his work in daytime television. He portrayed Barton Crane on All My Children in 1985, Michael Grande on One Life to Live from 1988 to 1990, and Clay Alden on Loving from 1992 to 1995. He also stepped in to play Roger Thorpe on Guiding Light from 1997 to 1998, taking over the role from an ailing Michael Zaslow. His film appearances include The Dream Team in 1989, Johnny Suede in 1991, Delirious in 2006, Starting Out in the Evening in 2007, and Bride Wars in 2009, among other projects.