Mandy Patinkin

Mandel Bruce Patinkin, known professionally as Mandy Patinkin, was born on November 30, 1952, in Chicago, Illinois, to Doris Lee Patinkin, a homemaker, and Lester Don Patinkin, who operated two Chicago-area metal businesses, the People's Iron & Metal Company and the Scrap Corporation of America. Patinkin was raised in an upper-middle-class family of Jewish descent, with roots tracing to Polish immigrants, and was brought up in Conservative Judaism. He attended religious school daily from age seven through his early teens and sang in synagogue choirs. His father died of pancreatic cancer in 1972. Among his cousins are Mark Patinkin, a nationally syndicated columnist for The Providence Journal; Sheldon Patinkin, a founder of The Second City and a faculty member at Columbia College Chicago's Theater Department; Bonnie Miller Rubin, a reporter for the Chicago Tribune; actress Laura Patinkin; composer Louis Rosen; and writer and performer Stacy Oliver.

Patinkin attended South Shore High School, Harvard St. George School, and Kenwood High School, graduating in 1970. He subsequently studied at the University of Kansas before enrolling in the Juilliard School's Drama Division, Group 5, from 1972 to 1976, where his classmates included Kelsey Grammer. When producers of the television sitcom Cheers were casting the role of Dr. Frasier Crane, Patinkin put Grammer's name forward for consideration.

His professional stage career began in 1975 at The Public Theatre's Shakespeare Festival, where he appeared in a revival of the comic play Trelawny of the Wells, playing Arthur Gower alongside Meryl Streep as Imogen Parrott and John Lithgow as Ferdinand Gadd. The following year, from 1975 through 1976, he appeared on Broadway in a revival of Hamlet, playing the Player King and Fortinbras, Prince of Norway, in a production featuring Sam Waterston in the title role. In 1977 he starred in Michael Cristofer's play The Shadow Box.

Patinkin achieved his first major musical theatre success in 1979, originating the role of Che in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita on Broadway, performing opposite Patti LuPone. The performance earned him the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical in 1980, as well as a nomination for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical. He returned to Broadway in 1984 to star in Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Sunday in the Park with George, playing both the pointillist painter Georges Seurat and his fictional great-grandson George, opposite Bernadette Peters. Performances began in April 1984, and Patinkin earned Tony Award and Drama Desk Award nominations for Best Actor in a Musical for the role. He departed the production on September 17 before returning on August 5, 1985, remaining until the show closed approximately two months later. His performance was recorded and broadcast on television as part of American Playhouse.

In 1991, Patinkin joined the original Broadway cast of Lucy Simon's The Secret Garden, portraying Lord Archibald Craven. Two years later, in 1993, he replaced Michael Rupert in the role of Marvin in William Finn's Falsettos on Broadway. He starred as Burrs in The Wild Party in 2000, a performance that earned him a second Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical. His Broadway work also includes Barack on Broadway, An Evening with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin, and Mandy Patinkin on Broadway, with his stage career spanning from 1975 to 2012.

Patinkin's film career includes the role of Tateh in Milos Forman's Ragtime (1981) and Paul Isaacson in Sidney Lumet's Daniel (1983). He played Avigdor in Barbra Streisand's Yentl (1983), a performance that earned him a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. His most widely recognized film role is Inigo Montoya in Rob Reiner's The Princess Bride (1987). Additional film credits include Maxie (1985), Dick Tracy (1990), True Colors (1991), Impromptu (1991), Wonder (2017), and Life Itself (2018). He also provided voice work for two Hayao Miyazaki films released in North America, Castle in the Sky (2003) and The Wind Rises (2013).

On television, Patinkin played Dr. Jeffrey Geiger in the medical drama Chicago Hope from 1994 to 2000, winning the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Leading Actor in a Drama Series for that role in 1995. He was a main cast member of Dead Like Me from 2003 to 2004, and portrayed SSA Jason Gideon in the CBS crime drama Criminal Minds from 2005 to 2007. He played Saul Berenson in the Showtime series Homeland from 2011 to 2020 and appeared as a main cast member in The Good Fight in 2021. In 2024 he took the role of Rufus Cotesworth in the Hulu mystery series Death and Other Details. Across his television work, Patinkin has earned seven Primetime Emmy Award nominations.