Stephen Spinella

Stephen Spinella is an American actor working in stage, television, and film, whose Broadway career spans from 1993 to 2018. He was born on October 11, 1956, in Naples, Italy, to a father who served as an American naval airplane mechanic. Spinella grew up in Glendale, Arizona, and pursued formal training in drama at the University of Arizona, where he earned his degree. He subsequently completed the Graduate Acting Program at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, graduating in 1982.

Spinella's Broadway career brought him significant recognition through his portrayal of Prior Walter in Tony Kushner's two-part epic Angels in America. He originated the role in Angels in America: Millennium Approaches and continued in Angels in America: Perestroika, earning consecutive Tony Awards for those performances — the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play in 1993 and the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play in 1994. The back-to-back wins marked a rare distinction in Broadway history.

His Broadway work extended beyond Angels in America to include productions such as James Joyce's The Dead, A View From the Bridge, and The Velocity of Autumn. His performance in James Joyce's The Dead earned him a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical in 2000, as well as a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Musical that same year.

Spinella was born in Italy but raised in Arizona, and he holds American nationality. His stage work remains the most decorated dimension of a career that also encompasses television and film.