is known as an “actor’s actor”. The wide variety of roles he has played and the quality of his work have earned him a reputation as a versatile talent. He studied at the Actors Studio and the American Stanislavski Theatre. His debut on stage was in 1984 in the Broadway play “Open Admissions”, followed by work in numerous other stage plays. As a film actor, D’Onofrio’s career break came when he played a mentally unbalanced recruit in Full Metal Jacket (1987), directed by the renowned Stanley Kubrick. For this role D’Onofrio gained nearly 70 pounds. He had a major role in Dying Young (1991), and appeared prominently in the box-office smash Men in Black (1997) as the bad guy (Edgar “The Bug”).
Other films of note in which he has appeared are Mystic Pizza (1988), JFK (1991), The Player (1992), Ed Wood (1994), The Cell (2000) and The Break-Up (2006). In 1996 D’Onofrio garnered critical acclaim along with co-star Renée Zellweger for The Whole Wide World (1996), which he helped produce. He also made a guest appearance in the TV series “Homicide: Life on the Street” (1993) in a 1997 episode, where he played an accident victim who could not be rescued and was destined to die. For this performance he won an Emmy nomination. In 2000 he both produced and starred in Steal This Movie (2000), a biopic of radical leader Abbie Hoffman.
In 2001 D’Onofrio took the role which has likely given him his greatest public recognition: Det. Robert Goren, the lead character in the TV series “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” (2001). Most recently, Dâ€Onofrio acted in the Academy Award winning live action short film“The New Tenants†(2010) and also directed his first ever feature, a horror musical entitled “Don’t Go In The Woods.â€
MAN ON THE LEDGE is John’s eighth collaboration with Larry Fessenden and Glass Eye Pix, having appeared in Joe Maggio’s BITTER FEAST, I SELL THE DEAD (as Cornelius Murphy), WENDIGO (as Otis), Ti West’s HOUSE OF THE DEVIL, THE ROOST and the upcoming THE INNKEEPERS (playing “Officer Mitchell†in the latter two films), and briefly in Larry’s THE LAST WINTER. Other film work includes INSIDE MAN (dir. Spike Lee), CAYMAN WENT, FANTASTIC FOUR, RULES OF ENGAGEMENT (dir. William Friedkin), SCHOOL TIES, JERSEY GIRL, TOWN DIARY, and THE TRADE. John plays a starring role in the indie film UNCONSCIOUS, directed by Brad Wigor, and is currently working for director Raja Gosnell in next summer’s THE SMURF MOVIE.
is a native New Yorker, born in Hell’s Kitchen. He has appeared in various off Broadway stage productions and studied with Michael Moriarty, Bill Hickey, and is a member of the Actor’s Studio. He has appeared in LAW AND ORDER, CSI NY and THE BLACK DONNELLY’S. In 1998 he acted in his first feature film, FAST HORSES, from a script he wrote, opposite Victor Argo. In 2003 he co-starred in Jane Campion’s , IN THE CUT, as serial killer cop, Detective Richard Rodrigues opposite Meg Ryan and Mark Rufalo. In 2006 he played Lieutenant Kazmatis in Oliver Stone’s WORLD TRADE CENTER and opposite Harvey Keitel in Howard Himmilestien’s MY SEXIEST YEAR.
In 2007 he played Clutch in MULBERRY STREET, a horror film he co-wrote and starred in for director Jim Mickle. After a screening at the Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal, Canada, the film was picked up by Lions Gate as part of it’s After Dark series. In 2008 Damici appeared off off Broadway as Sherlock Holmes in a play he wrote called SHERLOCK AND JOHN. He also played opposite Harvey Keitel again in the TV series LIFE ON MARS.
has appeared in director Joe Maggio’s VIRGIL BLISS (2001) and MILK AND HONEY (2003),as well as teh short films HAPPY ENDING (2005), FINDERS KEEPERS (2010) and the family feature FRANK (2007)
