Mario Cantone (born December 9, 1959) is an American comedian, writer, actor, singer, and television host widely known for his role as Anthony Marentino in Sex and the City (2000–2004), its revival And Just Like That... (2021–2025) and Terri in Men in Trees (2006–2008). He hosted the children's television program Steampipe Alley, which aired on WWOR-TV from 1988 to 1993.
Early life Cantone was born in Massachusetts, and raised in Stoneham, where his Italian-American family moved when he was two. He was the fourth of five children of Mario Sr., a Boston restaurant owner, and his wife, Elizabeth (née Pescione). His father moved the family to Stoneham, according to Cantone in a 2004 New York Times interview to get her away from her bookie relatives. Cantone said the problem "was that she was not only a bookie but she was also a compulsive gambler."Messenger, Eric (October 10, 2004) "Mario Cantone's Loud Family Reunion." The New York Times. Retrieved August 3, 2013. His mother, who had been a big band singer in her youth, died when he was 21.
As a child, Cantone would direct reenactments of shows.Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: Cantone's first impression was of Julia Child, which he presented in a junior high school talent show.Gerani, Christine, (May 22, 2013), Mario Cantone: The Interview. SpotOnLongIsland.com. Retrieved August 7, 2013. He graduated from Stoneham High School in 1978TCM Archive Materials Mario Catone and Emerson College in 1982. He befriended fellow comic Denis Leary at Emerson.Emerson College Notable Alumni He moved to New York City in 1983 and got a job as a chocolate vendor at Trump Tower.
Early career While working at Trump Tower, he did impressions of people while selling chocolate truffles. He later worked as a jewelry salesman, quitting a year later to pursue comedy full time. He began his professional career hosting a children's show called Steampipe Alley, which aired on New York-New Jersey superstation WWOR-TV from 1988 to 1993.TV Guide, Mario Cantone: Biography.
Stand-up career In his stand-up concerts, he is known for his occasionally campy impressions of entertainment personalities such as Liza Minnelli, Judy Garland, Bruce Springsteen, Jim Morrison, and Bette Davis as well as for his original songs.Sex and the City's Mario Cantone Talks Broadway, Impersonations, WatchMojo.com. Retrieved August 7, 2013.
Much of his comedy derives from his boisterous Italian-American family. Cantone, who is gay, has said that he considers himself an actor and comedian who happens to be gay rather than a gay comic relying on gay jokes.Eichenwald, Wes (June 2, 2010) "Mario Cantone is out and proud – and much more" Austin360.com. Retrieved August 7, 2013. "Talking about being gay is a very small part of my show and when I first started I wasn't out on stage but I was out off stage, I certainly didn't lie about it on stage but if you didn't know you were an idiot and you lived in a cave after seeing me...really??"
Acting career Sex and the City Cantone is known for his role in the HBO series Sex and the City as Anthony Marentino, Charlotte York's gay wedding planner who dispensed advice with a rapid fire delivery.Mario Cantone Killer Comic, (originally published May 3, 2004), People magazine. Retrieved August 4, 2013.
Broadway Cantone made his Broadway debut in 1995, replacing Nathan Lane in the role of Buzz in Terrence McNally's Tony Award–winning play, Love! Valour! Compassion! Weber, Bruce (June 30, 2000) "Theater Review; True Love and a Crisis at Christmas (When Else)?" The New York Times. Retrieved August 4, 2013.Playbill Vault, Mario Cantone. Retrieved August 4, 2013. Later that year, he appeared in the revival of The Tempest with Patrick Stewart.Playbill Vault, The Tempest. Retrieved August 7, 2013. Several years later, Cantone did a workshop for The Lion King as Timon but was not comfortable with the makeup or manipulating a puppet and eventually left the project.Marks, Peter, (June 7, 2002) "C'mon, Make Me Laugh" The New York Times. Retrieved August 4, 2013. Rooney, David (October 24, 2002) Review: "Mario Cantone: Laugh Whore," Variety. Retrieved August 4, 2013. In 2002, he created and wrote his own one-man show for Broadway, An Evening With Mario Cantone.Playbill Vault, An Evening with Mario Cantone. Retrieved August 4. 2013. A year later, Cantone starred as Gidger in Richard Greenberg's The Violet HourManhattan Theatre Club . Retrieved August 4, 2013. in a part written specifically for him.Ernio Hernandez (November 11, 2003) Interview with Mario Cantone . Playbill. Retrieved August 4, 2013. The Violet Hour received mixed reviewsFor example, see Ben Brantley's November 7, 2003 review in The New York Times, Charles Isherwood's November 6, 2003 review in Variety, and John Simon's November 17, 2003 review in New York magazine. Retrieved August 4, 2013. and closed after 54 performances.Playbill Vault, The Violet Hour . Retrieved August 4, 2013.
In 2004, Cantone appeared as Samuel Byck in Stephen Sondheim's musical Assassins. Originally slated for the 2001 Broadway season, Assassins was postponed because of the September 11, 2001 attacks.Ernio Hernandez (April 22, 2004). "The Shots Heard Round the World: Musical Assassins Opens on Broadway" . Playbill. Sarah Beaumont (14 December 2003). "Something Just Broke". Sondheim.com. In 2001, Cantone had turned down the role of Carmen Ghia in Mel Brooks's The Producers. His other Broadway credits include his second one-man show, Laugh Whore, which ran from October 24, 2004, to January 2, 2005, at the Cort Theatre. Laugh Whore received a Tony Award nomination for Best Special Theatrical Event and an Outer Critics Circle award nomination for Outstanding Solo Performance.Playbill Vault, Laugh Whore . Retrieved August 4, 2013. Showtime taped the December 11, 2004 performance, which premiered on May 28, 2005.Ernio Hernandez (25 April 2005) Broadway's Laugh Whore with Mario Cantone Premieres on Showtime May 28. Playbill.com. Retrieved August 6, 2013. It was the network's first Broadway production to air as a comedy special.Levin, Gary and Bianco, Robert, (July 21, 2004) "Alley throws her weight behind series." USA Today. Retrieved August 7, 2013.
In September 2010, Cantone appeared in a staged reading of the Charles Messina play A Room of My Own at The Theatre at 45 Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village. As of November 2012, the play was still in development with Cantone in the cast.Playbill (November 8, 2012) Mario Cantone, Rachel Dratch, Zach Galligan Set for Reading of A Room of My Own . Retrieved August 4, 2013. The Off-Broadway production was expected to begin previews in February 2016.
Other works He started his career as the host of children's show, Steampipe Alley, which aired in the late 1980s through 1993.
He has appeared in the Comedy Central roasts of Joan Rivers and fellow Boston-area native and Emerson College alumnus Denis Leary. The network's Chappelle's Show featured him in a segment called "Ask A Gay Dude."
His voice-over work includes Sunsilk "hairapy" advertisements,Lippert, Barbara (August 21, 2006) Barbara Lippert's Critique: The Mane Man. Adweek. Retrieved August 4, 2013 and the voice of talent scout Mikey Abromowitz in the 2007 animated movie Surf's Up. He was a frequent guest on the Opie and Anthony radio show.
He was a regular guest on the ABC daytime talk show The View since at least 2003 and became a guest co-host in 2005. In August 2013, he was in the news as a rumored replacement for retiring co-host Joy Behar and since 2014 has been co-hosting more frequently.Carly Mallenbaum, (July 30, 2013) "Who Should Replace Joy Behar" USA Today. Retrieved on August 4, 2013
Cantone was among the judges of the Miss America 2014 pageant. He has appeared several times on The $100,000 Pyramid and Match Game as a celebrity guest star.
In 2022, Cantone competed in season eight of The Masked Singer as "Maize". He was eliminated on "Andrew Lloyd Webber Night" alongside Gloria Gaynor as "Mermaid".
In 2025, Cantone reprised his role as Anthony Marentino for a pop-up 'Hot Fellas' event at a Manhattan bakery, noting that rolling croissants came naturally to him.
Personal life In October 2011, Cantone married his partner of 20 years, musical theater director Jerry Dixon. The ceremony was officiated by pastor Jay Bakker.
Filmography Film Year Title Role DirectorRef. 1994 Quiz Show Passerby Robert Redford Who Do I Gotta Kill? Rico Frank Rainone / James Lorinz / Rocco Simonelli 1997 MouseHunt Zeppco Suit No. 1 Gore Verbinski 2002 Pandora Tech Support Antonio Campos And She Was Mario Frank Rainone 2003 Happy Hour Geoffrey Mike Bencivenga Crooked Lines Cliff Harry O'Reilly2005 Searching for Bobby D Casting Director Paul Borghese The Aristocrats Himself Penn Jillette / Paul Provenza 2006 Farce of the Penguins Sidney (voice) Bob Saget Last Request Mr. Oliver John DeBellis 2007 Three Days to Vegas Chris Charlie Picerni Staten Island Mr. Burton James DeMonaco Surf's Up Mikey Abromowitz (voice) Ash Brannon and Chris Buck 2008 Sex and the City Anthony Marentino Michael Patrick King 2010 Sex and the City 2 Anthony Marentino Michael Patrick King Circus Maximus Romano Thomas J. La Sorsa. 2011 Goldberg - P.I. Bartender Steven Moskovic and Rosario Roveto Jr. Dirty Movie The Director Jerry Daigle / Christopher Meloni 2015 In Stereo John Resnick Mel Rodriguez III 2017 A Very Merry Toy Store Mayor Stevens 2019 Otherhood Calvin Cindy Chupack 2020 All My Life Jerome Patterson Marc Meyers 2023 Under the Boardwalk Mr. Cacciatore (voice) David Soren
Television Year Title RoleNotes 1988–1993 Steampipe Alley Various 1994 NYPD Blue Bidder No. 1 Episode: "Rockin' Robin" (S 1:Ep 22) 2001 Ed Scott Hayes Episode: "Mixed Signals" (S 1:Ep 21) 2003 Chappelle's Show Himself Season 1 Episode 6 2000–2004 Sex and the City Anthony Marentino Recurring role 2004 Mouthing Off: 51 Greatest Smartasses Himself Comedy special 2005 Laugh Whore Himself Comedy special 2006–2008 Men in Trees Terri Romano Recurring role 2009 Killer Hair Leonardo TV movie Hostile Makeover Leonardo TV movie 2011 A Mann's World Nicky TV movie 2014 Toadalees Filth, Flarn & Gee TV animated film directed by Ryan Duff 2015 Hindsight Simon Episodes: "Pilot" and "Square One" 2016 The $100,000 Pyramid Himself (celebrity guest) Episode: Mario Cantone vs. Robin Roberts 2017 Match Game Himself (celebrity guest) Season 1, Episodes 6-7Season 2, Episode 6 2017 The President Show Anthony Scaramucci 2 episodes 2019 Mom Sean Episode: "Wile E. Coyote and a Possessed Doll" 2020 AJ and the Queen Alma Joy Episode: "Pittsburgh" 2020–2022 Better Things Mal Martone 4 episodes 2021–2025 And Just Like That... Anthony Marentino Main role 2022 Girls5eva Mario Cantone Episode: "B.P.E." The Masked Singer Maize Season 8 contestant; Episode: "Andrew Lloyd Weber Night" 2023 Pal's Missing School! Chuck E. Cheese (voice) CEC Film. Replacing Jaret Reddick The $100,000 Pyramid Self - Celebrity Player Episode: "Deon Cole vs D'arcy Carden and Ken Jennings vs Mario Cantone"
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