
Joe Grifasi
Biography
Joseph G. "Joe" Grifasi (born June 14, 1944) is an American character actor of film, stage and television. Born in Buffalo, New York, Grifasi joined the U.S. Army prior to studying acting. He has appeared in more than 50 feature films including Presumed Innocent, The Deer Hunter, Big Business, Beaches, Auto Focus, Matewan, Naked Gun, Dark Matter, Natural Born Killers, Chances Are, Changing Lanes, One Fine Day, F/X, Benny & Joon, The Pope of Greenwich Village, Brewster’s Millions, Batman Forever, The Flamingo Kid, Ironweed, and Splash. His television credits include The Bronx is Burning (as Yogi Berra), 61* (as Phil Rizzuto), Law & Order, ER, LA Law, Chicago Hope, Hill Street Blues, SCTV, Roseanne, and The Practice. Grifasi’s Broadway credits include Dinner at Eight, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, A Memory of Two Mondays, Boy Meets Girl, The Accidental Death of an Anarchist, The 1940’s Radio Hour and Happy End. His off-Broadway credits include Conversations in Tusculum, The Boys Next Door (Drama Desk Nomination), Once Around the City, Golden Boy, Filumena and Says I, Says He.…
Filmography

Deadline
2000 · 10.0

One Police Plaza
1986 · 9.0

New Amsterdam
2018 · 8.3

WIOU
1990 · 8.0

Secret Service
1977 · 8.0

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
1999 · 8.0

The Deer Hunter
1978 · 8.0

Evil
2019 · 7.8

ER
1994 · 7.8

Remember WENN
1996 · 7.8

Moon Over Miami
1993 · 7.8

Sinatra
1992 · 7.7

I Know This Much Is True
2020 · 7.7

Elementary
2012 · 7.6

Hill Street Blues
1981 · 7.6

The Good Wife
2009 · 7.6

The Practice
1997 · 7.6

Moonlighting
1985 · 7.6

The Good Fight
2017 · 7.5

Kojak: Ariana
1989 · 7.5

Tarzan
2003 · 7.4

Matewan
1987 · 7.4

Early Edition
1996 · 7.4

The Last New Yorker
2010 · 7.3

The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
1988 · 7.3

Law & Order
1990 · 7.3

Chicago Hope
1994 · 7.2

The Equalizer
1985 · 7.2

The Bronx Is Burning
2007 · 7.2

The Hudsucker Proxy
1994 · 7.1

Bull
2016 · 7.1

Natural Born Killers
1994 · 7.0

Benny & Joon
1993 · 7.0

L.A. Law
1986 · 7.0

Matlock
1986 · 7.0

Will There Really Be a Morning?
1983 · 7.0

A Jersey Tale
2004 · 7.0

Primary Motive
1992 · 7.0

61*
2001 · 7.0

Moonstruck
1987 · 6.8

Presumed Innocent
1990 · 6.8

Roseanne
1988 · 6.8

Perfect Witness
1989 · 6.8

13 Going on 30
2004 · 6.8

Lodge 49
2018 · 6.7

Class of '96
1993 · 6.7

The Appointments of Dennis Jennings
1988 · 6.7

City of Hope
1991 · 6.7

Lewis Black: Red, White & Screwed
2006 · 6.7

Chances Are
1989 · 6.6

American Playhouse
1982 · 6.6

Radium Girls
2020 · 6.6

Heavy
1995 · 6.6

Household Saints
1993 · 6.6

F/X
1986 · 6.6

Brewster's Millions
1985 · 6.6

Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult
1994 · 6.5

Capital News
1990 · 6.5
Shadow of a Doubt
1996 · 6.5

One Fine Day
1996 · 6.5

The Pope of Greenwich Village
1984 · 6.4

Auto Focus
2002 · 6.4

Ironweed
1987 · 6.4

Big Business
1988 · 6.4

Canterbury's Law
2008 · 6.3

Queenie in Love
2001 · 6.3

A Midsummer Night's Dream
2014 · 6.3

Citizen Cohn
1992 · 6.3

Changing Lanes
2002 · 6.3

Splash
1984 · 6.3

Great Performances
1971 · 6.1

Conviction
2006 · 6.0

The Flamingo Kid
1984 · 6.0

On the Yard
1978 · 6.0

Switching Goals
1999 · 5.9

Money Train
1995 · 5.9

The Out-of-Towners
1999 · 5.8

Two Bits
1995 · 5.8

Jack Reed: A Search for Justice
1994 · 5.8

Still of the Night
1982 · 5.7

The Deal
1998 · 5.7

Hide in Plain Sight
1980 · 5.7

The Gentleman Bandit
1981 · 5.7

The Other Me
2000 · 5.6

A Crime
2006 · 5.6

Batman Forever
1995 · 5.5

Hope & Faith
2003 · 5.4

Some of My Best Friends
2001 · 5.4

Slow Burn
2005 · 5.4

The Front
2010 · 5.4

Honky Tonk Freeway
1981 · 5.3

Baked in Brooklyn
2016 · 5.2

Sunday
1997 · 5.2

The Feud
1989 · 5.2

Bad Medicine
1985 · 5.1

Taking the Heat
1993 · 5.0

The American Side
2016 · 4.7

The Naked Man
1998 · 4.1

The Beat
2000 · 4.0

No Pay, Nudity
2016 · 4.0

Looking for an Echo
2000 · 3.8

Something Short of Paradise
1979 · 3.8

The Dreams of Rene Sendam
2022 · 1.0

Undue Influence
1996 · 0.0

Tornado
2024 · 0.0

Endgame
2023 · 0.0