Bio
Tony Danza is an American actor best known for his starring roles in the television series Taxi and Who's the Boss?, as well as the Academy Award-winning motion picture, Crash. He also hosted his own talk show, The Tony Danza Show.
Danza grew up in the East New York section of Brooklyn. His father, Matteo (Matty) Iadanza, was a sanitation worker for the city of New York; his mother Anna was a Sicilian-born immigrant. She was the subject of a short film produced by Tony called "Mamma Mia".
Danza has one younger brother, Matteo Jr. (Matty). Matty used to own the restaurant Matty's on Melrose, in Los Angeles.
When Danza was 15, his family moved to Malverne, New York. He graduated from Malverne High School. He attended the University of Dubuque in Dubuque, Iowa on a wrestling scholarship, majoring in History.
At age 18, he got a tattoo on his upper arm of the Robert Crumb illustration Keep on Truckin'. In the late 1990s, he had this tattoo removed via laser surgery.
He married college sweetheart Rhonda Yeoman in 1971 and the couple had a son, Marc Anthony Iadanza (born 1971). Danza and Rhonda divorced a couple years after Marc's birth.
Danza married Tracy Robinson in 1986. He has two daughters Katherine Anne and Emily Lyn, with Tracy. He and Tracy filed for separation in 2006.
From 1976-1979, Danza was a professional boxer with a 9-3 record. All his wins (and losses) were by knockout. He quit fighting when he landed a role on the TV situation comedy Taxi.
Danza is best known for his roles in Taxi (1978-1983), in which he played cabdriver and part-time boxer Tony Banta, and Who's the Boss? (1984-1992), portraying housekeeper and single father Tony Micelli.
Danza also starred in the short-lived sitcoms Hudson Street (1995) and The Tony Danza Show (1997, which is not to be confused with his talk show). He had a role on the TV drama Family Law from 2000 until 2002.
He was nominated for an Emmy Award for a guest-starring 1998 role in the TV series The Practice, in four episodes of the third season.
His movie debut was in the comedy The Hollywood Knights (1980), which was followed by Going Ape! (1981). He received critical acclaim for his performance in the 1999 Broadway revival of the Eugene O'Neill play The Iceman Cometh.
Danza hosted his own TV talk show, The Tony Danza Show, a nationally syndicated program produced each weekday morning in his hometown of New York (where it aired live).
On May 9, 2005, during a go-kart race with NASCAR star Rusty Wallace, who was a guest on the show, Danza's kart flipped after Wallace accidentally bumped him. Neither he nor Wallace was wearing a helmet at the time.
Danza returned to go-kart racing on October 20, 2005, to challenge IndyCar driver Danica Patrick, but he was defeated.
His daytime talk show ceased taping in May 2006, with the last live episode airing May 26, 2006.
He starred on Broadway as Max Bialystock in The Producers from December 2006 to March 2007.