
Joe Grifasi
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. He has been married to jazz soprano saxophonist and composer Jane Ira Bloom, whom he met while studying at the Yale School of Drama, since 1974.
71
Films
38
TV Shows
Known For
109 Credits
Law & Order
as Ezra Gould
1990

Law & Order
as Defense Attorney James Linde
1990

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
as Hashi Horowitz
1999

Elementary
as Captain Moretti
2012

The Good Wife
as Judge John Mata
2009

ER
as Tom Williams
1994

Great Performances
as Cpl. Matson
1971

Evil
as Lombino
2019

The Practice
as Harry Papp
1997

Hill Street Blues
as Ronnie Delacroce
1981

The Good Fight
as Judge John Mata
2017

Bull
as Judge Arlen Rand
2016