Philip Casnoff

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Philip Casnoff (August 3, 1953, Philadelphia) is an American actor, known mainly from TV movies and series' roles.

1 Theatre
2 Television
3 Personal life
4 External link

[edit] Theatre

Casnoff began his career touring in the 1972/73 National company of Godspell where he understudied Jesus and Judas. He began performing on Broadway in the 1976 production Rockabye Hamlet, a musical version of Shakespeare's Hamlet. He was cast as understudy for the title role, however, the show closed after only seven performances.

In April of 1988, Casnoff starred as Freddie, an arrogant American professional chess player in the musical Chess. The show garnered poor reviews and little audience interest and closed three months later.

Casnoff created the lead role of John Blackmore in Shogun: The Musical (1990), based on the popular book and miniseries by James Clavell. The show became notorious for an incident that happened during the critic's preview in which a falling piece of scenery knocked Casnoff to the stage, prompting screams from the audience and cancellation of the show for several days. When he returned to the show a few days later to perform the second act again for the press, New York Times theatre critic Frank Rich praised the young actor, noting that the incident "pumped up his ego" and that "after his recovery, Mr. Casnoff [had] the swaggering self-assurance of a star in complete control of a vast production." Though Casnoff received generally good reviews for his performance, most critics panned the show and it closed in just two months.

[edit] Television

Casnoff's first major role was that of Elkanah Bent in the popular 1985 miniseries North and South. He went on to reprise the role in two sequels which aired in 1986 and 1994.

In 1992, he was chosed to play Frank Sinatra in the television miniseries Sinatra. While shooting the film, Casnoff met Sinatra on the set.

Casnoff portrayed Russian criminal Nikolai Stanislofsky on HBO's acclaimed TV series Oz from 1999 to 2000.

In 2000, he joined the cast of Lifetime Television's Strong Medicine. As Chief of Staff Dr. Robert Jackson, Casnoff stayed with the show for five seasons, until 2005. He also directed an episode and went on direct an episode of Monk.