Richard Portnow
Encyclopedia
Richard Portnow is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

 known for such films and television shows as Barton Fink
Barton Fink
Barton Fink is a 1991 American film, written, directed, and produced by the Coen brothers. Set in 1941, it stars John Turturro in the title role as a young New York City playwright who is hired to write scripts for a movie studio in Hollywood, and John Goodman as Charlie, the insurance salesman who...

, Se7en
Se7en
Seven is a 1995 American thriller film, which also contains horror and neo-noir elements, directed by David Fincher and written by Andrew Kevin Walker. It was distributed by New Line Cinema and stars Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow, R...

, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai is a 1999 American crime action film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch. Forest Whitaker stars as the title character, the mysterious "Ghost Dog", a hitman in the employ of the Mafia, who follows the ancient code of the samurai as outlined in the book of Yamamoto...

, The Spirit
The Spirit (film)
The Spirit is a 2008 American superhero noir film, written and directed by Frank Miller and starring Gabriel Macht, Eva Mendes, Sarah Paulson, Dan Lauria, Paz Vega, Jaime King, Scarlett Johansson, and Samuel L. Jackson. The film is based on the newspaper comic strip The Spirit by Will Eisner...

, Law Abiding Citizen
Law Abiding Citizen
Law Abiding Citizen is a 2009 thriller film directed by F. Gary Gray from a screenplay written by Kurt Wimmer, starring Jamie Foxx and Gerard Butler. The film takes place in Philadelphia and tells the story of a man whose developed sociopathic tendencies drove him into killing while targeting not...

, Private Parts
Private Parts (1997 film)
Private Parts is a 1997 American biographical comedy film produced by Ivan Reitman and released by Paramount Pictures. Written by Len Blum and Michael Kalesniko, the film is an adaptation of the 1993 best-selling book of the same name by radio personality Howard Stern, who stars as himself. It...

, Fallen Arches
Fallen Arches (film)
Fallen Arches is a 1998 comedic crime film starring Richard Portnow, Karen Black, Ron Thompson, Peter Onorati, Tamara Braun, Carmine Giovinazzo, Louis Ferriera and written, produced and directed by Ron Cosentino.-Plot:...

, Double Down
Zigs (film)
Zigs is a 2001 English language drama starring Jason Priestley, Peter Dobson and Richard Portnow and directed by Mars Callahan. The film received an R rating by the MPAA...

, Spring Break '83
Spring Break '83
-Plot:Four friends who were bullied by their graduating high school class seek revenge against the now freshman college students while on Spring break during 1983.-Production:...

, The Sopranos
The Sopranos
The Sopranos is an American television drama series created by David Chase that revolves around the New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano and the difficulties he faces as he tries to balance the often conflicting requirements of his home life and the criminal organization he heads...

, Hannah Montana and Boston Legal
Boston Legal
Boston Legal is an American legal dramedy created by David E. Kelley, which was produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television for the ABC...

.

Life and career

A veteran of stage, film and television with a variety of characters to his credit, Richard Portnow was named one of the "Actors We Love" from the actors' trade newspaper Back Stage West and said, "Portnow knows exactly how to hook an audience with every character."

Portnow graduated with a BA degree as a speech and theater major from Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College is a senior college of the City University of New York, located in Brooklyn, New York, United States.Established in 1930 by the New York City Board of Higher Education, the College had its beginnings as the Downtown Brooklyn branches of Hunter College and the City College of New...

.

Portnow played the role of defense attorney Harold "Mel" Melvoin on the Emmy-winning HBO series The Sopranos
The Sopranos
The Sopranos is an American television drama series created by David Chase that revolves around the New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano and the difficulties he faces as he tries to balance the often conflicting requirements of his home life and the criminal organization he heads...

 (1999), the lawyer for Uncle Junior, whom he is able to keep out of prison and managed to get placed under house arrest instead. His rates for defending Corrado Soprano (Uncle Juniors's full name) are astronomical, but as Uncle June has said, "Mel, you're worth every penny". He has held the role since the show's inception in 1999.

Portnow is a member of Fête, a by-invitation group of successful executives and talent who work in entertainment.

External links

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