Roberto Cannavale (born
May 3,
1971,
Union City, New Jersey) is an
Emmy Award-winning
American actor.
Born to an
Italian father and a
Cuban mother, Cannavale began his acting career in the
theater – with no official acting training – and gained early film roles in
Night Falls on Manhattan (1997) and
The Bone Collector (1999), Cannavale became well-known when he starred as
Bobby Caffey for two seasons on
Third Watch. Following this, in 2001, he starred with
Alan Arkin in
100 Centre Street – which was written and directed by
Sidney Lumet, his then-father-in-law.
In 2002, he joined the cast of
Ally McBeal for the last five episodes but the show was then cancelled. Following this, he starred with
Yancey Arias and
Sheryl Lee in the miniseries
Kingpin.
In 2003, Cannavale briefly appeared on the last two episodes of
Oz as a
homosexual drug dealer named
Alonzo Torquemada who became sexually infatuated with fellow inmate
Miguel Alvarez played by
Third Watch co-star
Kirk Acevedo.
From 2004 to 2006, he had a recurring guest role on
Will & Grace as
Vince D'Angelo, the first long-term boyfriend for
Will (
Eric McCormack) on the show. For this role he won his first Emmy Award as "Best Guest Star in a Comedy Series". Because he often plays gay characters, many viewers have assumed that Bobby is gay in real life as well. Actually, Cannavale is
heterosexual. He was married to Jenny Lumet -- Sidney Lumet's daughter and
Lena Horne's granddaughter -- from 1994 to 2003, and he currently dates actress
Annabella Sciorra.
He has also closeted gay fireman) (2002),
Shall We Dance?