Concetta Tomei's richly recognizable presence has warmed screens for 40 years. Her Italian roots, the American dreams of her parents and grandparents and her midwestern upbringing, plus four years as a seventh and eighth grade teacher prepared and sustained her as she faced show biz rigors and rejections. 

Her acting chops were masterfully honed on the New York stage where she performed off-Broadway and on, in the New York Shakespeare Festival, in Cyrano with Kevin Kline and in The Elephant Man with David Bowie.

Concetta shares her fierce heart and dynamic spirit as she regales us with story after story of her uniquely thrilling life as a character actor. She talks about her love for her co-stars: David Bowie’s kindness and intensity, Brian Dennehy’s thoughtful mentorship, Dick Van Dyke’s fun and curiosity, and Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau’s propensity to crack each other up on the set of Out To Sea while Concetta got to dance with Donald O’Connor!

Concetta goes into tender detail about her wonderful, supportive parents, who immigrated to Kenosha from Italy and who she credits with much of her success. She also pays grateful homage to her education, studying drama at what became DePaul University, and the deep lessons provided by the works of Shakespeare and her treasured opportunities to perform key roles.

Her paths of learning, and preparing led her to starring roles in China Beach and Providence and opened the gates of Star Trek fandom with an appearance as Minister Odala on Star Trek: Voyager.

We play a few rounds of IMDB Roulette with a spicy story from the set of Dynasty. (Lesson Learned: Do not incur the wrath of Joan Collins). 

Concetta is also an animal rights activist and she would love for you to look into the work of Best Friends Animal Sanctuary.

In recommendations, Fritz got into the Netflix docu-series Beckham, and Weezy is living for ABC's The Golden Bachelor.

Path Points of Interest:

Concetta Tomei on Wikipedia

Concetta Tomei on IMDB

Concetta Tomei on TCM

Best Friends Animal Society

Concetta Tomei on Facebook

The Golden Bachelor

Beckham - Netflix