Tony Danza (born Antonio Salvatore Iadanza) is an American actor known for starring on the TV series Taxi andWho’s the Boss?, for which he was nominated for an Emmy Award and four Golden Globe Awards. In 1998, Danza won the People’s Choice Award for Favorite Male Performer in a New Television Series for his work on the 1997 sitcom The Tony Danza Show (not to be confused with his 2004-2006 daytime variety talk show of the same name).
Danza is better known for his roles on Taxi, in which he played cab driver and part-time boxer Tony Banta, and Who’s the Boss?, in which he portrayed retired baseball player, housekeeper and single father Tony Micelli.
Danza also starred in the short-lived sitcoms Hudson Street (1995) and The Tony Danza Show (1997), not to be confused with his 2004-2006 talk show, The Tony Danza Show. He had a role in the TV drama Family Law from 2000 until 2002. He took his first role, a nonspeaking part as a poker player in National Lampoon’s Animal House.
He was nominated for an Emmy Award for a guest-starring 1998 role in the TV series The Practice. His movie debut was in the comedy The Hollywood Knights (1980), which was followed by Going Ape! (1981). He received critical acclaim for his performance in the 1999 Broadway revival of the Eugene O’Neill play The Iceman Cometh. In 2002, Danza released his debut album The House I Live In as a 1950s-style crooner.
He starred on Broadway as “Max Bialystock” in The Producers, from December 19, 2006, to March 11, 2007 and reprised his role at the Paris Las Vegas from August 13, 2007, to February 9, 2008.
In August 2009, it was reported that Danza would appear in a new A&E reality show Teach: Tony Danza, in which he would co-instruct a 10th Grade English class at Northeast High School in Philadelphia. The series was filmed during the 2009-2010 school year and premiered on October 1, 2011. The book I’d Like to Apologize to Every Teacher I Ever Had: My Year as a Rookie Teacher at Northeast High, which was released in 2012, was based on his year of teaching.