Cathy Moriarty

Cathy Moriarty (born November 29, 1960)[1] is an American actress and singer whose career spans over 40 years. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Raging Bull (1980). She also starred in other films, including Neighbors, White of the Eye, Soapdish, Casper, Analyze That, and The Bounty Hunter. She starred in television roles, such as Tales from the Crypt (in which she won a CableACE Award for Best Actress in a Dramatic Series), Law & Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

Cathy Moriarty
Born	November 29, 1960 The Bronx, New York, U.S.
Nationality	American
Other names	Cathy Moriarty-Gentile
Occupation	Actress, singer
Years active	1980–present
Spouse(s)	Carmine D'Anna ​ ​ (m. 1981; div. 1992)​ Joseph Gentile ​ ​ (m. after 1999)​
Children	3

Early life

Moriarty was born in The Bronx, the daughter of Irish Catholic immigrants Catherine, a homemaker, and John Moriarty, a warehouse worker.[2] When she was 18 years old, her friends urged her to enter a bathing-beauty contest at a bar:

So, I go in there, and my knees are shaking, and I'm breaking out in goose bumps 'cause I'm embarrassed and cold. All these guys are whistling and stuff. Then all of a sudden the emcee announces I won first prize, and I say, "Hey, this is really funny". So this Italian guy comes up and asks if he can take my picture and I say, "Sure, go ahead", 'cause he's gonna take it anyway. And whad'd'ya know, this same guy calls me three weeks later, says his name is Joe Pesci and asks if I'd like to test for a part in this movie about a boxer named Jake LaMotta.[3]

Career

Moriarty made her film debut in Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull (1980), as Vikki LaMotta, wife of Jake (Robert De Niro). She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Later, Moriarty played John Belushi's destructive, sultry neighbor in Neighbors, a film adaptation of Thomas Berger's novel of the same name. In 1982, she was severely injured in an automobile accident and required back surgery.[4]

I can only say that nobody likes an overnight success in this town. I went for a lot of interviews, auditions and even cattle calls. I tried for parts and attended meetings, but it seemed I wasn't right for any of the roles I wanted. And the parts I was offered didn't appeal to me. So I paid my dues, studying acting and losing my Yonkers accent. And oh yes, I cried an awful lot.[5]

In 1985, Moriarty agreed to co-star with Jack Nicholson in The Two Jakes. However, after one day of shooting its production halted. Although the film was eventually released in 1990, Moriarty was no longer connected with the production.[6] Moriarty returned to acting in 1987. Her first role since Neighbors was in the British thriller film White of the Eye, in which Moriarty played the wife of David Keith's character. Two years later, she appeared in the CBS series Wiseguy episode "Reunion".

Moriarty began the decade with roles in the thriller film Burndown, Arnold Schwarzenegger's Kindergarten Cop and the soap opera parody Soapdish. She also appeared in the musical drama The Mambo Kings and the horror anthology TV series Tales from the Crypt, where Moriarty's performance earned her a Best Actress in a Dramatic Series CableACE Award. Her last performance of the year was a hard-as-nails prostitute in the screwball comedy film, The Gun in Betty Lou's Handbag. In 1993, Moriarty starred as John Goodman's wisecracking girlfriend and a film goddess in Joe Dante's period comedy Matinee, and had supporting roles in the comedies Another Stakeout (the sequel of 1987's Stakeout) and Me and the Kid. The following year, she guest-starred as half of the husband-wife con team in Universal Television's made-for-TV film Another Midnight Run. The actress' next role was the flirty barfly in Peter Medak's adventure film, Pontiac Moon (1994).

Moriarty played Debra Winger's friend in the romantic comedy Forget Paris (1995), followed by the vindictive Carrigan Crittenden in the live action film Casper. Shortly afterwards she starred with Andrew Dice Clay in the CBS series Bless This House, which was cancelled after 16 episodes during the 1996 season. That year Moriarty also played Hedy Burress's mother in Foxfire, the film adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates' novel. The next year, she played the alcoholic mother of a successful boxer in Opposite Corners; the mother of two sons (one a police officer and the other a crack addict) in A Brother's Kiss; a former exotic dancer and Brad Hunt's aunt in Dream with the Fishes; Mary Stuart Masterson and Evan Rachel Wood's seriously-ill, alcoholic mother in Digging to China; Michael Rapaport's aunt in Cop Land and Alyssa Milano's mother in Hugo Pool.

Moriarty voiced characters in the animated TV series Stories from My Childhood episodes "The Golden Rooster" and "The Wild Swans" and the animated series Recess episode "Kids in the Mist". Other appearances included Hilary Duff's witch aunt in the direct-to-video film, Casper Meets Wendy; Randy Quaid's wife in the direct-to-video film, P.U.N.K.S., and Sharon Stone's friend in Gloria (a 1999 remake of the 1980 film written and directed by John Cassavetes). Roles followed in Crazy in Alabama, a film adaptation of Mark Childress's 1993 novel of the same name; New Waterford Girl, a Canadian comedy-drama, and the satirical film But I'm a Cheerleader. Moriarty played an FBI agent in Red Team, an abusive adoptive mother in the family film Prince of Central Park and a woman who fears death in the short film Next Stop, Eternity. Other roles included a widow suspected of killing her husband in an episode of Law & Order, crime boss Patti LoPresti in the Mafia comedy film (and sequel to 1999's Analyze This) Analyze That and a controlling mother in an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. In 2010, Moriarty played a bookie who sends two thugs to kill the main characters (Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler) in the romantic-action-comedy film The Bounty Hunter. On July 18, 2010, the Long Island International Film Expo honored the actress with its Long Island Creative Achievement Award.[7] Shortly afterwards, she guest-starred as Annalisa Gentili on an episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent. The next year, Moriarty appeared as a nurse in the film 1320. In 2013 she played Armand Assante's wife in Once Upon a Time in Brooklyn and a sarcastic waitress in a black comedy, The Double. She returned to Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as Lieutenant Toni Howard for two episodes: season 14's "Poisoned Motive" and season 15's "Amaro's One-Eighty".

Moriarty made a cameo appearance as Michael Pitt's bitter, estranged mother in the crime drama Rob the Mob. Recent roles included the co-owner of a house who shares a dark secret in Deborah Twiss's psychological thriller A Cry from Within (Sebastien)[8] and the title character in Ante Novakovic's short film, Tammy, about a mother-son relationship which evolves over the course of a Sunday visit. Moriarty's performance earned a nomination for Best Actress in a Short (medium short) at the Jersey Shore Shorts Film Festival.[9]

Personal life

In 1981, Moriarty married theatrical manager Carmine D'Anna and moved into a home in Malibu, California. On April 2, 1992, it was reported that Moriarty and D'Anna were divorcing and D'Anna sought $1 million under California's community property laws.[10]

On August 28, 1999, Moriarty and financier Joseph Gentile[11] married on Long Island. She gave birth to twins Catherine Patricia and Joseph John on September 11, 2000,[12] and on November 15, 2001, the couple's third child, Annabella Rose, was born.[13]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1980	Raging Bull	Vickie LaMotta	See awards section
1981	Neighbors	Ramona
1987	White of the Eye	Joan White
1990	Kindergarten Cop	Jillian
	Burndown	Patti Smart
1991	Soapdish	Montana Moorehead / Nurse Nan
1992	The Mambo Kings	Lanna Lake
	The Gun in Betty Lou's Handbag	Reba Bush
1993	Matinee	Ruth Corday / Carole
	Another Stakeout	Lu Delano
	Me and the Kid	Rose
1994	Pontiac Moon	Lorraine
1995	Forget Paris	Lois
	Casper	Carrigan Crittenden
1996	Foxfire	Martha Wirtz
1997	Women Without Implants		Short film
	Opposite Corners	Kathy Donatello
	A Brother's Kiss	Doreen
	Dream with the Fishes	Aunt Elise
	Digging to China	Mrs. Frankovitz
	Cop Land	Rose Donlan
	Hugo Pool	Minerva
1998	Casper Meets Wendy	Gerty	Video
1999	P.U.N.K.S.	Mrs. Utley	Video
	Crazy in Alabama	Earlene Bullis
	But I'm a Cheerleader	Mary Brown
2000	Red Team	Stephanie Dobson	See awards section
	Prince of Central Park	Mrs. Ardis
2001	Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure	Ruby	Video
2002	Analyze That	Patti LoPresti
2010	The Bounty Hunter	Irene
2013	Once Upon a Time in Brooklyn	Sarah Baldano
	The Double	Kiki
2014	The Story of Milo & Annie	Lynda
	A Cry from Within	Alice
	Tammy	Tammy	Short film
2017	Patti Cake$	Nana
2020	Crabs in a Bucket	Mrs. C	Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1989	Wiseguy	Denise	Episode: "Reunion"
1992	Tales from the Crypt	Alison Peters	Episode: "Séance" See awards section
1994	Another Midnight Run	Helen Bishop	TV film
1995	Bless This House	Alice Clayton	Main role
1995	'Twas the Night Before Bumpy	Destructette (uncredited)	TV special
1997–99	Hey Arnold!	Tish Wittenberg (voice)	3 episodes
2000	The Hunger	Maris	Episode: "Bottle of Smoke"
2001	Law & Order	Lorraine Corbin	Episode: "For Love or Money"
2005	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Denise Eldridge	Episode: "Intoxicated"
2010	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Annalisa Gentillo	2 episodes
2013–14	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Lieutenant Toni Howard	2 episodes
2017	I'm Dying Up Here	Angie Apuzzo	Episode: "Pilot"
2018	This Is Us	The Super	Episode: "Clooney"
	The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story	Vivian Oliva	2 episodes
2020	Into the Arms of Danger	Mamma	TV film

Awards and nominations

Year	Work	Award	Category	Result
1981	Raging Bull	NSFC Award	Best Supporting Actress	Nominated
		Golden Globe Award	Best Supporting Actress	Nominated
		Golden Globe Award	New Star of the Year - Actress	Nominated
		Academy Award	Best Supporting Actress	Nominated
1982		BAFTA film award	Best Supporting Actress	Nominated
1993	Tales from the Crypt	CableACE Award	Best Actress in a Dramatic Series	Won
2001	Red Team	DVD Exclusive Awards	Best Actress	Nominated
2010	Honoree	Long Island Creative Achievement Award	Long Island International Film Expo	Won

References

1. "UPI Almanac for Friday, Nov. 29, 2019". United Press International. November 29, 2019. Archived from the original on December 24, 2019. Retrieved January 11, 2020. …actor Cathy Moriarty in 1960 (age 59)
2. Hamill, Denis (June 15, 1997). "A Slice Of Showbiz Acting Is Pizza Queen Cathy Moriarty'S Favorite Topping". Nydailynews.com. Retrieved November 11, 2010.
3. Mariani, John (March 29, 1981). "The Raging Success of Cathy Moriarty". Rome News Tribune. Retrieved April 17, 2014.
4. Italie, Hillel (June 19, 1991). "'Soapdish' Star Moriarty Dead Ringer for Dunaway". Kentucky New Era.
5. "Cathy Moriarty's Lessons In Stardom". Ellensburg Daily Record. August 17, 1988.
6. "Cathy Moriarty's Lessons In Stardom". Ellensburg Daily Record. August 17, 1988.
7. Collora, Christopher (July 20, 2010). "Awards Ceremony Wraps Up LI International Film Expo". Bellemore Patch. Retrieved April 26, 2014.
8. "A Cry from Within". Dread Central. Retrieved April 19, 2014.
9. "Jersey Shore Shorts Festival 2014 Nominations!". Jersey Shore Shorts Film Festival. Archived from the original on April 20, 2014. Retrieved April 19, 2014.
10. "Divorce or no; there's no stopping celebrity babies". The Spokesman-Review. April 2, 1992. Retrieved April 26, 2014.
11. Cobb Craig, David (August 9, 1999). "Engaged". People. Retrieved April 26, 2014.
12. Cobb, David (September 25, 2000). "Births". People. Retrieved April 26, 2014.
13. Abel, Olivia (December 17, 2001). "Births". People. Retrieved April 26, 2014.

External links

• Biography of Cathy Moriarty from Starpulse
• Cathy Moriarty at IMDb