Image: Wikimedia CommonsJoe Pantoliano
American actor
- Born September 12, 1951
- 12 movies
Joe Pantoliano, born on 12 September 1951 in Hoboken, New Jersey, is an American actor with more than 150 roles across film, television and theatre, and a long line in slippery, combustible men. He won an Emmy for the sadistic gangster Ralph Cifaretto in The Sopranos, and moviegoers know him as Guido the pimp in Risky Business, Francis Fratelli in The Goonies, Cypher in The Matrix, Teddy in Memento and Captain Howard across the Bad Boys films. In 2025 a single scene in The Last of Us brought another Emmy nomination.
Joe Pantoliano appears in 12 films in The Rerun, from 1983 to 2020. Most of that work is in crime, action and comedy. Frequent collaborators in The Rerun: Will Smith (2), Michael Bay (2), Martin Lawrence (2), Carrie-Anne Moss (2), Lana Wachowski (2).
Known for
- The Matrix (1999), Cypher. Played Cypher in the Wachowskis’ science fiction action film.
- Memento (2000), Teddy. Played Teddy in Christopher Nolan’s psychological thriller.
- The Goonies (1985), Francis Fratelli. Played Francis Fratelli in the 1985 adventure film.
- Bad Boys (1995), Captain Conrad Howard. The first of the Bad Boys films in which he played Captain Howard.
- The Fugitive (1993).
Career
Trained at HB Studio in New York, Pantoliano first made a mark in Risky Business (1983) and The Goonies (1985), then settled into a run of memorable character parts: the double-crossing bail bondsman in Midnight Run, Deputy Marshal Renfro in The Fugitive and its sequel U.S. Marshals, and the mobster Caesar in the Wachowskis’ debut, Bound. The Wachowskis cast him again as the traitor Cypher in The Matrix, and Christopher Nolan made him the slippery Teddy in Memento.
On television, The Sopranos gave him his Emmy, and he later played Michael Gorski in the Wachowskis’ Netflix series Sense8. He has worked on Broadway, written two memoirs and founded the nonprofit No Kidding, Me Too! to reduce the stigma around mental illness. His brief turn as Eugene in the second season of The Last of Us drew wide critical praise in 2025.
Where to start
- Memento (2000): Nolan’s backwards thriller, with Pantoliano keeping everyone guessing.
- The Matrix (1999): Cypher’s steak dinner is one of the film’s key scenes.
- The Fugitive (1993): a sardonic marshal on Tommy Lee Jones’s team.
- The Goonies (1985): pure 1980s adventure, as the bumbling Fratelli brother.
Movies
Quick answers
- What movies and TV shows has Joe Pantoliano been in?
- Joe Pantoliano appears in Bad Boys for Life (2020), Memento (2000), The Matrix (1999), U.S. Marshals (1998), Bound (1996), Bad Boys (1995), Baby’s Day Out (1994), The Fugitive (1993), Midnight Run (1988), Empire of the Sun (1987), The Goonies (1985) and Risky Business (1983) on The Remote.
- When was Joe Pantoliano born?
- Joe Pantoliano was born on 12 September 1951.
Before you go