Mandy Patinkin

Biography

Mandel Bruce Patinkin was born November 30, 1952 in Chicago, Illinois. Even from an early age Mandy employed his lovely voice to entertain, whether it was singing in temple or just for family and friends.
Mandy attended Kenwood High School, University of Kansas and Juilliard School of Drama. His first real break in to show business was when he played Che in Evita on Broadway in 1979. He went on to win a Tony Award for that role.
After this initial musical theater success he moved to film, playing a number of small parts in movies such as Yentl and Ragtime, before returning to Broadway in 1984 to star in Sunday in the Park with George, which saw him earn another Tony Award nomination.
Over the next decade he continued to appear in various movies such as Dick Tracy and Alien Nation, on Broadway in The Secret Garden and released two solo albums called Mandy Patinkin and Dress Casual.
In 1994, he burst onto the small screen playing the role of Dr. Jeffrey Geiger on CBS's Chicago Hope and promptly won an Emmy Award. However despite the award and the ratings success of the show Patinkin left the show part way through the second season.
Since Chicago Hope, Patinkin has taken parts in a number of films. However, he has mostly been performing as a singer, releasing three more albums. He also returned to Broadway again in 2000 in the New York Shakespeare Festival's The Wild Party, earning another Tony Award nomination. Recently he has also been seen in the Showtime comedy-drama Dead Like Me.
As of 2005, he stars in the CBS crime drama Criminal Minds as the unconventional Special Agent Jason Gideon.

Concerning his private life, Mandy has been happily married to author/actress Kathryn Grody since 1980, and they have two sons together named Isaac and Gideon.