Leo Rossi Biography

Personable, dynamic and versatile character actor Leo Rossi has been working profusely in both movies and TV shows alike from the mid-70s to the present day. Rossi was born in 1947 in Trenton, New Jersey and grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Leo first began acting in community theater. Although often cast as mean, loutish and despicable characters (he's portrayed more than his fair share of made Mafia guys as well as a substantial number of cops and government agents), Rossi has shown on many occasions that he can play more appealing and sympathetic roles with equal skill and conviction. Leo was solid as crass'n'crude sexist pig 'Budd' in Halloween II (1981). He has appeared in several movies for director Jonathan Kaplan: he was excellent as Bonnie Bedelia's insecure, but basically decent husband 'Jack Muldowney' in the wonderful Heart Like a Wheel (1983) and memorably chilling as the vile jerk who cheers on Jodie Foster's barroom rape in the acclaimed The Accused (1988). Moreover, Leo has acted in three pictures for director William Lustig: very likable as antsy mob witness 'Frank DeSalvo' in Hit List (1989), extremely engaging as eager beaver rookie homicide detective 'Sam Dietz' in Relentless (1989) (Rossi reprised this part in three sequels and even co-produced the last two entries), and really funny as crazed serial killer 'Turkell' in Maniac Cop 2 (1990). More recently, Rossi had a nice sizable supporting role as Robert De Niro's evil cousin 'Carlo' in the hit comedy Analyze This (1999). Among the TV shows Leo Rossi has done guest spots on are "ER" (1994), "Frasier" (1993), "Murder, She Wrote" (1984), "Tour of Duty" (1987), "21 Jump Street" (1987), "Cagney & Lacey" (1981), "T.J. Hooker" (1982), "Amazing Stories" (1985), "Hunter" (1984) and "Hill Street Blues" (1981).