Joseph Anthony Mantegna, famously known as Joe Mantegna, is an American actor best known for his roles in Three Amigos, The Godfather III, Forget Paris, Baby’s Day Out, House of Games, and Homicide.
Mantegna is most popular for his role as David Rossi in the CBS series Criminal Minds. In the show, his character tried hard to find a perfect partner, and in an effort to do so, he dated and married several ladies. However, the real-life Joe is the complete opposite.
In real life, Joe has been married to the same woman for the last five decades and is perfectly happy with her marriage.
He met his wife Arlene when he was studying in high school. “I went to Morton East High School and junior college in Cicero, Illinois, and she went to Morton West High School in Berwyn, Illinois,” he told Toluca Lake in an interview.
We would do district-wide musicals. I was the lead actor in two of those plays, and she had featured roles in both. So we knew each other, but not romantically at all, and then we went our separate ways.”
According to PEOPLE, the couple started dating in 1969 when they worked together in the play Hair by Chicago Production.
“We just had a lot of fun, but we didn’t get married for the longest time because we were hippies,” Arlene told People.
The two officially tied the knot in 1975, but before that, they exchanged informal vows at the top of the Eiffel Tower.
Speaking of Joe’s acting career, he wasn’t very much in demand at the time he got married, but Arlene supported him through every thick and thin.
In 1978, the couple decided to move to Los Angeles, and one of their close friends, Dennis Franz, accompanied them.
The couple was accompanied by their mutual friend, Dennis Franz, who was also trying to get into showbiz.
“Mantegna once threatened to quit a local production of Bloody Bess when Franz was fired from the project. However, he was later rehired – thanks to Joe’s hard-balling.” Quoted People.
“No way you can fire Dennis and not think we’re going too,” he told the director.
The Baby’s Day Out actor got his breakthrough in NYC with Glengarry Glen in the 1980s.
“The whole thing: being on Broadway, touring for six months, it was like going from zero to 100,” he said.
After that, he became a popular sensation and played several big roles in notable Hollywood projects.
The actor gave huge credit for his success to his wife as she was the one supporting him through thick and thin regardless of the circumstances.
“Outside my immediate family, she’s the only one that’s taken the ride with me. She’s been able to be part of it all, contribute toward it all, do it all, and see my dreams come true,” he said.
He further said that despite being madly in love with each other, their marriage is no less than a ‘roller coaster ride.’
“There’s going to be a lot of harrowing turns, and there’s going to be some stuff that’ll scare the hell out of you, and some that’s going to be exhilarating and some’s going to be fun. And then if you’re doing it with another person, you’re in this rollercoaster together.”
“I won’t say, ‘Life’s been perfect and I’ve never had a problem, it was all dandy.’ I don’t think anybody can say that. But what we’ve done is we’ve hung on, and I think the longer we hung on, the better it got. And the ride has smoothed out.”
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