Tony Spiridakis

Acting

Tony Spiridakis

Born 1958-01-17 · Queens, New York, USA

Tony Spiridakis (born in Queens, New York City) is an American - Greek film director, writer, actor, producer and playwright best known for such films as Queens Logic, Tinseltown, The Last Word, If Lucy Fell and Ash Tuesday. He is the writer of Ezra, which he produced with director Tony Goldwyn, William Horberg, and Jon Kilik. The film, which stars Bobby Cannavale, Robert DeNiro, Rose Byrne, Whoopi Goldberg and Vera Farmiga, follows a struggling comedian and his autistic son on a cross-country road trip. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and is being released theatrically by Bleecker Street nationwide in May 2024. Spiridakis has developed scripts for Dustin Hoffman, Richard Dreyfuss, and Diane Keaton as well as for iconic producers such as Laura Ziskin, Stacey Snider, Mary Parent, and Warren Littlefield. Other films include Tinseltown, based on his acclaimed play Self Storage, both starring Ron Perlman and Joe Pantoliano; Noise, which he directed and produced, starring Ally Sheedy and John Slattery; the documentary road trip film Driving to Ground Zero; and If Lucy Fell, starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Ben Stiller. Spiridakis’ play The Last Word had a successful run in Los Angeles before he adapted, produced, and directed the film starring Timothy Hutton. His post-9/11 drama, Beyond The Ashes, co-starred Spiridakis with Giancarlo Esposito, Janeane Garofalo, and Tony Goldwyn. Spiridakis’ TV credits include co-creating and producing the Fox series The Heights with Academy Award-winning screenwriter Eric Roth, the CBS crime drama Falcone with Academy Award-winning screenwriter Robert Moresco, and the Netflix legal drama Justice with Emmy-winning writer William Finkelstein. Spiridakis studied at the Yale School of Drama and has appeared in dozens of TV and films, including House, L.A. Law, The Equalizer, Bay City Blues, and Death Wish 3. Additionally, he produced and acted in Academy and Tony Award-winning writer Doug Wright’s play Callbacks and worked with Stanley Kubrick on the film Full Metal Jacket. Currently, Spiridakis is a writer and consulting producer on the MGM+ apocalyptic drama series Earth Abides, based on the 1949 sci-fi novel by George R. Stewart.. He is also adapting Sandy Greenberg’s acclaimed memoir, Hello Darkness, My Old Friend, for Wayfarer Studios. Projects in development include The Angry One, Sospiro Di Vita (Breath of Life), and Mike's Place, the true story of a blues bar in Tel Aviv during the Second Intifada that survives the devastation of a suicide bombing, for director Todd Komarnicki, with Antoine Fuqua and Andrew Levitas producing. A longtime educator who is passionate about working with emerging filmmakers, Spiridakis is the Founder and Executive Director of the North Fork Arts Center in Greenport, N.Y. In 2012 he co-founded the Manhattan Film Institute, an intensive film workshop and mentorship program that has produced nearly 300 short films and transformed the lives of many filmmakers. Spiridakis is a father of two and a strong advocate for autism awareness.

Acting credits

Behind the camera

Ezra poster
6.9

Stand-up comedian Max Bernal lives with his father Stan while struggling to co-parent his autistic son Ezra with his ex-wife. When forced to confront difficult decisions about their son's future, Max and Ezra embark on a cross-country road trip that has a transcendent impact on both their lives.

Ezra

2024

Ezra poster
6.9

Stand-up comedian Max Bernal lives with his father Stan while struggling to co-parent his autistic son Ezra with his ex-wife. When forced to confront difficult decisions about their son's future, Max and Ezra embark on a cross-country road trip that has a transcendent impact on both their lives.

Ezra

2024

Queens Logic poster
5.8

When childhood friends Al, Dennis and Eliot get together for Ray's wedding, which may or may not happen, they end up on a roller-coaster ride through reality. During one tumultuous, crazy weekend, they face adulthood and each other with new found maturity and discover what Queens Logic is all about. This comedy takes a look at friendship, loyalty, and love.

Queens Logic

1991

Hiking poster
NR

Two friends dispute over a difficult hiking trail.

Hiking

2021

The Last Word poster
3.3

With his marriage in trouble and his best friend in dds ts the Mob, journalist Martin Ryan (TIMOTHY HUTTON) goes tsa stip has, where is enamored with the beautiful, mysterious Caprice (MICHELLE BURKE). Martin writes her story and exposes her secret and painful past. He also falls in love with her. But Caprice hasn't revealed everything, and when Martin's partner Doc (JOE PANTOLIAMO) engineers with a Hollywood studio a movie deal based on Martin's writings, the three move West, taking their secrets with them. In LA, the studio wants all of Caprice's intimate, dark secrets in the film. They put pressure on Doc to get the reluctant Martin to sell-out Caprice, but doing so would destroy her. Now Martin is forced to choose between love and success, romance and power, and friendship and money.

The Last Word

1995

The Last Word poster
3.3

With his marriage in trouble and his best friend in dds ts the Mob, journalist Martin Ryan (TIMOTHY HUTTON) goes tsa stip has, where is enamored with the beautiful, mysterious Caprice (MICHELLE BURKE). Martin writes her story and exposes her secret and painful past. He also falls in love with her. But Caprice hasn't revealed everything, and when Martin's partner Doc (JOE PANTOLIAMO) engineers with a Hollywood studio a movie deal based on Martin's writings, the three move West, taking their secrets with them. In LA, the studio wants all of Caprice's intimate, dark secrets in the film. They put pressure on Doc to get the reluctant Martin to sell-out Caprice, but doing so would destroy her. Now Martin is forced to choose between love and success, romance and power, and friendship and money.

The Last Word

1995

Noise poster
7.2

Joyce Chandler (Trish Goff), a young divorced woman and recovering alcoholic, moves into a Manhattan apartment that seems a bit too secluded to be true. It is: Upstairs lives Charlotte Bancroft (Ally Sheedy), a woman with a wall of obliviousness who can turn even an 'apology' into a guilt trip, Charlotte persists in making Joyce's nighttime hours a living hell. As the torture continues, Joyce starts to lose her grip on her job, her health and her sanity. It's a heck of a price to pay for having your own place.

Noise

2004

Tinseltown poster
3.7

In Hollywood it's all about who you know, and the only person two friends know is a serial killer.

Tinseltown

1997

Tinseltown poster
3.7

In Hollywood it's all about who you know, and the only person two friends know is a serial killer.

Tinseltown

1997

Tinseltown poster
3.7

In Hollywood it's all about who you know, and the only person two friends know is a serial killer.

Tinseltown

1997

Ash Tuesday poster
6.2

After September 11th, six Lower Manhattan residents must deal with pain on their own. Yet in doing so, they find that their lives are inexplicably linked. "Ash Tuesday" examines the loneliness inherent in New York life, but it does so with a refreshing wit and humor that will leave you smiling.

Ash Tuesday

2003

Ash Tuesday poster
6.2

After September 11th, six Lower Manhattan residents must deal with pain on their own. Yet in doing so, they find that their lives are inexplicably linked. "Ash Tuesday" examines the loneliness inherent in New York life, but it does so with a refreshing wit and humor that will leave you smiling.

Ash Tuesday

2003

No artwork available
NR

About the 2003 terrorist attack at Mike’s Place, a beachside blues bar in Israel.

Untitled Mike's Place Film

No artwork available
NR

An upcoming film adaptation of the 2020 inspirational memoir by Sanford “Sandy” D. Greenberg, Hello Darkness My Old Friend: How Daring Dreams and Unyielding Friendship Turned One Man’s Blindness Into an Extraordinary Vision for Life.

Untitled 'Hello Darkness, My Old Friend' Adaptation