John Mahoney Bio - John Mahoney Biography

John Mahoney: Biography

John Mahoney was born in Blackpool, England on the 20th of June 1940. He attended St. Joseph's College in Blackpool for his education and commenced work by selling peanuts at Manchester United football (soccer) matches. He immigrated to the United States when he was 19, and was sponsored by his sister Vera. Once in the US, he went to the Quincy University in Illinois, before joining the U.S. Army as a means to hasten his citizenship.

John was nominated for 10 SAG Awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series for Frasier from 1995-2004. He won in 2000.(edit)
While starring in Frasier, John appeared an a public service announcement about parental involvement for NBC's The More You Know campaign.(edit)
John Mahoney was born in 1940 in Blackpool, although his family lived in Manchester, England. His mother had to move to Blackpool to give birth to John as Manchester was being bombed at the time. After giving birth his mum moved back to Manchester where John lived for his first eighteen years, before he emigrated to the States.(edit)
Provided the voices for a few characters in the 1998 film Antz.(edit)
He is fond of cats.(edit)
He has never married.(edit)
He received numerous Emmy and Golden Globe award nominations for his role as Martin Crane in Frasier.(edit)
He appeared in the 1995 movie The American President.(edit)
John was in the movie Primal Fear.(edit)
Made his film debut in 1980.(edit)
John took acting classes at St. Nicholas Theater as he was approaching middle age. This then inspired him to pursue acting full time.(edit)
For much of the 1970's, he served as editor for a medical journal publisher.(edit)
Once living in the US, he lost his British accent. His real accent can be heard in the Frasier episode "Look Before You Leap", when he is mocking Jane Leeves' Daphne.(edit)
He studied at Quincy University, Illinois.(edit)
He used to attend Manchester United games, where he would sell peanuts.(edit)
He is of Irish-Scottish Catholic extraction.(edit)
He attended school at St. Joseph's College, Blackpool.(edit)
He grew up in Manchester, England.(edit)
After Frasier ended, John returned to the theatre where he appeared in I Never Sang For My Father.(edit)
He went to the United States to visit his sister, who was a war bride, and decided to stay.(edit)
John's favourite sitcom is Rising Damp.(edit)
Prior to acting, he was an English professor teaching in many different colleges.(edit)
John won the 1986 Tony Award for Best Actor in The House of Blue Leaves.(edit)
Has appeared in episodes of three different series with Ted Danson: Cheers, Frasier and Becker.(edit)
After Frasier ended, Mahoney claims he was approached for other TV series offers, but declined, citing that Frasier comfortably gave him enough money, and he wanted to return to the theatre, which he considers his home.(edit)
Was a member of the Stretford Civic Theatre in Manchester, England in his teens.(edit)
Met actor John Malkovich in a Chicago acting class, who encouraged him to join the Steppenwolf theater company.(edit)
Received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Quincy College (Quincy, Illinois, now Quincy University) and a Masters in English from Western Illinois University (Macomb, Illinois).(edit)
Lost his British accent after he joined the U.S. Army.(edit)
Although he later played Frasier's father Martin Crane on Frasier, John Mahoney appeared on a 1992 episode of Cheers as a pianist who was hired to write a jingle for the bar.(edit)

John Mahoney: It was post war. It was very gray, very dreary. Everything was still rationed when I first saw the United States in 1951. I went over to visit my sister who was a war bride.(edit)
John Mahoney: I'm a dog person, I've had dogs all my life. But you see, it's not really a dog [Moose who plays Eddie in Frasier]. It's more like a little robot. It's an actor. It displays no emotion whatsoever. I swear that dog doesn't know any of us even though we've done five seasons of Frasier.(edit)
John Mahoney: [About acting] But it was just like life was waiting for me to make that decision, and when I finally made it, it just took me places I never even believed existed.(edit)
John Mahoney: Actually I was born in 1940 in Blackpool because my family lived in Manchester but Manchester was being bombed. So my mother was sent away to Blackpool to have me and then went back; so I lived my first eighteen years in Manchester and then emigrated to the States when I was eighteen.(edit)
John Mahoney: People say there's no trace of an accent anymore, and there isn't because I worked very hard to lose it. And the reason I did that is a British accent in America is a real status symbol.(edit)
John Mahoney: You can take the boy out of England, but you can't take England out of the boy. And ummm, yes, I feel a huge emotional attachment to England.(edit)
John Mahoney: [On what led him to acting] So I was the associate editor of a medical journal in Chicago, and I was thirty seven, and all of a sudden I just sort of started going through this dark night of the soul... where I just... . Is this going to be it for me, am I going to be spending the rest of my life writing about cataracts and hemorrhoids... and... . just not what I wanted to do, and I was just intensely depressed all the time.(edit)