Mandel Bruce "Mandy" Patinkin (born November 30, 1952 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American actor who has found success on stage and on the large and small screens.
On stage, he played Che in the first Broadway production of Evita (for which he won a Tony Award), originated the role of George in Stephen Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George, and Mark in The Shadow Box, and Archibald Craven in the musical adaptation of The Secret Garden. He has also toured successfully as a concert performer.
As a film actor he is best known for his role as Inigo Montoya in The Princess Bride. His other roles include Avigdor in Yentl, Sam Francisco in the original film of Alien Nation, the villain in the Sesame Street movie The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland, and 88 Keys in the film adaptation of Dick Tracy (a role which once again had him performing Sondheim).
On the small screen, his prominent roles include Dr Geiger in Chicago Hope, Rube in Dead Like Me, Jason Gideon in Criminal Minds and Saul Berenson in Homeland (with beard for the last). He guest-starred as Satan in an episode of Touched by an Angel (and sang Sondheim). He also voiced Papa Smurf in the 2017 film Smurfs: The Lost Village.
Other Roles:
- Taxi as Alan (1 episode)
- Picket Fences as Dr. Jeffrey Geiger (1 episode)
- The Doctor as Dr. Murray Kaplan
- The Larry Sanders Show as Himself (1 episode)
- Boston Public as Isaac Rise (1 episode)
- Law & Order as Levi March (1 episode)
- Three Rivers as Victor (1 episode)
- The Whole Truth (1 episode)
- Death and Other Details as Rufus Coteworth
Tropes that relate to Mandy Patinkin:
- Audience Participation Song: Has been known to get the audience at his concerts to dance the hokey-pokey (which he sings in Yiddish).
- The Cast Showoff: While he doesn't do it in his film work, inevitably every single character Patinkin plays on television will be shown cooking. This is because he is a huge foodie and self-trained chef who loves to cook as much as he loves to eat.
- Creator Backlash:
- Patinkin has gone on record saying he considers his tenure on Criminal Minds to be the biggest mistake of his acting career, due to how disturbing he found its content, despite critics widely praising his performance. He says that, for a while, his attitude toward the rest of the human race was made more cynical and bitter due to his experience on the show.
- He regrets how he "behaved abominably" behind the scenes on Chicago Hope and mentioned it is hard for him to watch that show because of it.
- Disappeared Dad: Lost his father to cancer at an early age, which gave his role in The Princess Bride a Reality Subtext for him.
- Gender-Blender Name: "Mandy" in this case is short for Mandel, not Amanda.
- He Who Fights Monsters: When asked why he left Criminal Minds at the beginning of the third season, Patinkin said that the longer he was on the show, the more and more cynical and depressed its subject made him, and he felt he had to get the hell out before it wrecked him.
- Nice to the Waiter: Patinkin is one of the very few celebrities who maintain a Facebook page who don't then immediately hire a service to run interference with the fans. If you manage to friend Mandy Patinkin on facebook (something absolutely not guaranteed just because you sent a friend request... he apparently only "friends" people he finds interesting at first glance, and stays friends only with those people capable of holding interesting conversations), you're dealing with him one-on-one because he doesn't believe in playing his fans for suckers.
- In addition, he tends to treat his Facebook friends as true, honest friends he just hasn't met face-to-face with yet. He trades recipes with them, asks after their kids, and occasionally invites them to events he's going to be at, and has been known to show up at their events he gets invited to as well.
- Phrase Catcher: He gets people quoting The Princess Bride at him a lot. Reportedly, he doesn't mind; it's still one of his favorite roles. "Hello!, My Name Is Inigo Montoya. You Killed My Father. Prepare to Die."
- Rail Enthusiast: He's a huge model train enthusiast, even going so far as to travel to York, Pennsylvania for their model train show.
- Yiddish as a Second Language: He has an album, Mamaloshen (mother tongue), sung entirely in Yiddish.
