John Mahoney (born June 20, 1940) is an actor best known for playing Martin Crane (Marty) in the popular TV show Frasier.

Born in Blackpool, England and moved to the United States as a youth. He studied at Quincy University, Illinois before joining the United States Army. He settled in Chicago and taught English at several colleges. He was an editor for a medical journal publisher through much of the 1970's.

Mahoney took acting classes at St Nichols Theater and after a stage production in 1977 actor John Malkovich encouraged him to join Steppenwolf Theater . Hid did and was very successful. He made his film debut in 1980, and has played supporting roles in such films as Suspect and Moonstruck (both 1987), Frantic (1988), Barton Fink (1991), In the Line of Fire (1993), The Hudsucker Proxy (1994), and Primal Fear (1996). He also provided the voices for several characters in the animated film Antz (1998).

He appeared in Frasier from its inception in 1993, until the final episode in 2004, and received Emmy and Golden Globe award nominations for this role.

Mahoney also appeared in an episode of Cheers as an inept jingle writer, including a brief conversation with Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer), whose father he would later play.

External link

• IMDB entry for John Mahoney