Max Casella

As an actor who worked successfully on screen since the earliest days of his adulthood, actor Max Casella was equally well known for the roles he took on early in his career, like that of Vinnie on "Doogie Howser, M.D." (ABC, 1989-1993) and Racetrack Higgins in the big screen musical "Newsies" (1992), as he is for the roles he played later in life, like Leo D'Alessio on the period series "Boardwalk Empire" (HBO, 2010-2014). Born in Washington D.C. and raised in the Boston area, Casella was encouraged to participate in school plays and local professional theater by his drama teacher. He was inspired to travel to New York after graduating to pursue acting full time, and soon landed his first TV role on an episode of "The Equalizer" (CBS, 1985-1989). Soon, the "Doogie Howser" role followed, making Casella a very familiar face to audiences all over America. In 1997. he branched into Broadway, originating the role of Timon in the musical "The Lion King." Still more roles would follow, including turns in "Boardwalk Empire" and in the acclaimed Coen brothers film "Inside Llewyn Davis" (2013) and the Woody Allen film "Blue Jasmine" (2013). In 2016, Casella joined the cast of the short-lived HBO series "Vinyl" (HBO, 2016) and co-starred in Ben Affleck's Prohibition-set crime drama "Live By Night" (2016), based on the novel by Dennis Lehane.