Tony Spiridakis

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 crosscountry 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 post911 drama Beyond The Ashes costarred Spiridakis with Giancarlo Esposito Janeane Garofalo and Tony Goldwyn Spiridakis TV credits include cocreating and producing the Fox series The Heights with Academy Awardwinning screenwriter Eric Roth the CBS crime drama Falcone with Academy Awardwinning screenwriter Robert Moresco and the Netflix legal drama Justice with Emmywinning writer William Finkelstein Spiridakis studied at the Yale School of Drama and has appeared in dozens of TV and films including House LA Law The Equalizer Bay City Blues and Death Wish 3 Additionally he produced and acted in Academy and Tony Awardwinning writer Doug Wrights 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 scifi novel by George R Stewart He is also adapting Sandy Greenbergs acclaimed memoir Hello Darkness My Old Friend for Wayfarer Studios Projects in development include The Angry One Sospiro Di Vita Breath of Life and Mikes 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 NY In 2012 he cofounded 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