Tony Danza, not really known by his real name Antonio Salvatore Iadanza, is one of the most popular TV people in the United States of America.
He had a huge career that varied in type – he was a dancer, an actor, a host, and a writer for a very short amount of time.
You may know him from the series Taxi because that’s his most popular work. He was given opportunities for many awards, such as the Emmy Award and Golden Globe award. He said that each time it has made him very emotional and he was honored by it.
He was so popular that in 1998, he was the „favorite male of net TV shows“ according to People. He worked on his personal comedy show for some time and later he was in many other movies, including Going Ape!, which is the most popular one.
Early years
We already mentioned his real name, Antonio Salvatore Iadanza, but no one really knows that this is his real name.
He was born in April of 1951 on the date 21st. His hometown is New York and he grew up in the district called Brooklyn. It is one of the most populated boroughs in New York.
His mother, Anne Cammisa and his father, Matty Anthony Iadanza, were no one important in the industry. His mum was working with books, while his dad was a garbage man. Tony always said that this inspired him to be better at work and pursue his dreams, so he can give back to them.
One more thing that motivated him is that his father, or „papa“ as he called him, was Italian and he was from Sicily! He immigrated to the USA to find a better living. He said that he always wanted to make his dad proud and financially help his parents since they were never really comfortable with money.
Tony has one brother and he is younger than him. He is called Matty Junior and he didn’t want to be a performer.
Actually, he owns a chain of restaurants and is working in LA. He loves his brother, but they can’t see each other too often because of how busy they are. This has changed only when Danza put his career on hold.
When Tony was only 14, his family relocated, but it wasn’t far. They just moved to another part f New York city called Malverne. There he graduated in 1968 and he said that he was a pretty bad student and that he wanted to pursue an academic career, but he wasn’t really suited for it.
However, he pushed himself and got a bachelor’s degree at the University of the town of Dubuque. It was in history, the only thing that he was actually interested in. He got the scholarship based on sport, wrestling, and continued to study. This is why he thought that he may be a good athlete.
He said that he often made some bad decisions when he was a kid and that a good example of those would be the time when he got a tattoo just because he wanted to befriend a guy that he met in a bar. He said that he was young and that he just wanted to have fun.
Career development
When he was first starting his career, he progressed from wrestling to boxing, but he didn’t do too well. He lost only 3 of his matches, but he said that he felt crushed after each one and that he realized that he was going to have to sacrifice too many things in order to build a life in boxing.
He was soon noticed by a director that spotted hi min New York, and he got one of his most significant roles: the cab driver f the TV show Taxi.
He was also in Who’s The Boss, where he played an athlete. He often got roles like this because he had a very positive vibe and he never acted as the villain or someone who acts as the antagonist.
It wasn’t long into his career that he got a star on the famous Walk of Fame! He said that this was one of the most emotional moments in his life.
He was so happy that he made it and was finally able to support himself and his parents that worked very hard to bring him. His kids often go there with him and they are reminded of how successful their dad is.
The Tony Danza Show was made on his initiative two times, being a talk show and a sitcom, but not the same thing. He was also in Hudson Street and Family Law, and all of these roles took place until the very early 2000s.
He started to get many nominations and one of the more significant ones was the Emmy Award. At this time, he was also on Broadway, where he said he got more creative and had a much better time than with strict producers.
One of the more interesting things about his show back in the day was that he often played go-kart races with his guests. In 2005, he played with Rusty Wallace, and they actually bumped each other. They were okay, but this was pure luck because none of them had helmets.
The same thing happened with Danica Patrick, but this time it wasn’t a collision, only his car malfunctioned and he ran into a wall. He said that this could have been much more serious than it is and it’s thankfully working out for him pretty well. His first wife often joked about the fact that he has more luck than the average man.
In 2009, he was filming a reality TV piece called Teach: Tony Danza. He was actually an instructor for English class and has written a book about it.
He has written a book about it. The book wasn’t really that popular, but it turns out that a lot of teachers wanted to get in on his experience and therefore he did actually get some attention.
He said that now he felt bad for everything he did when he was mischief in high school and that he would teach his kids to be a lot more responsible and don’t act upon their teachers as he did.
Personal life
Tony doesn’t like the media to be all about his life, but there has been some information leaking about who he has been dating since he had been in the industry for quite a lot of time.
He says that he is very thankful that social media didn’t exist back in the day because he would probably be in a loto f trouble for everything he did with his friends.
He was married more than once, and the first time it was Rhonda Yeoman. They got married in 1970, but their marriage lasted only 4 years. Tony didn’t want to make a media fuss about it, so he didn’ talk about it much. He was asked about it in interviews a lot.
However, they had a son after that, and he was actually in Taxi, the TV show. After that, the two of them decided to get back together, but it wasn’t too official. They had a daughter after that but decided that they were better off when they’re not together.
In 1986, Tony thought that he could try out his luck once again, and he married a woman called Tracy Robinson. However, the marriage didn’t work out the way Tony thought it would, so they separated in 2006. It seems that they loved each other but had everyday issues they coup not overcomw.
He has two daughters from his second marriage as well, and he wishes that he could spend more time with all of them, but he has just been very busy. He realized how important it is to spend time with them when he got into fights with his kids or when he got into crashes when he was in the show.
He started to get together with them later, especially with his son Marc. The two of them made a cookbook called Don’t Fill Up on the Antipasto: Tony Danza’s Father-Son Cookbook. They had a lot of fun together and, although their cookbook didn’t really go viral, Tony really enjoyed spending time with his son.
His kids are called Marc Anthony, Gina, Emily, and Katherine. He says that he loves to spend time with them and that he makes them feel hip and young again. They tried to teach him how to be on social media, but he wasn’t as successful as they wanted, so he isn’t too active on it nowadays.
He is a man of very kind actions, and that’s why he got so many roles sins the first place, they were all good characters. He is a philanthropist and often donates to the American Stroke Association, as well as heart disease association. He tries to give back to the community, especially now that he is „retired“.
In 2012, he was very hurt when the natural disaster Sandy happened, so he decided to be a part of a concert that raised money and awareness for those who have suffered through this event. He was supported by his friends who joined him and they created a better living situation for the victims.
There have been rumors going around lately about Tony Danza appearing one of Netflix’s shows, but Tony has not really been up for discussion.
He said that his acting days are over and that now that he is almost 70 years old, he doesn’t really want to get too invested into these things at a high pace.
Many people were sad about this and his ex co-stars said that they would’ve loved to see hi min movies again to see whether he „lost his talent“, as they joke with him.
Tony said that he just prefers to hang out with those friends privately, and not on TV anymore since those times have passed by.
Quick summary
Full name: Antonio Salvatore Iadanza
Date of birth: April 21st, 1951
Birthplace: Brooklyn, NYC, the United States of America
Age: 68
Profession: host, performer, athlete, writer, teacher, actor
Height: 175 cm
Weight: 77 kg
Net Worth: $40 million