Anthony Markus Schelub is known to a wide audience to a greater extent as Antonio Scarpazzi in the television show Wings and a detective Adrian Monck suffering from a full set of obsessive-compulsive disorders in the Detective Monk project. But the performer has an impressive filmography. No wonder he is the winner of the Emmy and Golden Globe Awards.
Early biography
American actor Tony Shalub was born in early October 1953 in the town of Green Bay, Wisconsin. His father, a meat trader, was an orphaned emigrant from Lebanon. He came to the United States at the age of ten. Mother, Elena Seroogi, a native of Wisconsin, also has Lebanese roots. In addition to the future actor, ten children were brought up in the family.
Hardly reaching the age of six, Tony Shalub joined the magical world of theater. He took an active part in a school production called “The King and Me”. Throughout the entire period of training, the boy participated in all school performances, only in the graduation class he could not perform, since during one of the final rehearsals he fell from the stage into an orchestra pit and broke his leg. Tony continued his education at the University of South Maine, and after receiving a bachelor's degree in drama, he entered the Yale School of Drama, where he graduated with a master's degree in fine art.
Active in all areas
Tony Shelub began his creative career in Cambridge (Massachusetts), where he moved as soon as he was 20 years old. For a long time he shone on the stage of the local theater. But later he moved to Broadway, where he met his future wife Brooke Adams. Their marriage ceremony took place in 1992. By this time, Brooke was already raising a foster daughter, Josie Lynn, two years later, the couple adopted another baby, Sophie. In the same period, Shalub’s dramatic talent was highly praised by the Tony Theater Award nomination for his lead role in the production of Revelations with My Father.
After the debut role in the big movie in the film “Jealousy”, the actor successfully starred in various projects, played secondary roles in the films “Alone in the Neon Jungle”, “Quick Changes”, “Close Friend” and others. But a significant step in the development of the artist’s creative career is considered to be his participation in the creation of the television show “Wings” in the role of Antonio Scarpazzi. Tony Shalub was invited to audition for the series after filming in the surreal black comedy of the Cohen brothers "Barton Fink".
World famous
Thanks to the amazing ability of Tony Shalub to transform into various images, he became a sought-after performer. In subsequent years, he appeared in the cult The X-Files as Dr. Chester Ray Banton; in "Men in Black" played Jack Gibbs; in the drama The Siege, FBI Special Agent Frank Haddad. One of the most striking images of this creative period is the main protagonist of the horror “Thirteen Ghosts”, the inconsolable widower and father of two children, Arthur Criticos.
The year 2002 brought Tony Shalub the opportunity to try on the image of detective Adrian Monk in the project "Detective Monk". For this role, he received three Emmy Awards and one Golden Globe.
"Defective detective"
Of all the “defective detectives” that revealed all kinds of atrocities on TV, Adrian Monk was the most non-trivial and funny. Due to his obsessive-compulsive disorders, the hero was always accompanied by a nurse who helps to fight a mass of phobias and complexes. But even at the time of exacerbation, Monk remained an insightful detective, thereby the character of Shalub instilled confidence in many viewers who also suffer from various ailments.
The acting skills of Shalub were praised by film critics who called him magnificent and original. Many movie experts rated Tony's performance as exceptional, calling Shalub a cautious and subtle actor. The opinion of the public and critics agreed in a single conclusion - he was an ideal performer for such an extraordinary character.
In subsequent years, the films Hemingway and Gellhorn, Blood and Sweat: Anabolics, Brainless and The Amazing Mrs. Maisel joined the Tony Shelub’s track record.