Tom Fontana was born on September 12,1951 and is an American screenwriter, writer, and television producer.
18 Facts About Tom Fontana
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Tom Fontana was born on the west side of Buffalo, New York, and is the fourth of five children in an Italian-American family; he is a cousin of actress Patti LuPone.
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Tom Fontana attended Cathedral School, Canisius High School, and Buffalo State College.
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Tom Fontana worked at the Studio Arena Theater in Buffalo in various capacities before moving to New York City in 1973.
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Tom Fontana was the executive producer of American Tragedy for CBS, Shot in the Heart for HBO Films, the independent film Jean, and the documentary The Press Secretary for PBS.
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Tom Fontana created the historical drama TV series Borgia for the French premium-pay channel Canal+, produced by Atlantique Productions and EOS Entertainment.
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Tom Fontana co-created Copper, an 1860s police procedural set in the turbulent Five Points neighborhood of New York.
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Tom Fontana has received three Emmy Awards, four Peabody Awards, three Writers' Guild Awards, four Television Critics Association Awards, the Cable Ace Award, the Humanitas Prize, an Edgar Award, and the first prize at the Cinema Tout Ecran Festival in Switzerland.
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In 2003, Tom Fontana was the recipient of the Austin Film Festival's Outstanding Television Writer Award.
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Tom Fontana has written articles for such periodicals as The New York Times, TV Guide, and Esquire, and has taught at Columbia, Syracuse, Rutgers, and the State University College at Buffalo, his alma mater, from which he received the Distinguished Alumni Award and an honorary Doctorate of Letters.
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Tom Fontana has had numerous plays produced in New York City, where he lives, and at San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater, the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, the Buffalo Studio Arena Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and McCarter Theatre Company.
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Tom Fontana was married to actress Sagan Lewis for 12 years until their divorce in 1993.
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Sagan and Tom Fontana remarried on July 10,2015, and remained together until her death on August 7,2016.
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Tom Fontana has a tattoo of the Oz logo on his upper right arm, which he is shown receiving in the opening credits of the series.
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Tom Fontana was the graduation speaker at Buffalo State College in 1983.
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Tom Fontana is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Producers Guild of America, and the Writers Guild of America, East, from which he received the Evelyn F Burkey Award for lifetime achievement.
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Tom Fontana served as vice president of the Writers Guild of America, East from 2005 to 2007.
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Tom Fontana is president emeritus of the WGAE Foundation, commonly known as the Writers Guild Initiative, and serves on the boards of the Acting Company, the Williamstown Theatre Festival, DEAL, the New York City Police Museum, and Stockings with Care, among others.