The new host of NET TV’s Emmy Award-winning series City of Churches is Anthony Mangano, who was born and raised in Brooklyn. If he looks familiar to you it’s because he has appeared on several well-known television series. He portrayed Detective Mike Grey on Bluebloods, Officer Ed Laughlin on NYPD Blue and currently plays Detective Kane on Person of Interest. He has also played recurrent roles on episodes of Law & Order and Rescue Me. His motion picture credits include Inside Man, the Dictator, 8 Heads in a Duffle Bag, Point Break and Raising Helen.
He grew up in Park Slope and attended St. John the Evangelist school and church, where he served as an altar boy. Anthony was bitten by the show business bug at an early age since his father was the popular nightclub entertainer Tony Mann. Reruns of the old I Love Lucy series remind him of his own childhood: living in a small apartment building and seeing his dad wearing a tuxedo and going out to sing in nightclubs, just like Ricky Ricardo did.
Anthony got into acting as a young boy, attending such acting schools as The Neighborhood Playhouse. He went out to Hollywood to make an appearance on the comedy series Different Strokes. That began a long list of acting credits on such wide ranging shows as Who’s the Boss, Charles In Charge and Seinfeld, among many others.
Most recently Anthony made a guest appearance on the television series Castle and in the Robert DeNiro theatrical film The Family. He will also be seen on an upcoming episode of CSI. While he enjoys acting he also loves to sing, a talent he inherited from his father. He paid tribute to his Dad when he portrayed him in Heart and Soul, a short film about his nightclub career. The film was well received, winning several media awards and lots of well-deserved praise.
At some point in the future Anthony would like to make a name for himself as a vocalist, hoping to sing in Las Vegas and Atlantic City, but for now he loves hosting City of Churches on NET, finding the show both spiritually rewarding and historically fascinating. He enjoys exploring the Brooklyn Diocese’s unique churches and uncovering little know facts about their local parish neighborhoods.