Tony Rosato
Born	Antonio Rosato (1954-12-26)26 December 1954 Naples,Campania, Italy
Died	10 January 2017(2017-01-10) (aged 62) Toronto,Ontario, Canada
Occupations	Actor comedian
Years active	1975–2017
Spouse	Leah Murray ​ ​ (m. 2003; div. 2010)​ [1]
Children	1[1]

Antonio Rosato^[1] (26 December 1954 – 10 January 2017) was a Canadian actor and comedian, who appeared in television and films. He was best known as a cast member on bothSCTV andSaturday Night Live, and for voicingLuigi inThe Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 andSuper Mario World.

Antonio Rosato was born inNaples,Campania on 26 December 1954, and came to Canada at age four.^[1] He was raised inHalifax,Ottawa, andToronto. He graduated fromOakwood Collegiate Institute. He planned to studychiropractic medicine, but dropped out of theUniversity of Toronto after he began doingimprov comedy atThe Second City.^[2]

Rosato first gained attention when he andRobin Duke joined the cast of the first incarnation ofSCTV in its third season during the fall of 1980. His most well-known character on the program was the TV chef Marcello Sebastiano (a parody ofChef Pasquale).^[3] Rosato then moved with Duke to the cast ofSaturday Night Live for the 1981–82 season. FollowingJean Doumanian's tenure during the sixth season andDick Ebersol trying to retool the show (and relying onEddie Murphy andJoe Piscopo to spice up the sketches),^[1] Rosato only appeared on the show for one year before leaving due to differences with Ebersol and an expired contract.^[4]

Rosato is one of threeSCTV cast members (along with Duke and, later, Martin Short) to appear onSaturday Night Live and the firstSNL cast member to not be born in either the United States or Canada.^[5] Celebrities impersonated by Rosato onSCTV include:Lou Costello (whom he also impersonated when he was a cast member onSaturday Night Live),William Conrad,Danny Thomas, Woodstock co-organizerChip Monck, SNL cast memberJohn Belushi,Tony Orlando,Don Ho, andElla Fitzgerald. His characters onSNL, despite his short tenure, were memorable as well, and includedEd Asner (in character as Lou Grant),Captain Kangaroo, and U.S. Attorney GeneralEd Meese.^[6]

In 1983, he starred as Aldo, the busboy in the short-livedBea Arthur series,Amanda's. The show was based onFawlty Towers but was not well-received by audiences and was cancelled after 10 episodes.^{[citation needed]}

Rosato next appeared on the Canadian police dramaNight Heat, playing Arthur "Whitey" Morelli,^[7] from 1985 through 1989. He continued to appear in television and film throughout the 1990s.^{[citation needed]}

In autumn of 1990, Rosato portrayedNintendo's characterLuigi onDiC's television showThe Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 (based onSuper Mario Bros. 3).^[8][9] He continued his role as Luigi in 1991 for theSuper Mario World cartoon.^[8] Rosato had a small voice part inResident Evil 3: Nemesis as Dario Rosso and thetitular creature. InBakugan: Gundalian Invaders, he voiced Dharak.^{[citation needed]}

Rosato also provided voices for many other animated series includingPelswick,George and Martha,The Busy World of Richard Scarry,The Adventures of Sam and Max: Freelance Police,Mythic Warriors: Guardians of the Legend,Monster by Mistake,The Ripping Friends,Bakugan: Mechtanium Surge,Da Boom Crew,Get Ed andOdd Job Jack.

Rosato married Leah Murray on 31 December 2003; together they have a daughter.^[1] After seven years together, Rosato and Murray's marriage ended in a divorce in 2010.^[1]

On 5 May 2005, Rosato wasarrested andcharged with criminal harassment of his wife Leah, who asserted that hisdeteriorating mental health had caused her to fear for her safety and that of the couple's infant daughter.^[2] The charge was laid after Rosato complained repeatedly toToronto andKingston police that his wife, who had recently left him, and daughter had been abducted and replaced by impostors, a belief characteristic ofCapgras delusion, adelusional misidentification syndrome with which theCrown's expertpsychiatrist had diagnosed Rosato, according to Rosato's lawyer, Daniel Brodsky. It was alleged that the harassment occurred from 28 December 2003 and escalated until 21 April 2005. In spite of the diagnosis, Rosato, who denied mental illness and refused toplead insanity, was held for over two years withoutbail at a maximum-security detention centre. Brodsky, who called his client's two-year detention awaiting trial "shocking," asserted that Rosato "spent more time in custody on a harassment charge" than anyone ever convicted of the offence in Canada, estimating that "on average, someone convicted of criminal harassment spends one day in jail and two years on probation." The trial finally commenced on 7 August 2007, in Kingston and it ended on 5 September. Prosecutors downgraded the charge to asummary offence from anindictable offence, handing Rosato a conditional discharge, including a psychiatric hospital residence order, of which he ended up serving 19 months of a maximum of three years. Rosato was released from the hospital in March 2009 but remained on probation until September 2010.^[10]

Tony Rosato died of aheart attack on 10 January 2017, at the age of 62.^[11]

Saturday Night Live paid tribute to Rosato at the end of its 14 January 2017 episode.^[12] Also, a re-animated version of theSuper Mario World episode "Mama Luigi", commissioned and directed by animation artist Andrew Dickman within a year with over 227 animators and artists participating, was dedicated to Rosato and his coworkerHarvey Atkin (King Koopa), who had also died later in July that year. The video was released on 29 August 2017.^[13]

• Tony Rosato atIMDb 
• Tony Rosato atAnime News Network's encyclopedia
• Tony Rosato atFind a Grave
• Tony Rosato at Behind The Voice Actors

• 1954 births
• 2017 deaths
• Canadian male film actors
• Canadian male television actors
• Canadian sketch comedians
• Canadian male video game actors
• Canadian male voice actors
• Canadian television personalities
• Comedians from Toronto
• Italian emigrants to Canada
• Male actors from Naples
• Male actors from Toronto
• 20th-century Canadian male actors
• 21st-century Canadian male actors
• Comedians from Ottawa
• Comedians from Naples

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• Articles with unsourced statements from January 2017