Shea’s Performing Arts Center inducted Buffalo-born actor Louis Mustillo into the Western New York Entertainment Hall of Fame during “South Buffalo to Hollywood: A Hall of Fame Homecoming,” an event on Shea’s stage attended by nearly 200 guests. The ceremony included a conversation with Mustillo led by Meg Quinn, a member of Shea’s board of trustees.
Shea’s materials say Mustillo has worked as an actor for more than four decades, appearing in 28 feature films and guest-starring in more than 60 television series. He is best known for playing Vince Moranto on the CBS sitcom Mike & Molly. His credits also include Sal Vitro on The Sopranos and appearances on Seinfeld, ER, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Law & Order: SVU, Night Court, NCIS, Who’s the Boss, CSI: Miami, Family Matters, Blue Bloods and Wings.
Mustillo was a series regular on High Incident, executive produced by Steven Spielberg, and helped create and star in the AMC series Cooper’s Bar, about a Buffalo-born actor who spends time at a bar in his Los Angeles backyard. Most recently, he appeared in The Alto Knights, directed by Barry Levinson and starring Robert De Niro, according to Shea’s.
A South Buffalo native, Mustillo attended Lorraine Academy, Buffalo Public School 72, and Bishop Timon High School, where he began acting in skits at sports rallies. He later moved to New York City and enrolled at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. While there, he wrote and starred in Bartenders, a one-man play that ran for a year at the John Houseman Theatre and paid tribute to his father, a lifelong Buffalo bartender.
Shea’s Board of Trustees established the Western New York Entertainment Hall of Fame in 1987. Shea’s says the Hall of Fame inducted 16 Western New York performers between 1989 and 2003. Past inductees include Lucille Ball, James Whitmore, Michael Bennett, Mark Russell, Buffalo Bob Smith, Grover Washington Jr., Nancy Marchand, A.R. Gurney, George Abbott, Conrad John Schuck, Jay Silverheels, Harold Arlen and Christine Baranski.
