Biography
Tony Vitale, Part-Time Adjunct, Cinema & Television Arts, is a Directing and Screenwriting instructor with extensive credits in the film and television industry.
Vitale began working in the film and television industry for the FX network and NBC show, Law and Order, then hired by Tribeca Films, Robert De Niro's production company in New York where he worked on three films, Night and The City, A Bronx Tale and. He served as a second unit director for the opening of Robert De Niro’s directorial d Faithful debut, "A Bronx Tale."In 1996, Vitale wrote and directed the feature film, Kiss Me, Guido, an official entry in the 1997 Sundance Film Festival and released by Paramount Pictures. As per Janet Maslin of the New York Times, "A former location manager, Vitale shows off a sure familiarity with his settings while he makes his audience enjoy the very bluntness of his film's caricatures."In 1999, Vitale created a sitcom based on Kiss Me, Guido with veteran Marc Cherry (Desperate Housewives). The series was renamed, Some of My Best Friends starred Jason Bateman and Danny Nucci on the CBS Television network. The show was nominated for a GLAAD Award in 2000.Vitale's second film, Very Mean Men, won the 2000 Seattle International Film Festival: New American Cinema Award, with Oscar Winners Martin Landau and Louise Fletcher and Matthew Modine. Vitale's third film, Life's A Beach, starred Christopher Walken and Rutger Hauer; Vitale's fourth film, One Last Ride, Executive Produced by Ang Lee, starring Pat Cupo and Chazz Palminteri. Vitale wrote, directed, and produced the documentaries Cancel Crash about the Stock Market Crash of 1987, airing on PBS, and SOLD!:The Lewis Borsellino Story" about one of the most legendary S&P pit traders in history.
Vitale has studied and taught at the University of California, Los Angeles, New York University and The New School in New York, with an undergraduate degree from Iona College in New Rochelle, New York.
Degrees
B.B.A., Finance Iona College 1985