Biography

Born and raised in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, New York, the youngest of three sons of a cab-driver father and a homemaker.

Headed the stage crew in high school, and then attended New York University's Tisch School of The Arts to study filmmaking. Perhaps his first big break was working on Raging Bull (1980), as as the apprentice assistant director to fellow NYU alumnus Martin Scorsese.

As a child I was an avid reader, devouring every novel and every comic book put in front of me. I am a member of the first generation to be raised on television. Growing up my favorite shows were Rod Serling 's _The Twilight Zone(1959)_, _Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955)_, _I Love Lucy (1951) _ and _The Honeymooners (1955) _. I particularly loved 'Jackie Gleason''s vision of the working-class life of a bus driver living in Bensonhurst. It not only made me laugh it seemed to illustrate and illuminate my life.

When I was sick, my mother would go to the corner candy store and buy every comic book on the stand for me. She would install me on the living room couch, in front of the TV with them. There I'd lay with a blanket, a pillow and a glass of hot tea laced with a teaspoon of cognac; this was the prescription for healing. I would rest there for hours, reading and watching television, engrossed in the worlds of drama and comedy. At an early age I experienced their ability to reach me in important ways.