Frank Wood was raised in Boston, MA and he comes from a family of politicians. His father was a political scientist who served under the Lyndon Johnson administration and his sister, Maggie Hassan was the 81st Governor of New Hampshire from 2013-2017. She was elected to the senate in 2016 and is a junior US Senator.
His passion for theatre was ignited during his college days at Wesleyan University when he got to act in the Canterbury Tale Shepherd’s plays. It was the challenge of the actor was not only the fun part, but it got me out of myself, in a kind of extravagant, self-parody, satire, falling down comedy, that made us reach out to the audience. And that is the reason he is in theatre.
“When my character says things that I can’t say in real life is not only why I love acting, but why I need it.”
He’s a Tony award winning actor for his work as Gene in Warren Leight’s SIDEMAN which also won the Tony in 1999 for Best Play. On Broadway he has appeared as Bill in AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY; Roy Cohn in Tony Kushner’s Pulizer Prize-winning play ANGELS IN AMERICA; the Night Clerk in O’Neill’s HUGHIE opposite Forest Whitaker. He has appeared in numerous television shows such as: Mozart in the Jungle, Grey’s Anatomy, Law & Order SVU, Medium, and Modern Family; and films such as: JOKER, POLLACK, & MICHAEL CLAYTON.
I loved talking about the acting process with the very talented and lovely man. Enjoy!