Leonard Joseph "Len" Cariou (born September 30, 1939) is a Canadian actor, best known for his portrayal of Sweeney Todd in the original cast of Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street. He currently plays the patriarch, Henry Reagan, NYPD Police Commissioner (retired), in the multi-generational television series Blue Bloods on CBS.
Heather Summerhayes (m. 1986), Susan Kapilow (m. 1975–1978)
Children
Laurel Cariou
Parents
George Marius Cariou, Molly Estelle Cariou
Awards
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical, Tony Award for Best Lead Actor in a Musical
Nominations
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or a Movie, Gemini Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series, Helen Hayes Awards for outstanding Supporting Performer, Visiting Production, Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding ...
Movies
Secret Window, About Schmidt, Prisoners, Executive Decision, The Onion Movie, Lady in White, Boynton Beach Club, Flags of Our Fathers, The Four Seasons, 1408, The Greatest Game Ever Played, Never Talk to Strangers, Spotlight, Into the Storm, Miracle on I-880, The Skulls III, A Little Night Music, Su...
TV Shows
Swift Justice, Murder, She Wrote, Blue Bloods, Nuremberg, Kurt Vonnegut's Monkey House
Star Sign
Libra
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Quote
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[on why violence is so common an element in entertainment media] It appeals to the little badness all of us have in our makeup.It's part of human nature and, being privy to that kind of thing, people find it somewhat fascinating and the more you give them, the more they want.
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Fact
1
He was awarded the 1985 Drama Logue Award for Outstanding Performance for "Traveler in the Dark" at the Mark Taper Forum Theatre in Los Angeles, California.
2
Len Cariou sang in both the NYC Broadway "What the World Needs Now" and the Broadway for Orlando on Maya & Marty singing to benefit the LGBT Center of Central Florida.
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New York, NY USA: An NYU Faculty Coach for workshops leading up to the 2011 National High School Musical Theater Awards. [June 2011]
4
Performing in the CanStage production of Frost/Nixon at the Bluma Appel theatre in Toronto. [October 2008]
5
Although he plays Tom Selleck's father in Blue Bloods (2010), he is only 5 years his senior in real life.
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Member of the Theatre Hall of Fame.
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Daughter, Laurel.
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Won a Canadian Genie Award for Best Actor in "One Man".
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Accomplished singer/actor in numerous Broadway shows. He won a Best Actor (Musical) Tony Award in 1979 for "Sweeney Todd". He was also Tony-nominated in the same category in 1970 for "Applause," and in 1973 for "A Little Night Music," a role he recreated in the film version of the same name, A Little Night Music (1977).