- Born
- Height6′ 1″ (1.85 m)
- John Lacy is an American actor-director-writer living in Los Angeles. John was born in Iowa City where his father, the writer Robert Lacy, studied at the Iowa Writer's Workshop under the mentor-ship of Kurt Vonnegut and Richard Yates, alongside fellow students and notable writers, Andre Dubus, William Harrison, Theodore Weesner, and detective novelist James Crumley. The family settled in Minneapolis after Robert took a position working for the State Capitol as a speech writer for the late Senator Nick Coleman.
John's mother, Lyn Ellen Lacy is an accomplished educator and published author, specializing in children's' visual literacy. His older brother, Peter Lacy, works as an innovator in corporate culture integration in Seattle, WA; and his older sister, Ruth Grim, is a museum curator in Daytona, Florida.
John's acting career began in 1988, initially showing up in beer commercials and music videos. After extensive study, stage work, and commitment to the Meisner technique, his roles improved considerably, booking several guest starring roles on a handful of Miller/Boyett Production situation comedies. Then came John's first significant film role, cast as 'Fector' in Nancy Savoca's anti-war love story Dogfight. Since then, John's stock has risen steadily year after year, appearing in all of television's top rated programs while continuing a substantial and recognizable presence in television commercials, and supporting roles in several notable films, most recently, Just Mercy. His powerful performance as Howard Madson in the 2019 FX series American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace drew considerable critical acclaim.
John has also established a reputation as a career coach and motivational speaker for aspiring talent getting in to the entertainment business. His acting studio in Burbank, The Lacy Group Acting Studio, has been instrumental in developing and cultivating some of the most promising young actors in Hollywood.
John has been married to Karin Lacy since 1994. They have three sons.
John created the critically acclaimed Crime Noir web series The Reveal... using over 30 actors from his acting studio, The Lacy Group. He followed that up with another web series creation, The Adventures of Hollywood & Vine, a screwball comedy depicting a pair of struggling actor roommates' daily struggles. His feature film debut, Custody Road, won Best Editing at the Auckland International Film Festival and streamed on Amazon Prime, GooglePlay, iTunes. His second feature, Rosebud Lane, is scheduled for release in August, 2021.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Lars Beckerman
- In 2014, during a performance of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" - where he played Big Daddy - he broke character and went off the stage to confront a disturbed audience member who kept shouting ant-gay slurs towards Brick (played by Anton Troy), the oppressed gay character from Tennessee Williams classic play. The drunk guy in the audience challenged Lacy after being reprimanded by the actor. Lacy got off the stage and pushed the man, who fell instantly and was later removed from the theater by another audience member, the filmmaker Tim Sullivan. While many media outlets and the public praised Lacy's act, it wasn't good enough for the producers of the play and they decided to fire him; in protest, many of the principal actors (including Troy) decided to quit and the production was canceled. A few days later, the play was revived through NOH8 Fundraiser.
- The late novelist Richard Yates was John Lacy's Godfather. Yates' 'Revolutionary Road' was adapted into a film directed by Sam Mendes and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.
- I said: 'What did you say, motherfucker?". I went through our stage door, took off my vest, went into the audience - as he stood proudly to stare at me with a stupid grin on his face [and] I pushed him, and he was drunk, so he easily just collapsed. I knew better than to start throwing punches. I had made my point. I silenced the heckler, and thankfully, one of the audience members, this enormous 6'5'', 280-lb. filmmaker named Tim Sullivan, who happened to be gay and was not at all happy with what was happening, reached over and picked this guy up by his shirt collar and literally carried him out of the theater. Of course, I could have stopped and said ''Could we have the house lights on, please? I'd like this gentleman removed''. But when you call my fellow actor a 'f-g' in front of the audience, it's not fucking acceptable.
- I've stood up to bullies my whole life. When I hear or see something that's unacceptable, I'm not the kind of person to go up and punch someone in the face - but I will get in your face and, if I need to, put my hands on you to let you know that I don't appreciate what is unacceptable. And that's who I am, and I'll never change. I'm not a violent person [but] I stand up to homophobes, racists, people who are insulting my wife, anyone who threatens my children.
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