Sorvino was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York City. His mother Angela Maria Mattea (née Renzi) was a homemaker and piano teacher, who was born in Connecticut, of Italian (Molisan) descent. His father, Ford Sorvino, was an Italian (Neapolitan) immigrant who worked in a robe factory as a foreman. He attended Lafayette High School, where he was classmates with painter Peter Max, and the American Musical and Dramatic Academy.\n', '

He began his career as a copywriter in an advertising agency, where he worked with John Margeotes, founder of Margeotes, Fertitta, and Weiss. He took 18 years of voice lessons. While attending The American Musical and Dramatic Academy, he decided to go into the theatre. He made his Broadway debut in the 1964 musical Bajour, and six years later he appeared in his first film, Carl Reiner\'s Where\'s Poppa? starring George Segal and Ruth Gordon. In 1971, he played a supporting role in Jerry Schatzberg\'s critically acclaimed The Panic in Needle Park starring Al Pacino and Kitty Winn.\n', '

He received critical praise for his performance as Phil Romano in Jason Miller\'s 1972 Broadway play That Championship Season, a role he repeated in the 1982 film version. In It Couldn\'t Happen to a Nicer Guy, he played Harry Walters, real estate salesman randomly picked up by a beautiful woman (JoAnna Cameron) and raped at gunpoint as a prank. He also appeared in the 1976 Elliott Gould/Diane Keaton vehicle I Will, I Will... for Now. He starred in the weekly series We\'ll Get By (1975, as George Platt), Bert D\'Angelo/Superstar (1976, in the title role) and The Oldest Rookie (1987, as Detective Ike Porter). He also directed Wheelbarrow Closers, a 1976 Broadway play by Louis La Russo II, which starred Danny Aiello.\n', '

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