Tony Amendola was born in New Haven, Connecticut. His mother originates from the town of Amalfi in Italy. In an interview by Blackfilm.com He was asked: "Are you of Latino descent?" He answered: I’m of Italian [descent], but a diaspora [that has led to] into Argentina and Mexico. My family came to the States. Tony was the first in his family to attend college and was set to become a lawyer, but his life went into a different direction and he ended up taking both pre-law courses and theater classes. After graduating from Southern Connecticut State University in 1974, he studied and earned a Master of Fine Arts Degree in 1977 at Philadelphia's Temple University. In 1978, he moved to Los Angeles to find work in film and television.

Amendola is known for widely diverse roles such as the murderous drug dealer Santos Jimenez on Showtime's grisly drama Dexter, the long running role of Jaffa master Bra'tac in the science fiction series Stargate SG-1, Liber8 leader Kagame on the Syfy show Continuum, Geppetto/Marco in ABC's fantasy drama series Once Upon a Time and the Catholic priest Father Perez in the 2014 horror film Annabelle, a role he reprised for the 2019 film The Curse of La Llorona.

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