Mandel Bruce Patinkin was born 30 November 1952, in Chicago, Illinois. His acting career began in commercials, his very first commercial was for Kellogg's Frosted Mini-Wheats which was filmed in Chicago's Loop.

Since then Mandy has won an emmy for his work in Chicago Hope in 1995, a Tony for his work in Evita. Not just an actory Mandy is a talented broadway star. Warren Beatty's Dick Tracy (1990) is the only film to date to take advantage of Patinkin's musical talent, allowing him to sing some of Stephen Sondheim's songs as Madonna's accompanist, 88 Keys. Patinkin has carved a concert career for himself, with a one-man show, "Dress Casual," and remains a headliner on stage.

As for movies, The Juilliard-trained Patinkin made his film debut in The Big Fix (1978), since then he has had many roles none winning him much fame or critical aclaim, including a role in the Muppet Movie "The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland", "True Colors", "Alien Nation".

Mandy has been married to Kathryn Grody since 1980, with 2 children Isaac and Gideon.