American actor, musician, and filmmaker
Paul Hipp
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Born
| (
1963-07-16
)
July 16, 1963
(age 60)
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Years active
| 1987?present
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Paul Hipp
(born July 16, 1963) is an American actor, singer, songwriter and filmmaker.
Early life
[
edit
]
Paul Hipp was born in
Philadelphia
,
Pennsylvania
, and grew up in
Warminster
.
[1]
He left Pennsylvania for New York City immediately after high school, starting his career playing guitar and singing for tips on the streets of
Greenwich Village
while studying acting with acting coach
Mira Rostova
and at
HB Studio
with
William Hickey
.
Career
[
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]
Hipp found employment as a musician at various clubs. At the same time, he started landing roles on TV shows and commercials. He made his New York stage debut in the off-
Broadway
show
Rockabilly Road
at the West Bank Theater.
New York filmmaker
Abel Ferrara
saw one of Hipp's shows and asked him to audition for the role of Nino Valacci in his upcoming film
China Girl
. Hipp landed the role, and a decades-long collaboration began as he became a mainstay in Ferrara's core group of actors that includes
Christopher Walken
,
Harvey Keitel
and
Willem Dafoe
. During the filming of
China Girl
, Hipp wrote his first published song, “Midnight For You”, used as the film's end credit theme song.
Hipp then co-starred in the off-Broadway show
A Minor Incident
with
Carole King
. Hipp played “Midnight For You” for King, who later credited this song for inspiring her to come out of musical retirement. The two started writing songs together, and King often sat in with Hipp at his New York gigs. The two collaborated on songs for her
Capitol Records
release
City Streets
, including the song "I Can't Stop Thinking About You", which Hipp co-wrote and plays guitar and performs backing vocals on. A tour followed the LP release which featured Hipp joining King onstage for a duet on that song. While on stage with King at London's
Royal Albert Hall
, the producers of a new
West End
musical
Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story
saw Hipp. They invited him to audition for the role of
Buddy Holly
, and he was cast in the role.
Buddy
opened to rave reviews on 12 October 1989, at The
Victoria Palace Theatre
, and Hipp was nominated for the
Laurence Olivier Award
for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Musical. The following year, Hipp opened as 'Buddy' at
Broadway
's
Shubert Theater
in New York. He was nominated for a
Tony Award
for his performance and won a
Theater World Award
.
[2]
Hipp appeared in the films
Fathers & Sons
, with
Jeff Goldblum
, and as
Jesus Christ
opposite
Harvey Keitel
in Abel Ferrara's
Bad Lieutenant
,
[3]
for which he also performed the title song, "Bad Lieutenant", with Ferrara.
[4]
He also appeared as
Gene Vincent
opposite
Donal Logue
(as
Eddie Cochran
) in the play
Be-Bop-A-Lula
at Hollywood's Theater-Theater before returning to the London stage for the 25th anniversary revival of
Hair
at the
Old Vic
, in the role of Berger opposite
John Barrowman
as Claude. After the show closed, Hipp stayed in London, living in
Notting Hill
, studying painting, writing songs and performing at various venues in and around London.
Subsequent feature film roles include
John Woo
's
Face Off
,
Waking The Dead
,
More Dogs Than Bones
(in which Hipp and
Joe Mantegna
play a pair of bungling hit men), and
Joe Odom
in
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
. On TV, he was a series regular on NBC's
Three Sisters
, among other appearances. In 2000, Hipp made his feature film directorial debut with
Death of a Dog
, which stars Julie Kessler and
Edie Falco
, executive produced by Ferrara. Hipp wrote the script, soundtrack and score for the film.
In 2005 Hipp played the half-man-half-woman circus performer Bert/Bertha Hagenbach on the second season of the
HBO
series
Carnivale
. He co-starred in
Two Tickets to Paradise
(2006) and appeared in
South of Pico
(2007). He also co-starred in the
Showtime
pilot
Manchild
. During the same decade, was a guest star on the TV shows
ER
,
Scrubs
,
CSI: NY
,
CSI: Miami
,
The Closer
,
Without a Trace
and
Ugly Betty
.
In 2006, for
The Huffington Post
, Hipp wrote a blog with videos that included satirical musical parodies like his take on
Johnny Cash
's "
Folsom Prison Blues
" (with
Dick Cheney
singing about his hunting mishap) and the
Beatles
' "
I Am the Walrus
" (a take-off of
George W. Bush
's "I’m the Decider" quote).
[5]
Some of the videos created for
The Huffington Post
were picked up by national news outlets.
[
citation needed
]
Hipp had a recurring role in the
F/X
series
Terriers
and appeared in
The Last Godfather
. Ferrara directed him in
4:44 Last Day on Earth
as well as 2014's
Welcome to New York
. Hipp contributed the opening and closing credit themes of this film. Hipp guest-starred as guitar-slinging
minister
Reverend Tim Tom
in the ABC's comedy
The Middle
from 2009 until 2018. He co-starred in and co-wrote the
Argentine
-American film
No Somos Animales
.
Music
[
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]
Hipp wrote and produced several songs sung by
Hilary Duff
for the film
War, Inc.
He wrote and recorded an album of songs culled from his work for
The Huffington Post
, called
Blog of War
. His song,
We're Number 37
[6]
was circulated on social media and led to an appearance on
The Dylan Ratigan Show
.
Hipp released a CD of original music called
The Remote Distance
.
Norman Lear
appears in the video to "Happy Birthday to Me", the first single from the album.
[7]
He also released a CD of songs from and inspired by the film
No Somos Animales
, called
Buenos Aires
, in the fall of 2015.
Discography
[
edit
]
- Blog of War
(2008)
- The Remote Distance
(2015)
- Sometimes I'm Rudy
(2017)
Filmography
[
edit
]
Film
[
edit
]
Television
[
edit
]
References
[
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]
External links
[
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]
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International
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National
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Artists
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Other
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