October 1, 2001

Contact: Charla Jenkins, University Theatre, (785) 864-2684.

Award-winning actor/singer Mandy Patinkin returns to KU to meet students

Editors note: Patinkin will not be granting interviews. The media, including photographers, may attend the open session with students. For information, contact Charla Jenkins.

LAWRENCE -- Award-winning stage, screen and television artist Mandy Patinkin will return to his alma mater Wednesday, Oct. 3, to meet with University of Kansas students and revisit the campus where he spent two years in the early 1970's.

Patinkin, star of CBS's "Chicago Hope" medical drama series, will speak to students in an open session from 4:30 to 6 p.m. in the Crafton-Preyer Theatre in Murphy Hall, 15th and Naismith. He is performing in concert Thursday at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo. Patinkin's session with KU students is free and open to the public.

A native of Chicago, Ill., Patinkin acted in his first commercial for Kellogg's cereals while still a youth. He attended KU from 1970 to 1972, performing in such University Theatre productions as "Fiddler on the Roof," "Man of La Mancha," "Rosencrantz and Guilderstern Are Dead," and "Indians." While at KU, he was cast as Teen Angel in a national 7-Up commercial. He left Lawrence to attend the Juilliard School of Music in New York City.

Equally revered as a singer and actor, Patinkin has appeared on stage in a variety of acclaimed musicals and dramas. He received a Tony Award for his Broadway debut performance as Che in "Evita," and created the title role in the Pulitzer Prize winning "Sunday in the Park with George," which earned him a second Tony nomination. He also starred in the Tony-winning musical "The Secret Garden" and appeared in the recent hits "The Wild Party" and "Falsettos." With the New York Shakespeare Festival, he appeared in "Hamlet," "Henry IV, Part I," "Leave it to Beaver is Dead," "The Knife," "The Winter's Tale," "Rebel Woman," and "Trelawney of the Wells."

On the big screen, Patinkin has appeared in such major motion pictures as "Yentl," "Ragtime," "The Princess Bride," "Alien Nation,""Daniel," "Maxie," "Dick Tracy," "True Colors," "The Doctor," "The Music of Chance," and "Squanto: A Warrior's Tale."

Patinkin may be best known for his role in "Chicago Hope," for which he won the 1995 Emmy Award for best actor in a drama series, as well as a Golden Globe nomination for best actor. Patinkin is no stranger to PBS audiences either, having appeared "In Some Enchanted Evening: Celebrating Oscar Hammerstein II" on "Great Performances."

With his beautiful tenor voice, Patinkin has attracted an international following as a singer and performer. Since 1989, he has released four solo albums: "Mandy Patinkin," "Mandy Patinkin in Concert: Dress Casual," "Experiment," and "Oscar & Steve," a compilation of works by Oscar Hammerstein and Stephen Sondheim.