Raised in Queens as a second-generation Italian-American, he earned a bachelor's degree from Ithaca College before completing a master’s in communication arts at William Paterson University in 1972. After directing television commercials through the 1980s, he produced and helmed the independent feature The Feud in 1989, which led Steven Bochco to enlist him for an episode of Doogie Howser, M.D. He…
