Who is Ed Marinaro?
Ed Marinaro was born on 31 March 1950, in New York City, USA, and is an actor as well as a retired professional American Football player, best known for his work in the television series “Hill Street Blues” in which he portrayed Officer Joe Coffey. Before his acting career, he enjoyed six seasons with the National Football League (NFL), and also had a successful college football career.
The Net Worth of Ed Marinaro
As of early-2020, Ed Marinaro’s net worth is estimated to be over $3 million, earned through success in his various endeavors.
While he earned significant income with his work as a professional athlete, most of his wealth is attributed to his success as an actor, in the profession since the late-1970s.
Early Life, Education, and Football Beginnings
At a young age, Ed showed a natural athletic prowess, coupled with a growing love of playing American Football. While he was born in New York City, his family later moved to New Jersey at New Milford, where he would attend New Milford High School.
During his time there, he became a part of the school’s football team, the Knights, for which he enjoyed a good run.
However, he truly attracted attention during his time in college when he enrolled at Cornell University, joining the college’s football team which competed in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). He primarily played as a running back, and set numerous records in the league. His biggest year in college was in 1971, when he was one of the main competitors for the prestigious Heisman Trophy, and finished as a runner-up to Pat Sullivan. This made him the highest placing athlete from an Ivy League school since the 1950s, when there was a significant lack of emphasis on American Football.
He still holds two of his former 16 NCAA records, rushes per game in a season, and career average carries per game.
NFL and Transition to Acting
After completing his degree he joined the NFL, and first played with the Minnesota Vikings, in which he was a part of the Super Bowl teams in Super Bowls VIII and IX. Despite his achievements during college, he wasn’t used a lot during his NFL career, and only scored 13 touchdowns throughout. Following his run with the Vikings, he then played with the New York Jets and the Seattle Seahawks before retiring. He only stayed in the NFL for around six seasons, which was common for many players at the time.
After leaving football behind, Marinaro found opportunities in the entertainment industry, and began focusing on a career in Hollywood. One of his earliest project was “Laverne & Shirley”, a sitcom starring Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams, which follows the story of their characters, two roommates who work in a brewery.
Hill Street Blues
In 1981, Ed got his most notable television role when he was cast as Officer Joe Coffey in “Hill Street Blues”, a role which he would play for the next five years. The show aired on NBC, and is a police drama, following the lives of officers who are a part of the station in Hill Street, located in a fictional large city; the Blues in the name refers to the color of their uniforms.
During its run, the show was well-received, gaining positive reviews, especially for its innovations in what was a market saturated with many police focused programming.
“Hill Street Blues” is often referred to as the inspiration of many modern police shows in the US as well as in Canada. It received 98 Emmy Award nominations, winning eight during its debut season, a record they held onto until it was broken by “The West Wing”. Ed left the show nearing the end of the sixth season, and was not a part of the final season. In the 1990s, he worked on the series “Sisters” in which he portrayed Mitch Margolis.
The show also aired on NBC, and followed the story of four sisters who lead very different lives and personalities.
Later Career
After more acting projects and a few breaks in between, Marinaro became a regular cast member of the television show “Blue Mountain State”, which is a sitcom that aired on the Paramount Network, and tells the story of the fictional titular university and their American Football team, the Mountain Goats. The show features various aspects of university life, including alcohol, drugs, partying, hazing, sex, and sports.
The show received mixed reviews during its run, though it eventually developed a cult following. He played the head football coach of the Mountain Goats during three seasons.
Due to the fame of the show, a Kickstarter campaign was launched to help create a movie that was successfully backed, reaching its goal of $1.5 million; the film was produced and released in 2016. “Blue Mountain State: The Rise of Thadland” picked up where the last season left off, and had a bit of trouble with ratings, resulting in a lot of editing to get it to at least an R rating for cinemas. Many of the original cast members returned, reprising their characters.
In recent years, Ed has appeared as a guest in several Turner Classic Movies, often related to college football.
Personal Life
Ed has been married to Tracy York since 2001, and they have a son, Eddie Junior. She was a fitness expert at the time they met. He is a part of the College Football Hall of Fame – in 2020, ESPN created a list of 150 greatest players in college football history, with him ranking at 126. The experts who help create the list believe that he is the last great running back that came from an Ivy League university, and one of only three players from Ivy League schools to make the list.