# John Pankow
**John Pankow** is an American actor best known for playing Ira Buchman, cousin of [Paul Reiser](https://www.edgepedia.org/paul-reiser)'s title character, on the NBC sitcom *Mad About You* (1993–1999) and the television executive Merc Lapidus on the Showtime/BBC comedy *Episodes* (2011–2017)[1](https://latw.org/artist-public-profile/john-pankow). Alongside these two long-running television roles, he has maintained a substantial stage career, appearing on Broadway in *Amadeus*, *Cymbeline*, *Serious Money*, *Twelve Angry Men*, and *The Iceman Cometh*, and repeatedly in Shakespeare in the Park productions at New York's Delacorte Theatre[1](https://latw.org/artist-public-profile/john-pankow).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | St. Louis, Missouri; sources disagree on the date, giving 1954, 1955, or 1957[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/john_pankow) • [3](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0659601/bio/) • [4](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/pankow-john-1957) |
| Signature TV roles | Ira Buchman on *Mad About You* (NBC, 1993–1999) and Merc Lapidus on *Episodes* (Showtime/BBC, 2011–2017)[1](https://latw.org/artist-public-profile/john-pankow) |
| Broadway debut | Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (and Citizen of Vienna) in *Amadeus*, Broadhurst Theatre, 1980–1981[1](https://latw.org/artist-public-profile/john-pankow) • [4](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/pankow-john-1957) |
| Notable films | *To Live and Die in L.A.* (1985), *The Secret of My Success* (1987), *Talk Radio* (1988), *Mortal Thoughts* (1991), *The Object of My Affection* (1998), *Morning Glory* (2010)[4](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/pankow-john-1957) • [5](https://www.blpress.org/blp-conversations/blp-conversations-jonathan-d-moreno/) |
| Shakespeare in the Park | Five Delacorte productions: *Henry V* (1984), *Two Gentlemen of Verona* (1987), *The Tempest* (1995), *Measure for Measure* (2001), *Much Ado About Nothing* (2014)[6](https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/bww-interview-much-ados-john-pankow-from-shakespeare-to-sitcoms-back-again-20140613) |
| Family | Married to actress Kristine Sutherland since November 1985; one daughter, Eleanore[3](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0659601/bio/) |
| Awards | Drama Logue Award (1986) for *The Iceman Cometh*; Clarence Derwent Award (1989) for *Aristocrats*; SAG Award ensemble nominations (1997, 1998) for *Mad About You*[4](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/pankow-john-1957) |
## Early life and training
Pankow was born in St. Louis and grew up in the Chicago suburb of Park Ridge, the sixth of nine children in a large German-Irish (Catholic) family[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/john_pankow) • [7](https://www.remindmagazine.com/article/40075/john-pankow-mad-about-you-whatever-happened-to/). His older brother, [James Pankow](https://www.edgepedia.org/james-pankow), became a founding member of the band Chicago; John gravitated instead toward acting[3](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0659601/bio/) • [7](https://www.remindmagazine.com/article/40075/john-pankow-mad-about-you-whatever-happened-to/). He dabbled in drama in high school and studied theater arts at Northeastern Illinois University, a program he later described as entirely language-based, with many professors from Northwestern[3](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0659601/bio/) • [6](https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/bww-interview-much-ados-john-pankow-from-shakespeare-to-sitcoms-back-again-20140613).
**A play changes everything.** In his junior year, Pankow saw a production of [David Mamet](https://www.edgepedia.org/david-mamet)'s *American Buffalo* at the St. Nicholas Theater in Chicago, with [William H. Macy](https://www.edgepedia.org/william-h-macy) playing the juvenile role of Bobby. He left the university and enrolled in the theater's two-year professional training program, which he described as Meisner-based, built on listening and behavior rather than language[6](https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/bww-interview-much-ados-john-pankow-from-shakespeare-to-sitcoms-back-again-20140613) • [3](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0659601/bio/). While visiting a friend in New York City, he auditioned for and won a role in the PBS film *Life on the Mississippi* (1980), his first screen credit[3](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0659601/bio/).
## Stage career
Pankow's Broadway debut came as [Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart](https://www.edgepedia.org/wolfgang-amadeus-mozart) in *Amadeus* at the Broadhurst Theatre (1980–1981), a role he took over from [Tim Curry](https://www.edgepedia.org/tim-curry) and later described as one of his most notable[1](https://latw.org/artist-public-profile/john-pankow) • [4](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/pankow-john-1957) • [7](https://www.remindmagazine.com/article/40075/john-pankow-mad-about-you-whatever-happened-to/). His subsequent Broadway credits include Rocky Pioggi in *The Iceman Cometh* (1985), Zackerman in [Caryl Churchill](https://www.edgepedia.org/caryl-churchill)'s *Serious Money* (1988), Pisanio in *Cymbeline* at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre (2007), and Juror #7 in the Roundabout Theatre Company's Broadway debut of *Twelve Angry Men* (October 2004 to January 2005)[4](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/pankow-john-1957) • [1](https://latw.org/artist-public-profile/john-pankow) • [8](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0659601/otherworks/).
His off-Broadway and festival work is extensive. At the Delacorte Theatre in [Central Park](https://www.edgepedia.org/central-park) he played a soldier sharing a scene with [Kevin Kline](https://www.edgepedia.org/kevin-kline) in *Henry V* (1984), Speed in *Two Gentlemen of Verona* (1987), Stephano in *The Tempest* (1995), Lucio in *Measure for Measure* (2001), and, in his fifth Delacorte appearance, the bumbling policeman Dogberry in the Public Theater's 2014 *Much Ado About Nothing*[6](https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/bww-interview-much-ados-john-pankow-from-shakespeare-to-sitcoms-back-again-20140613). Later off-Broadway credits include Reverend Mike in Christopher Durang's *Why Torture Is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them* at the Public, Bill Cain's *Equivocation* at Manhattan Theatre Club, Kenneth Lonergan's *Medieval Play* at Signature Theatre, a David Mamet double bill at Atlantic, and Peter Parnell's *Dada Woof Papa Hot*[6](https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/bww-interview-much-ados-john-pankow-from-shakespeare-to-sitcoms-back-again-20140613) • [9](https://www.theatermania.com/news/john-pankow-from-mad-about-you-to-dada-woof-papa-hot_75040/). For his performance in [Brian Friel](https://www.edgepedia.org/brian-friel)'s *Aristocrats* (Manhattan Theatre Club, 1989) he received the Clarence Derwent Award, and his 1986 *Iceman Cometh* at Los Angeles's Mark Taper Forum brought a Drama Logue Award for outstanding performance[4](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/pankow-john-1957).
## Film and television
By the mid-1980s Pankow was making a living in film. His screen roles include John Vukovich in [William Friedkin](https://www.edgepedia.org/william-friedkin)'s *To Live and Die in L.A.* (1985), Kovacs in *\*batteries not included* (1987), Fred Melrose in *The Secret of My Success* (1987), Geoffrey Fisher in *Monkey Shines* (1988), Chuck Dietz in [Oliver Stone](https://www.edgepedia.org/oliver-stone)'s *Talk Radio* (1988), Italo Bianchi in [John Frankenheimer](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-frankenheimer)'s *Year of the Gun* (1991), Arthur Kellogg in *Mortal Thoughts* (1991), Vince McBride in *The Object of My Affection* (1998), and Bryan Burke in *Life As a House* (2001)[4](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/pankow-john-1957) • [2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/john_pankow). Later film work includes *Morning Glory* and *Putzel*[5](https://www.blpress.org/blp-conversations/blp-conversations-jonathan-d-moreno/).
**Mad About You.** After several guest spots in the first season of the NBC sitcom *Mad About You* (1992), Pankow was signed as a cast regular[3](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0659601/bio/). He played Ira Buchman, the brash, wiseacre cousin of Paul Reiser's Paul Buchman, appearing in 143 episodes of the Emmy Award-winning series, which ran on NBC from 1993 to 1999[4](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/pankow-john-1957) • [2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/john_pankow). He returned to the role for the 2019 revival, in which Ira had found success with an Italian restaurant that became the Buchmans' hangout[10](https://time.com/5732856/mad-about-you-2019-review/).
**Episodes.** In 2011 Pankow took the role of Merc Lapidus, a volatile, two-faced network executive, on the Showtime/BBC comedy *Episodes*, which was nominated for [Emmy Awards](https://www.edgepedia.org/emmy-awards) and ran five seasons, with the fifth and final season premiering in August 2017[5](https://www.blpress.org/blp-conversations/blp-conversations-jonathan-d-moreno/) • [2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/john_pankow). In a 2015 interview he said the show had been "a hard reset" for his public recognition, because Merc looked like him in a way Ira no longer did[9](https://www.theatermania.com/news/john-pankow-from-mad-about-you-to-dada-woof-papa-hot_75040/).
Earlier television work includes guest roles on *Miami Vice* (1984), *Spenser: For Hire* (1987), *Law & Order* (1992), and *Ally McBeal* (2002), and a recurring part as Ron Luchesse on *The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd* (1990–1991)[3](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0659601/bio/) • [4](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/pankow-john-1957).
## Working between New York and Los Angeles
Pankow has described television as a practical necessity for a stage actor. When his daughter was born, he moved to Los Angeles for the *Mad About You* years because, in his words, it was very difficult to make a living from plays alone; he and [Kristine Sutherland](https://www.edgepedia.org/kristine-sutherland), who joined the cast of *Buffy the Vampire Slayer* while they were there, rented rather than bought, bought their New York apartment years in advance, and returned home to New York in 2004 after living in Italy for a year[6](https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/bww-interview-much-ados-john-pankow-from-shakespeare-to-sitcoms-back-again-20140613). He told *Mad About You* production schedules in the 1990s allowed extensive travel with his wife and daughter[11](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-07-10-tv-13795-story.html).
## References
1. [John Pankow, L.A. Theatre Works artist profile](https://latw.org/artist-public-profile/john-pankow)
2. [John Pankow, Rotten Tomatoes celebrity page](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/john_pankow)
3. [John Pankow, IMDb Biography](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0659601/bio/)
4. ["Pankow, John 1957(?)–", Contemporary Theatre, Film and Television, Encyclopedia.com](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/pankow-john-1957)
5. [BLP Conversations: Jonathan D. Moreno & John Pankow, Bellevue Literary Press](https://www.blpress.org/blp-conversations/blp-conversations-jonathan-d-moreno/)
6. [Interview: MUCH ADO's John Pankow, From Shakespeare to Sitcoms & Back Again, BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/bww-interview-much-ados-john-pankow-from-shakespeare-to-sitcoms-back-again-20140613)
7. [Whatever Happened to 'Mad About You' Star John Pankow?, Remind Magazine / TV Insider](https://www.remindmagazine.com/article/40075/john-pankow-mad-about-you-whatever-happened-to/)
8. [John Pankow, Other works, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0659601/otherworks/)
9. [John Pankow: From Mad About You to Dada Woof Papa Hot, TheaterMania](https://www.theatermania.com/news/john-pankow-from-mad-about-you-to-dada-woof-papa-hot_75040/)
10. [No One Was Clamoring for More Mad About You. The New Season Demonstrates Why, Time](https://time.com/5732856/mad-about-you-2019-review/)
11. ['Mad About You' claims John Pankow as a cousin ready to go the distance, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-07-10-tv-13795-story.html)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › American actors: 1970s to 1990s › Surnames O to Pa*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license