Johnny Potenza
- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Johnny Potenza, Brooklyn born and Staten Island raised, has spent his life pursuing multiple paths, logging time as a musician, a TV producer and an on-camera performer while carrying on the family tradition of plastering and general contracting as his on-again, off-again "survival" job. Potenza is a survivor.
An accomplished drummer from the age of twelve, Potenza studied under professional drummers, including the great Frank Bellucci and Jim Chapin, father of Harry Chapin. The lessons paid off - he was out playing the bar scene before his 16th birthday with the group The Same, later another New York-based band, Barrage. From there, he played with NYB "None of Your Business," which served as the opening act for iconic rock band members of KISS, Guns 'n' Roses and Twisted Sister.
When Potenza hooked up with CTV Staten Island Community TV in 1997 he started producing his first show "The Gangsters of Rock." That show showcased local and national rock bands along a back drop of classic mob movies. That show earned Potenza two NOVA Awards.
Potenza liked playing in front of the camera and managed to carve out a niche for himself as a character actor in independent film. He appeared in "Fish" (Hoboken Film Festival) and "Jersey Shore Massacre", which landed at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival and at the Melbourne Film Festival, winning Best Horror Thriller. Currently, he worked on the long-anticipated Martin Scorsese film "The Irishman."
But the role he was born to play came as host of his Nova Award winning talk show, Late Night with Johnny P. which closed out its 10th year. As of January of 2016, they had their 100th show. The show has already received 3 Nova awards.
He recently retired the show and in 2018 has been working hard at re-grouping and re-energizing for a big comeback. He is developing and producing a new late-night show "Up Late with Johnny Potenza" it's going to be the same type of entertainment variety hour with some bells and whistles added coming in the late fall of 2019. Potenza isn't reinventing the wheel, just adding his own personality to it. The new show will definitely blow everyone away!
An accomplished drummer from the age of twelve, Potenza studied under professional drummers, including the great Frank Bellucci and Jim Chapin, father of Harry Chapin. The lessons paid off - he was out playing the bar scene before his 16th birthday with the group The Same, later another New York-based band, Barrage. From there, he played with NYB "None of Your Business," which served as the opening act for iconic rock band members of KISS, Guns 'n' Roses and Twisted Sister.
When Potenza hooked up with CTV Staten Island Community TV in 1997 he started producing his first show "The Gangsters of Rock." That show showcased local and national rock bands along a back drop of classic mob movies. That show earned Potenza two NOVA Awards.
Potenza liked playing in front of the camera and managed to carve out a niche for himself as a character actor in independent film. He appeared in "Fish" (Hoboken Film Festival) and "Jersey Shore Massacre", which landed at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival and at the Melbourne Film Festival, winning Best Horror Thriller. Currently, he worked on the long-anticipated Martin Scorsese film "The Irishman."
But the role he was born to play came as host of his Nova Award winning talk show, Late Night with Johnny P. which closed out its 10th year. As of January of 2016, they had their 100th show. The show has already received 3 Nova awards.
He recently retired the show and in 2018 has been working hard at re-grouping and re-energizing for a big comeback. He is developing and producing a new late-night show "Up Late with Johnny Potenza" it's going to be the same type of entertainment variety hour with some bells and whistles added coming in the late fall of 2019. Potenza isn't reinventing the wheel, just adding his own personality to it. The new show will definitely blow everyone away!
