Joseph Lane (born February 3, 1956) is an American stage & screen actor, better known by his stage name Nathan Lane, who appeared in the show Miami Vice as Morty Price, a comedian and friend to Johnny Cannata and Frank Doss, who is killed by Dorothy Bain (played by Eszter Balint) trying to rape her in the episode "Buddies".

CareerEdit

Lane was born in Jersey City, New Jersey. He began acting while at St. Peter's Prep School, winning Best Actor in 1974. He changed his first name to Nathan after the character Nathan Detroit in the play Guys & Dolls (which he played in 1977, and nominated for a Tony Award), and began his stage career off-Broadway, appearing in several plays before getting his TV debut in a 1981 mini-series, Valley of the Dolls, then appeared in the short-lived series' One of the Boys & Encore, Encore!. Other TV appearances include The Days & Nights of Molly Dodd, Frasier, a voice role in Timon & Pumbaa (for which he won a Daytime Emmy), Mad About You, a voice role in George & Martha, Sex & The City, Absolutely Fabulous, 30 Rock, and his most recent TV role, in the movie A Muppet Christmas: Letters to Santa.

His movie debut came in Ironweed (with Margaret Whitton), followed by Joe Versus The Volcano (with Amanda Plummer and Dan Hedaya), Life with Mikey (with Annabelle Gurwitch & Cyndi Lauper), and one of his more remembered roles, as Robin Williams' partner Albert Goldman in The Birdcage (with James Lally), Win A Date with Tad Hamilton! (with Gary Cole), Swing Vote (with Willie Nelson & Stanley Tucci), Nutcracker: The Untold Story (with John Turturro), and his most recent movie appearance, in Mirror, Mirror (with Julia Roberts).

He became a voice actor, and appeared in The Lion King as Timon, and reprised the role in its' sequels: The Lion King 2 and The Lion King 1 1/2, Stuart Little and its sequels Stuart Little 2 (with Melanie Griffith) and Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild, Titan, A.E. (with John Leguizamo), and his most recent voice role, in Astro Boy.

Lane also won two Tony awards, for his roles in A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum and in The Producers.

Personal LifeEdit

Lane is gay, "coming out" publicly after the murder of Matthew Sheppard in 1998, and lives in New York with his long-time partner.