Gerry Rosenthal

{{Infobox person

| name = Gerry Rosenthal

| image =

| alt =

| caption =

| birth_name = Gerald Raymond Rosenthal

| birth_date =

| birth_place = United States

| nationality = American

| alma_mater = Rutgers University

| occupation = {{flatlist|

Musician
singer-songwriter
actor

}}

| years_active = 1987–present

| spouse = {{marriage|Megan McGrath|2013}}

| children = 1

| module =

{{Infobox musical artist|embed=yes

| background = solo_singer

| instrument = {{flatlist|

Guitar
vocals
bass
keyboard

}}

| genre = {{flatlist|

}}

| current_member_of = {{flatlist|

The Gerry Rosenthal Trio
Big Wake
Hey Bulldog
Mama Doni Band
The Jersey Joint

}}

| website = {{URL|gerryrosenthal.com/}}

}}

Gerald Raymond Rosenthal is an American musician, singer-songwriter and actor. He has starred in films and short films and has guest starred in television series such as Law & Order and Celebrity Deathmatch. He is best known for providing the voice for Jimmy Hopkins, the main playable character in the 2006 video game Bully, for which he was nominated for a 2006 Spike VGA Award for Best Performance by a Human Male and a 10th Annual Interactive Achievement Award for Outstanding Achievement in Character Performance - Male.{{cite web |title=10th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards Finalists |url=https://www.dicesummit.org/images/pdfs/10th_IAA_Finalists_07.pdf |website=D.I.C.E. Summit |access-date=18 December 2023}}

Early life

Rosenthal graduated from North Plainfield High School in 1998 in North Plainfield, New Jersey, where he was active in theater programs.Hines, Janet A. [https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/224459778/ "At 17, he's busy projecting a dramatic future"], Courier News, June 30, 1998. Accessed January 18, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "A typical day in the life of Gerry Rosenthal consists of school work, band practice and a once-in-a-while basketball game with friends. And, oh yes, the television commercials and movie appearances. The recent North Plainfield High School graduate is a thespian, and while some graduates are still debating what college courses to take this fall, Rosenthal attends casting calls." He attended college at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey where he studied history and political science. He graduated from Rutgers University in 2003 with a degree in history.{{Citation needed |date=February 2023}}

Career

=Acting=

Rosenthal was about 6 years old when his mother took him into New York City to audition for an acting agent, which led to auditions. He acted in commercials as a child starting at the age of seven. He says that acting was something his parents essentially dragged him to do, but around the beginning of ninth grade he realized that he truly wanted to act. Rosenthal has appeared in television commercials and radio voice-overs, along with television series including Law & Order and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, as well as the films Liberty Heights, Finding Forrester, and Wirey Spindell. Rosenthal also provided the voice for the main playable character Jimmy Hopkins in the 2006 video game Bully, from Rockstar Games. He reprised his role for new missions featured in the remastered Scholarship Edition of the game.{{cite web|url=http://gerryrosenthal.com/|title=Gerry Rosenthal|website=gerryrosenthal.com|accessdate=2015-08-26}}{{cite web|url=http://www.bully-board.com/index.php?topic=19606.0|title=Jimmy Hopkins Speaks! (Interview)|website=bully-board.com|accessdate=2015-08-26}}

=Music=

Rosenthal's father began teaching him guitar and piano at 7 years old. Between the ages of ten and thirteen he attended the St. Thomas Choir School in New York City, a boarding school for young male choristers. He sang in five or six services a week at St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue with the St. Thomas Choir of Men and Boys under the direction of Dr. Gerre Hancock. While at St. Thomas, Rosenthal studied piano with concert pianist Leslie Singer and music theory with composer Scott Eyerly (composer of the Opera house of Seven Gables, as well as a faculty member at The Juilliard School). He toured with the St. Thomas Choir, traveling to Austria, Italy, Vienna, and Ireland. In high school Rosenthal continued his piano studies privately with jazz pianist Paul Salamone. While earning a History degree at Rutgers University, Rosenthal attended a semester at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, where he studied guitar privately with John Marasco (Eartha Kitt, Al Martino) and John Thomas (Kenny Drew, Tony Scott, Roy Haynes) as well as music theory with Jim Stinnett (bass instructor for Mike Gordon of Phish) While in college he also studied guitar privately with Karl Cochran (Ace Frehley, Joe Lynn Turner.) He also played with different groups for fun in college, so within six months of moving home He was playing in about four bands in the New Brunswick, New Jersey, area. Over the years his focus gradually shifted more and more towards music, and that's how he makes his living today. He says that he still goes on acting auditions, but music is his life at this point. He is the guitarist of the music groups The Gerry Rosenthal Trio and Big Wake and is also the bassist of the music groups Hey Bulldog and The Jersey Joint.{{Cite web|url=https://www.gerryrosenthal.com/|title=Gerry Rosenthal Music|website=Gerry Rosenthal Music|accessdate=April 10, 2023}}

Personal life

Rosenthal grew up with two brothers, also musicians. His younger brother Hank died of a drug overdose at the age of 26 on September 30, 2017.{{cite web|url=https://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/news/health/addiction/2018/02/02/music-goes-silent-opioid-epidemic-steals-another-young-talent/1065441001/|title=My Central Jersey|accessdate=2018-02-03}}{{Cite web|url=https://obits.nj.com/us/obituaries/starledger/name/henry-rosenthal-obituary?id=12066593|title=HENRY ROSENTHAL Obituary (1990 - 2017) - Branchburg, NJ - The Star-Ledger|website=Legacy.com|accessdate=April 10, 2023}}

Rosenthal and his wife Megan McGrath became parents of their son James sometime in late 2018.{{Cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/megan.mcgrath|title=Facebook|website=www.facebook.com|accessdate=April 10, 2023}}

Today, Rosenthal and his family currently{{when|reason=This sentence needs "as of (date)".|date= February 2019}} live in Jersey City, New Jersey.{{cite web|url=https://fandalism.com/gerryrosenthal|title=Gerry Rosenthal Guitarist in Jersey City, New Jersey|website=fandalism.com|accessdate=2015-08-25}} He teaches private music lessons and performs in gigs professionally. He freelances with as many different projects as possible, and performs solo and duo acoustic sets all over the area.{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/gerry-rosenthal-mn0002831332/credits|title=Gerry Rosenthal|website=allmusic.com|accessdate=2015-08-25}}

Discography

Big Wake (2011)
Why We Belong - Single (2016)
Why We Belong (2019)
Is This the Night - Single (2019)
First. - Single (2019)

Filmography

=Film=

Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable"\|Notes
class="wikitable sortable"
1998	Shirtsleeves	Meehan	Short film
1998	Stepmom	{{n/a}}	Loop group
1999	Wirey Spindell	Mike Johnson
1999	Liberty Heights	Murray
2000	Finding Forrester	Student Speaker
2004	Delivery	Trainee	Short film
2017	Flatliners	{{n/a}}	Loop group

=Television=

Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable"\|Notes
class="wikitable sortable"
1998	Law & Order	Randy Baxter	Episode: "Damaged"
1999–2002	Celebrity Deathmatch	Various voice roles	4 episodes
2000	Law & Order	Student # 2	Episode: "Return"
2003	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Paul Howley	Episode: "Mercy"
2021–2022	Angelo Rules	Schmitty, Hunter, Alonzo, Clyde (English version, voices)	4 episodes

=Video games=

class="wikitable sortable"
Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable"\|Notes
2006	Bully	rowspan="2"\| Jimmy Hopkins	Additional scenes/missions Unused beta scene/mission Also motion-capture in Scholarship Edition

class="wikitable sortable"

Year

! Title

! Role

! class="unsortable"|Notes

2006

Bully

rowspan="2"| Jimmy Hopkins

Additional scenes/missions
Unused beta scene/mission
Also motion-capture in Scholarship Edition