Joseph Anthony Fatone Jr. (born January 28, 1977) is an American singer, dancer, actor, and television personality. He is best known as a member of the boy band NSYNC, in which he sang baritone. In 2007, he came in second place on the ABC reality show Dancing with the Stars. He was the host of the U.S. and Australian versions of The Singing Bee, which aired on NBC in the United States. Fatone was the announcer for the game show Family Feud from 2010 to 2015. Fatone has hosted on Food Network's Rewrapped, Game Show Network's Common Knowledge, Live Well Network's My Family Recipe Rocks, The Price Is Right Live! at Bally's Las Vegas; and appeared as "Rabbit" on the first season of The Masked Singer in 2019.
Early life and education
Fatone was born in Brooklyn, New York City, the son of Joe and Phyllis Fatone. He has a brother, Steven, and a sister, Janine, and was raised at 2140 84th Street in the Bensonhurst neighborhood. His father had sung in a doo-wop group called the Orions. At 13, he moved with his family to Orlando, Florida, where he attended Dr. Phillips High School.
Career
NSYNC
After high school, Fatone played "Wolfie" in Beetlejuice's Rock and Roll Graveyard Revue at Universal Studios in Orlando. There, in the summer of 1995, he befriended fellow park performer Chris Kirkpatrick who recruited him as the fourth member of a new vocal group that included Justin Timberlake and JC Chasez. They were later joined by Lance Bass and the band NSYNC was formed. Fatone sang baritone with the band from their formation to 2002, when they went on an indefinite hiatus, during which time they sold more than seventy million records worldwide. He performed lead vocals on the single "Together Again" and the No Strings Attached album track "I Thought She Knew". While a member of NSYNC, Fatone co-starred with bandmate Bass in the 2001 romantic comedy film On the Line and guest-starred with the band on The Simpsons episode, New Kids on the Blecch.
On August 25, 2013, NSYNC regrouped for a one-off performance at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards. They performed a medley of "Girlfriend" and "Bye Bye Bye"; after the performance Lance Bass said that the group had no plans for a reunion tour or new music. In April 2019 the band reunited without Timberlake for a one-off performance with Ariana Grande at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. NSYNC have long been subject to speculation of a reunion, to which Fatone has given the answer: "Never say never".
Acting
In 2002 Fatone played Cousin Angelo in the comedy film My Big Fat Greek Wedding, a role he reprised in the TV spin-off My Big Fat Greek Life and the 2016 sequel. In the same year he made his Broadway debut, playing the lead in Rent at the Nederlander Theatre in New York. He went on to act in the critically acclaimed movie The Cooler and had minor roles in the experimental film Red Riding Hood and Homie Spumoni, the latter alongside Jamie-Lynn Sigler. He returned to Broadway in 2004 in a revival of Little Shop Of Horrors and later appeared in productions of The Producers and 42nd Street in Pittsburgh and Rock of Ages at Bally's Las Vegas.
Fatone played himself in the kung fu skit "Enter the Fat One" in the first season of Robot Chicken, later making more appearances on the show including the first Star Wars episode. He also played himself in the Syfy film Jersey Shore Shark Attack, the TV series Return of the Mac and the Comedy Central feature Cursed Friends. Fatone has guest-starred in the Disney Channel series Hannah Montana, Imagination Movers and Kim Possible in addition to various other TV shows and horror films, including Inkubus (2011) and Dead 7 (2016).
Presenting
Fatone was the "ringmaster" for NBC's reality series Celebrity Circus in 2005. In 2007 he hosted NBC's The Singing Bee and the Australian version of the show on Nine Network. The same year he became a red carpet host for TV Guide along with Lisa Rinna. In 2009 Fatone co-hosted the live pre-show for TNA Wrestling's biggest annual pay-per-view event, TNA Bound for Glory, alongside Jeremy Borash.
From 2010 to 2015, Fatone served as the announcer for host Steve Harvey on the show Family Feud. In which time he hosted the Live Well Network series My Family Recipe Rocks, the Food Network cooking competition Rewrapped, the series Parents Just Don't Understand on the Hub Network and was a celebrity guest host of The Price Is Right Live! at Bally's Las Vegas. In January 2012, Fatone was one of eight celebrities participating in the Food Network reality series Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off. Though eliminated in week six, he secured a $5,000 award for his charity, the Fatone Family Foundation.