And then I went to visit my sister in the states and all of a sudden it was just like, it's like... it's like the movie Wizard of Oz when all of a sudden it changes from Black and White to glorious Technicolor.

Nicholas Theatre which inspired him to quit his day job and pursue acting full-time and after a stage production in 1977 John Malkovich encouraged him to join Steppenwolf Theatre. In 2011 he had two guest appearances on the TV Land sitcom Hot In Cleveland playing a waiter and a love interest for Betty White's character Elka. NBC executives so highly esteemed Mahoney that Warren Littlefield declared he was pre-approved when the Frasier creative team suggested casting him as the father.

He started his career on the stage in 1977 moving into film in 1980. John Mahoney (20 June 1940) is an English-born American actor.