John P. Fertitta

John Fertitta, a veteran stage, screen, and television actor, has worked with five Academy Award-nominated directors including Gary Ross, who directed John in his latest film role portraying Judge in Free State of Jones. As John puts it, recounting his good fortune, "When you're in 'lucky town,' you never want to leave." John Phillip Fertitta was the youngest member of a raucous Italian family. He grew up in a little A-frame house behind his father's butcher shop located on the outskirts of downtown Shreveport, Louisiana. "In those days," says John, "we Italian kids lived on top of the store, behind the store, or not too damned far from the store." John escaped the harshness of blue collar life and the cultural conflicts of the 1960s by going to the movies, a love instilled in John by his father, Tony. Every Saturday, rain or shine, John took the streetcar to the old downtown library to read Variety and dream. In this way, he educated himself about the film industry and primed himsel