JOHN RAINONE is an actor, musician and unemployed wine connoisseur who has made his home in Dallas since attending Clown College (SMU) in 1972 from which he earned a BFA (Better Find Alternate) Degree. He has performed in variety shows for Mark Wilson Magic - Official Site  in Hollywood, toured throughout the Midwest for a Chicago "booking agency" (don't ask), and traveled nationwide for Paul Osborne Magic & Illusion in Dallas. He has appeared on stage at Theatre Three, The Dallas Theater Center, Stage # 1 (now defunct), The Shakespeare Festival of Dallas, Stage West, The Barn Theater in Connecticut, and the Lortell Theater in New York as well as films and commercials produced in Dallas.

 

John has played sing-along piano bars including Alley Cats, Gator's, Billy Bob's Texas and West Side Stories, and served as musical director for several stage productions. He currently performs in a Marx Brothers tribute band - The Coconuts - as Chico, and a Rat Pack cover band called The Fratelli Brothers (the word "fratelli" in Italian means "brothers.") Most recently he can be seen and heard playing piano at the 1886 Crescent hotel's Crystal dining room in Eureka Springs.

From 1988 - 1991 he appeared as Bonkers the Clown on a daily children's TV show: Club 27, on KDFI Channel 27.  See more info at http://bonkerstheclown.com/

Other characters John has performed and/or created over the years include: Super Irv for Irving Mall, The Burger King for the restaurant chain of the same name, Mr. Mime for Seventeen Magazine, Captain Crud for The Ft Worth Dept. of Sanitation, and Mr. See It for Texas State Optical for which he was co-winner of a Bronze Quill Award for Excellence in Public Relations Programs. He has also been named Top Clown by the Dallas Times Herald in 1990, Entertainer of the Year by Alex Burton on KRLD, and voted "Best Birthday Party Clown" an unprecedented three times by Dallas Child Magazine Readers.

 

He currently resides in NW Arkansas (while putting together financing for a villa in Italy) with his lovely bride and DISD surviving teacher Jeannine, kitty cats Kira, Zsa Zsa, & Milo, and Gracie the wonder dog (a rescued pit bull). 

 

John's very first paid performing job was playing piano at age 15 in a French restaurant in Ft. Worth for $12/night and all the onion soup he could eat. To this day he still likes onion soup.



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