Anthony Marcus “Tony” Shalhoub (born October 9, 1953) is an American actor, best known as star of the detective-drama Monk.

Shalhoub was born in Green Bay, Wisconsin, where he was raised. His father, Joe Shalhoub, immigrated from Lebanon to the United States as an orphan at the age of ten. He later married Shalhoub’s mother, Helen, a second-generation Lebanese-American, and founded a family company from the humble start of one grocery store in the center of Green Bay. Tony is the second youngest of ten children.

Tony Shalhoub’s brothers and sisters introduced him to the theater. When Tony was six years old, one of his elder sisters volunteered her little brother to play an extra in a high school production of The King and I. Even though Tony was left standing on the wrong side of the curtain during the final dress rehearsal, he became addicted to the theater. Tony graduated from Green Bay East High School, with his senior peers finding him the best dressed and most likely to succeed. His career almost ended before it started when he broke his leg his senior year. He fell off the stage into the pit during rehearsal. His leg recovered quickly and he was able to perform in the school's final play of the year. He then graduated with a bachelor’s degree in drama from the University of Southern Maine in Portland, and earned a master’s degree from the Yale School of Drama in 1980.