While performing on campus in 1985, Ferrante was discovered by Groucho's son, the playwright
Arthur Marx, when Ferrante was attending the
University of Southern California Division of Drama. Ferrante went on to portray Groucho from age 15 to 85 in the
New York City,
London and
PBS television versions of Arthur's play. Ferrante was 23 years old when
Groucho: A Life in Revue opened
off-Broadway at the
Lucille Lortel Theatre in 1986. Ferrante played the Groucho inspired roles
Off-Broadway in
The Cocoanuts in 1996 and regional productions of
Animal Crackers at
Goodspeed Opera House, The Huntington Theatre, Atlanta's Alliance Theatre,
Paper Mill Playhouse and
Arena Stage. In July 2018, Ferrante reprised his role in
The Cocoanuts directing it for the Heritage Theatre Festival in
Charlottesville. Ferrante acts and directs throughout the regions most notably at Philadelphia's
Walnut Street Theatre where he directed and developed the premiere of the
Pulitzer Prize finalist
Old Wicked Songs. At the Walnut, he directed
Groucho: A Life in Revue playing the title role, the Sid Caesar-based character Max Prince in two productions of Neil Simon's
Laughter On The 23rd Floor as well as directing Simon's
Lost in Yonkers, The Sunshine Boys, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues and
Broadway Bound. At the Walnut in 2017, Ferrante directed and starred as Pseudolus in the Stephen Sondheim musical
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and he was picked as a top ten performance of 2017 by The Wall Street Journal. In 2019, Ferrante returned to the Walnut Street Theatre to direct and play the lead Tito Merelli in ''Ken Ludwig's A Comedy of Tenors.
There Ferrante also starred as playwright/director George S. Kaufman in the one-man play entitled By George'' written by Ferrante. Since 2001, Ferrante has performed his improvisationally based comedy in the European style cirque show
Teatro ZinZanni playing an outrageous Latin lover named Caesar. In
ZinZanni, Ferrante played opposite legendary cabaret star
Liliane Montevecchi,
Joan Baez,
Sally Kellerman and
The Motels'
Martha Davis. Ferrante spent years performing the role in San Francisco, Seattle, Amsterdam and Chicago. Critic
Chris Jones of the
Chicago Tribune chose Ferrante's performance as The Caesar at
Teatro ZinZanni as one of the 'top ten' of 2019. As a voice actor in animation, Ferrante played Lyman in a 2012 special of
The Garfield Show. In 2015, he played the role of Stockholder Eel in the
SpongeBob SquarePants episode
The Executive Treatment, in which the character references Groucho Marx. Ferrante guest starred as a talking mime in
Robert Corrdry's Emmy Award-winning Adult Swim series
Childrens Hospital. In 2007, he became a question on the television program
Jeopardy!. Ferrante currently stars as The Caesar in the YouTube series
All Hail Caesar: An American Love Story. ==Awards and nominations==