Veteran actor Joe Pantoliano is recovering at home after he was struck and injured by a car while he was out for a walk in his Connecticut neighborhood. According to Pantoliano's wife, Nancy, the La Bamba star was out walking with his family when a passing vehicle T-boned a Porsche, sending the sports car off the road and into Pantoliano. The collision sent the actor into a wooden fence, causing injuries to Pantoliano's head, shoulder, and left leg. Fortunately, while Pantoliano was banged up, the injuries are not life-threatening and he is on the fast track to recovery.

Pantoliano's agent, Barry McPherson, has since provided an update on the actor's condition. "Yes, Joey was hit by a car. Thrown into a fence (and) has stitches Is back home being monitored for a concussion and chest trauma," McPherson explains. While his injuries would normally constitute a longer stay in the hospital under normal circumstances, medical professionals opted to send him home rather than keep him overnight so as to avoid the risk of getting sick. "He is grateful to everyone who has been reaching out," McPherson also adds of the support Pantoliano has been receiving.

Pantoliano is one of those actors most anyone who watches movies and television should recognize, even if his name alludes some of us. A character actor with decades of experience, Pantoliano has appeared in a variety of movie and television roles over the years. Behind the scenes, He is also very well recognized for his role as Cypher in The Matrix and as Ralph Cigaretto in the HBO drama series The Sopranos. He also had sizeable roles on other shows like The Handler, Sense8, and Dr. Vegas. More recently, Pantoliano appeared as Captain Conrad Howard in the new sequel Bad Boys for Life alongside Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, reprising the role he had played in the previous two installments of the action movie series.

Behind the scenes, Bad Boys franchise favorite Pantoliano has also made great efforts to raise awareness for mental health. In 2007, he announced that he had been suffering from clinical depression for years, noting that he wanted to come public with his diagnosis to help lower the stigma associated with mental illness diagnoses. He would later go on to found the nonprofit organization, No Kidding, Me Too!, calling for other celebrities to help educate the public on mental illness. Additionally, Pantoliano also released a documentary named after his nonprofit to further spread awareness of this cause.

Earlier this year, longtime veteran of the screen Orson Bean was struck and killed by a car while walking with his family, similar to what happened with Pantoliano this weekend. It goes to show just how much worse the situation could have been, and like Pantoliano and his family, fans across the world will be happy to know the actor is going to be okay. We wish him the best of luck with his continued recovery, and like many others, we're looking forward to seeing him back on both the big and small screens again soon. This news comes to us from Deadline.