by Vince Chiarelli | Jan 2, 2021 | Uncategorized
Jason Matthew Biggs was born in the Pompton Plains section of Pequannock Township, New Jersey, to Angela Zocco, a nurse, and Gary Louis Biggs, a shipping company manager. Biggs’ father is of English and Italian descent, as his paternal grandmother, Assunta Furno, was a Neapolitan woman and all of her relatives were from Napoli. Biggs’ mother is of Sicilian descent.
Biggs grew up in Hasbrouck Heights and attended Hasbrouck Heights High School, where he achieved success in tennis. Biggs attended New York University before transferring to Montclair State University where he eventually dropped out.
Biggs began acting at the age of five. In 1991, he made his television debut in the short lived FOX series Drexell’s Class. In 1988, he received his Screen Actors Guild card for appearing in a TV commercial for Pathmark. He later recalled in a 2015 interview in TV Guide, “I remember I had to eat a doughnut in one of the shots. Over and over again. Awesome.”
Biggs attended New York University briefly from 1996–1997, but soon afterwards, he returned to pursue acting. And so he would be seen again in another short lived television series, 1997’s Camp Stories. He then starred in American Pie, which went on to become an international hit that has spawned three sequels (also starring Biggs) and four spinoffs (that did not star Biggs). After that, Biggs accepted starring roles in movies such as Loser in 2000, and others. In 2001, Biggs starred in the comedy Saving Silverman. He appeared in the 2002 Broadway production of The Graduate as Benjamin Braddock alongside Kathleen Turner and Alicia Silverstone. In 2003, Biggs appeared as Jerry Falk in the Woody Allen romantic comedy Anything Else. Biggs has appeared in several other films, including Eight Below and Over Her Dead Body.
Biggs reprised his role as Jim Levenstein in American Reunion, which was released on April 6, 2012. In the summer of 2012, Biggs took a job voicing Leonardo on Nickelodeon in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It was announced in September 2014 that Biggs would star on Broadway in The Heidi Chronicles.
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by Vince Chiarelli | Dec 28, 2020 | Uncategorized
Manganiello was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Susan and Charles John Manganiello. His father, born and raised outside of Boston, MA, is of Italian descent, from Naples. Manganiello was raised in Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania. He was a student at St. Bernard School, a Roman Catholic elementary school in Mt. Lebanon, and then attended Mt. Lebanon High School, where he graduated with honors in 1995 and won the school’s Great Alumni Award in 2011. Growing up, he was the captain of his football, basketball, and volleyball teams and went on to play at the varsity level in all three sports. He won the role of Jud Fry in his school’s senior year production of Oklahoma!, and was involved with the school’s TV studio. He would borrow equipment to make films with his friends, and became interested in acting to become a better filmmaker.
After a series of sports injuries, Manganiello auditioned for the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama as a senior in high school. He performed in theater productions and wrote, produced, and acted in a student film entitled Out of Courage 2: Out for Vengeance. He graduated in 2000 with a BFA in acting.
While a student at Carnegie Mellon University, Manganiello appeared in numerous productions in Pittsburgh’s theatre scene, including Ulfheim in Henrik Ibsen’s When We Dead Awaken, Lorenzo in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice for Quantum Theatre, and Joe in the Pittsburgh premiere of The Last Night of Ballyhoo. He moved to Los Angeles, California after graduating from Carnegie Mellon. He quickly signed with a talent agent, and three days later, he auditioned for the role of Peter Parker in the Sam Raimi-directed film Spider-Man (2002). He landed the role of Eugene “Flash” Thompson, Peter Parker’s nemesis, as his first acting job out of college. He reprised the role several years later, making a brief cameo at the end of Spider-Man 3 (2007).
In late 2009 Manganiello was cast as werewolf Alcide Herveaux in the third season of HBO’s True Blood. His work on the show over the next five years would bring him both popular and critical recognition, including the 2011 Scream Award for Breakout Performance – Male and a shared award for Best Ensemble, as well as a Saturn Award for Best Guest Starring Role in Television and a NewNowNext Award. True Blood was his favorite television show before he joined the cast. He was originally brought in by casting for the role of Coot, another werewolf in the series, but was asked by the producers to read for Alcide instead. He familiarized himself with the novels while growing out his hair and beard. He also trained twice a day for months to add muscle to match the description of the character in the books.
Manganiello is also known for his roles in films such as Magic Mike, Magic Mike XXL, Pee-wee’s Big Holiday, What to Expect When You’re Expecting, and Sabotage, among others. In late 2013, he became a published author when his first book, Evolution, was released by Simon & Schuster’s Gallery Books. His directorial debut came in 2014 with the documentary feature La Bare, which he also produced and financed. Manganiello is also known for his role in How I Met Your Mother as Brad. In 2017 he won a Mid-Atlantic Emmy as the narrator of the documentary Pittsburgh Is Home: The Story of the Penguins, which documented the first 50 years of history of the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team.
Manganiello became engaged to actress Sofía Vergara on Christmas Day 2014 after six months of dating. They married in Palm Beach, Florida on November 21, 2015.
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by Vince Chiarelli | Dec 23, 2020 | Uncategorized
Joseph Frank Pesci was born on February 9, 1943 in Newark, New Jersey. His mother, Maria Mesce, worked part-time as a barber, and his father, Angelo Pesci, was a forklift driver for General Motors and a bartender. He is of Italian descent, with origins in Turin and Aquilonia in the province of Avellino. Pesci was raised in Belleville, New Jersey, and graduated from Belleville High School. By the time Pesci was five years old, he was appearing in plays in New York. At age 10, he was a regular on a television variety show called Startime Kids, which also featured Connie Francis.
In the 1960s, Pesci began working as a barber, following in his mother’s footsteps. At the same time, he tried to start a musical career, playing guitar with several bands, including Joey Dee and the Starliters who introduced the “Peppermint Twist” record, dance, and Peppermint Lounge in New York City.
In 1968, he released his debut album Little Joe Sure Can Sing! (billed as Joe Ritchie), on which he sang covers of contemporary pop hits.
Pesci later joined Frank Vincent as a comedy duo, performing as “Vincent and Pesci” from 1970 to 1976. Their act coupled Abbott and Costello-inspired double act antics with Don Rickles-style insult comedy, which proved popular with crowds.
The first film Pesci starred in was the 1976 low-budget crime film The Death Collector alongside Frank Vincent. After the film Pesci returned to The Bronx and lived above Amici’s Restaurant, where he was an employee. In 1979, Pesci received a telephone call from Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro, who were impressed with his performance in The Death Collector and asked him to co-star in Scorsese’s Raging Bull as Joey LaMotta. In 1984, he was cast in Once Upon a Time in America, again appearing alongside De Niro.
In 1990, he reunited with Scorsese and De Niro for Goodfellas, in which he played mobster Tommy DeVito, based on real-life mobster Thomas DeSimone. Pesci received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the role, which he accepted with one of the shortest speeches in Oscar history, saying simply, “It’s my privilege. Thank you” before leaving the stage.
Pesci also co-starred in the blockbuster Home Alone in 1990, playing Harry Lyme, one of two bumbling burglars who attempt to burgle the house of the young character played by Macaulay Culkin. Pesci’s use of “cartoon cursing”, or menacing gibberish, garnered comparisons to Looney Tunes character Yosemite Sam. Two years later, Pesci reprised his role in the sequel Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.
He had starring roles in several other films, including Man on Fire (1987), The Super (1991), Jimmy Hollywood (1994), With Honors (also 1994) and Gone Fishin’ (1997).
In 1999, Pesci announced his retirement from acting to pursue a musical career and to enjoy life away from the camera. He returned to acting when he did a cameo in De Niro’s 2006 film The Good Shepherd.
In 2017, Pesci was cast alongside Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in The Irishman, a crime film directed by Martin Scorsese. Pesci was offered his role a reported 50 times before agreeing to take part, at first saying he did not want to do “the gangster thing again,” while Scorsese tried to persuade him The Irishman would be “different.”
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by Vince Chiarelli | Dec 21, 2020 | Podcasts
The Italian American Entertainment Podcast has started featuring Italian American Organizations and Festivals, which help continue the promotion of Italian American entertainment and culture. On this episode of The Italian American Entertainment Podcast, Vince Chiarelli, of the Vince Chiarelli Band, talks to Frank Casciaro. Frank serves as the Entertainment Chairperson and Main Stage manager for the Ulster County Italian American Foundation’s annual Italian Fest. We talk about the Ulster Co. Italian American Foundation, their Italian Fest, the future of Italian festivals throughout the country and also his experience as a professional singer and bassist.
by Vince Chiarelli | Dec 17, 2020 | Uncategorized
Jackie Vernon was born Ralph Verrone on March 29, 1924, in New York City to Italian American parents. Vernon was known for his gentle, low-key delivery and self-deprecating humor. He has been hailed as “The King of Deadpan.” His signature opening line was, “To look at me now, it’s hard to believe I was once considered a dull guy.”
Early in the 1950s, according to Dick Brooks, Vernon bounced around the country working whatever stand-up comedy jobs he could find, mostly in strip joints. Even then he had a unique style, often cracking up members of the band with his inside humor. He decided to give New York a try, and hung around Hanson’s Drug Store, a place where small-time comedians and acts in the theater section of New York would meet after making the rounds of agents who had their offices in the area. He was picked up by manager of comedian Willie Weber. In 1963, Steve Allen invited Jackie to appear on his late-night television show, Celebrity Talent Scouts, and his career went into overdrive.
In the 1960s, Jackie occasionally worked as the opening act for both Dean Martin and Judy Garland and was a regular fixture on The Merv Griffin Show, where he informed the host that his original stage name had been “Nosmo King,” which he had seen on a sign (i.e. “no smoking”). Vernon was also known to perform unique and darker sketches, such as his ultimately tragic attempt to turn a watermelon into a housepet. Plagued by strange occurrences and misfortune,
One of his early bits was the “Vacation Slide Show.” There were no slides visible; they were presumably offscreen as he described them, using a hand-clicker to advance to each “slide”:
Despite his reputation as a raunchy comedian, Vernon also supplied the voice of the title character of the popular Rankin-Bass television special “Frosty the Snowman” (1969), which has been broadcast annually on CBS since its debut. He later voiced Frosty in two more Rankin-Bass specials: “Frosty’s Winter Wonderland” (1976) and “Rudolph and Frosty’s Christmas in July” (1979).
Vernon died at his home in Hollywood, California, on November 10, 1987, from a heart attack at age 63.
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