Vincent Piazza

Early life and education

Piazza was born in Middle Village, Queens, New York City, and raised in nearby Maspeth. His father is Italian, having immigrated to the United States in the early 1960s. His mother is of German descent.

Piazza played ACHA Division I-AA ice hockey for Villanova University, until a shoulder injury forced him to quit playing and leave the university after a year.

Career

After retiring from hockey, he began to work with acting coach Alice Spivak and joined the TerraNOVA Collective theatre group in Lion Theatre along Theatre Row in New York City. After appearing in a number of New York Off Broadway productions, including Baby Steps, A Match Made in Manhattan and Much Ado About Nothing, he made his feature film debut in the 2006 film Stephanie Daley and went on to appear in the television movie The Dawn and an episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

Piazza has appeared in three episodes of the television series The Sopranos; the eighth, eleventh and thirteenth episodes of the show's sixth season. He describes his experience working on the show as "incredible" and says he would appear in any prequels or sequels to the series if he was asked. He then featured in the 2007 film Rocket Science as Earl Hefner, the kleptomaniac older brother of the film's protagonist. After auditioning at a casting session held at a New York acting school, he ended up being one of the first actors cast, writer-director Jeffrey Blitz saying: "Vince brought just the right combination of humor and threat to the part ... [I] kept many of the rest of the choices Vince brought to Earl. He's a very physical actor and a very funny one, too." He went on to appear in the independent films Goodbye Baby, Tie a Yellow Ribbon and Apology, as well as guest-starring in an episode of Law & Order, before he landed the recurring role of Tony in Rescue Me's fourth season.

Piazza appeared in the 2008 film Assassination of a High School President in the role of Ricky Delacruz. He had originally unsuccessfully auditioned for a different part, but Brett Simon, the film's director, was fond of his performance in Rocket Science and so suggested that he take on another role. In order to master a Hispanic accent for the role, he visited a woman he knew who runs a Puerto Rican theatre in Manhattan and usually coached Puerto Ricans to adapt American accents, to have her coach him to read his lines in a thick Puerto Rican accent. He also completed a television pilot directed by Brett Ratner, Blue Blood, for which he had a seven-year contract if the series had been picked up by NBC.

Piazza was then cast as a series regular on Boardwalk Empire in 2009 as real life Italian-American mobster Lucky Luciano, appearing in all five seasons. In 2013, Piazza won the role of Tommy DeVito in the Clint Eastwood-directed adaptation of the Broadway musical Jersey Boys. Piazza had to take vocal, guitar, and dance lessons to play DeVito, one of the founding members of the band The Four Seasons.

Personal life

Piazza was in a relationship with singer Ashlee Simpson from June 2011 to November 2012. As of May 21, 2018, he was engaged to actress Genesis Rodriguez but the relationship ended shortly after they became engaged.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

References

1. Leland, John. (2014-09-28). "Vincent Piazza: 40 Blocks From Home, but a World Away". [[The New York Times]].
2. Rennison, Billy. [http://qns.com/story/2012/09/14/vincent-piazza-dishes-on-going-from-queens-to-the-boardwalk/ "Vincent Piazza dishes on going from Queens to the 'Boardwalk'"], ''Queens Courier'', September 14, 2012. Accessed March 15, 2023. "Vincent Piazza — born in Middle Village before moving to neighboring Maspeth shortly thereafter, where his family still lives — grew up watching the films of Martin Scorsese, never imagining he would one day be directed by the film giant."
3. Thorp, Charles. (June 19, 2014). "Vincent Piazza Embraces His Roots". Men's Journal.
4. "''Rocket Science'' Production Notes". [[Picturehouse (company).
5. Jeff Mitchell. "VINCENT PIAZZA". TerraNOVA Collective.
6. Weintraub, Steve. (28 January 2008). "Vincent Piazza – Exclusive Sundance Video Interview". Collider.com.
7. Serico, Chris. (June 15, 2014). "Vincent Piazza walked like a man as Four Seasons founder Tommy DeVito in 'Jersey Boys'".
8. "Instagram".
9. (March 24, 2022). "''Tulsa King'': Max Casella, Domenick Lombardozzi, Vincent Piazza & Jay Will Join Sylvester Stallone In Paramount+ Series". [[Penske Media Corporation]].