Nick Mancuso

Nick Mancuso
Nicodemo Antonio Massimo Mancuso (born May 29, 1948) is an Italian-Canadian actor, artist, playwright, and director. Beginning his career as a stage actor, he had his breakthrough role in the 1981 drama Ticket to Heaven, for which he won the Genie Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor. He has over 155 film and television credits, including a starring role on the NBC series Stingray (1985–87) and as antichrist Franco Macalousso in the Apocalypse film series.
Early life and education
Mancuso was born May 29, 1948, in Mammola, Calabria, Italy. His family emigrated to Canada in 1956 via Naples, when he was eight years old. He grew up in Ontario and began acting in high school. On graduation, he studied psychology at the University of Toronto, but left to pursue acting full time.
Career
Mancuso began his professional career by performing in theatres across Canada such as the Vancouver Playhouse, Neptune Theatre, Centaur Theatre and Halifax's Pier One experimental theatre, where he was also an associate artistic director for one season. He went on to perform in various independent theatre companies including the Toronto Free Theatre, Canadian Stage Company, Factory Theatre, and the Theatre Passe Muraille. He had his first voice screen role debut with an uncredited role in the 1974 slasher film Black Christmas, as the voice of the stalking murderer Billy. He spent a season in 1976 at the Stratford Festival, with leading roles in The Merchant of Venice, Antony and Cleopatra, and A Midsummer Night's Dream, and landed his first screen appearance in a supporting role in Allan Eastman's debut film, A Sweeter Song.
In 1979, his American stage debut working directly with Tennessee Williams, starring in Tiger Tail and The Night of the Iguana in Atlanta. During this time, he came to the attention of producers at Columbia Pictures. Martin Ransohoff and Arthur Hiller were instrumental in getting Mancuso for the lead in the horror-thriller Nightwing, directed by Hiller and co-starring David Warner. Ransohoff and Hiller hoped Nightwing would be a hit and be a breakthrough role for Mancuso, but it failed at the box office.
In the early 1980s, Mancuso had his breakthrough role in Ticket to Heaven in which he played the part of a David Kappel, a non-observant Jewish teacher in Toronto. His girlfriend leaves him and he visits San Francisco to find his footing and see an old friend. He is lured into spending a weekend at a camp that is actually the recruiting and indoctrination center for a religious cult. The film was voted one of the top 10 films of 1981 by the National Board of Review, and earned Mancuso the Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role. The success of the film and Mancuso's performance put him in the running to play Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Mancuso played the titular role on the NBC series Stingray, which ran two seasons between 1985 and 1987. He played the antichrist Franco Macalousso in Apocalypse, a series of direct-to-video films produced by Cloud Ten Pictures. Among the other roles Mancuso has taken on there was the role of Holden Downes in Captured. In this sometime violent film, he plays a real estate tycoon on the edge. He comes across some thieves who are out to rob him and takes his anger out on them. Instead, he turns the tables on them and making them the victims. He has also appeared in numerous independent and short films.
Personal life
In 1981, Mancuso married Lady Patricia Pelham-Clinton-Hope (born 1949), a daughter of Henry Pelham-Clinton-Hope, 9th Duke of Newcastle; they divorced in 1983. He later married his second wife, Canadian actress Barbara Williams before divorcing. In 1998, he married his third wife Toronto-born actress Nadia Capone. The two have one child together.
, Mancuso resides in Toronto, and was running a six-week acting workshop there. He has also published a book of poetry titled Mediterranean Man and created a number of abstract paintings. He is fluent in English and Italian, and speaks conversational French.
He underwent quadruple bypass surgery in 2011. A longtime vegetarian and proponent of homeopathy, Mancuso joined a class-action lawsuit against the government of Canada in 2012 over its ban of previously available herbs and vitamins that were offered by naturopaths and health food suppliers.
Filmography
1974 Red Emma (TV)
1974 Black Christmas as Billy, The Prowler / Phone Voice
1976 A Sweeter Song as Manuel
1978 Dr. Scorpion (TV) as John Shackelford
1979 The House on Garibaldi Street (TV) as Ari
1979 Nightwing as Youngman Duran
1980 as Scrupules (Scruples) (TV series) as Vito Orsini
1980 Le Bateau de la mort (Death Ship) as Nick
1981 Ticket to Heaven as David
1982 The Legend of Walks Far Woman (TV) as Horses Ghost
1982 Mother Lode as Jean Dupre
1983 Feel the Heat (TV series) as Andy Thorn
1983 Maria Chapdelaine as François Paradis
1983 Desperate Intruder (TV) as Mike
1983 Tell Me That You Love Me as Dan
1984 Heartbreakers as Eli
1984 Blame It on the Night as Chris Dalton
1984 Paroles et Musique as Peter
1985 Death of an Angel as Father Angel
1985 The Ray Bradbury Theater, S1E3 ("The Crowd") as Spallner
1985-1987 Stingray (TV series) as Ray
1985 Embassy (TV) as Harry Brackett
1985 Night Magic as Michael
1986 Half a Lifetime (TV) as Toby
1987 The King of Love (TV)
1990 Last Train Home (TV) as Sam Steele
1990 Frontière du crime (Double Identity) (TV) as Paul Flemming
1990 Liaison brûlante (Burning Bridges) (TV) as Peter Hollinger
1991 Lena's Holiday as Flynn
1991 Milena as Jaromir
1991 Fatal Exposure (TV) as Carl Stone
1991 Lies Before Kisses (TV) as Sonny
1991 Vendetta: Secrets of a Mafia Bride (TV) as Danny LaManna
1992 Rapid Fire as Antonio Serrano
1992 Somebody's Daughter (TV) as Noah Canaan
1992 Under Siege as CIA Director Tom Breaker
1993 Matrix (TV series) as Steven Matrix
1993 Wild Palms (Wild Palms) (TV series) as Tully Woiwode
1993 Message from Nam (TV) as Captain Bill Quinn
1994 Vitrine sur meurtre (Flinch) as Miles Raymond
1994 For the Love of Aaron (TV) as Stuart Singer
1994 Suspicious Agenda as Jimmy Davane
1995 The Takeover as Anthony Vilachi
1995 Young Ivanhoe (TV) as De Bourget
1995 Arbalète et rock'n roll (A Young Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court) as King Arthur
1995 Under Siege 2: Dark Territory as CIA Director Tom Breaker
1996 The Outer Limits (1995 TV series) as Martin, Season 2 Episode 2 "Resurrection"
1996 Twists of Terror (TV) as Crenshaw
1996 Sealed With a Kiss (TV) as Barry Kuda
1996 Marquis de Sade as Marquis de Sade
1996 Les Amants de rivière rouge (TV series) as O'Connor
1996 Once You Meet a Stranger (TV)
1996 Past Perfect
1996 Vows of Deception (TV) as Matt Harding
1997 Against the Law as Detective John Shepard
1997 Question de confiance (Matter of Trust) as Peter Marsh
1997 Piégée (Laws of Deception) as Sergeant Lou Mather
1997 The Ex as David Kenyon
1997 The Invader as Willard
1997 Let Me Call You Sweetheart (TV)
1998 Harlequin's Loving Evangeline as Robert Cannon
1998 Loyal Opposition: Terror in the White House (TV) as General Metzger
1998 Provocateur as Toynbey Bates
1998 Misbegotten as Paul Bourke
1998 Past Perfect as Stone
1998 Captured (vidéo) as Holden Downs
1998 Programmés pour tuer (Perfect Assassins) (TV) as Samuel Greely
1999 Revelation as Franco Macalousso
1999 Total Recall 2070 (TV) as Richard Collector
1999 Question of Privilege as Steven Healy
1999 Jack of Hearts as Roy Murcant
2000 Tribulation as Franco Macalousso
2000 Call of the Wild as John Thornton
2001 The Outer Limits (1995 TV Series) as Father, Season 6 Episode 3 "A New Life"
2001 Judgment as Franco Macalousso
2001 La Mort en blanc (Avalanche Alley) (TV) as Scott
2001 The Secret Pact as Dominic Patton
2002 Time of Fear as Jack Barone
2002 Dancing at the Harvest Moon (TV)
2003 Firefight as George
2003 Lightning: Bolts of Destruction (TV) as General Fields
2004 Brave New Girl (TV) as Ditz's Father
2004 The Messiah: Prophecy Fulfilled as Yehudah
2004 Lives of the Saints (TV) as Mario Innocente
2005 Dreaming on Christmas as Sid
2005 Today You Die as FBI Agent Saunders
2005 Betting On Love (TV) as Arnie Tannenbaum
2005 In the Mix as Salvatore
2006 Night of Terror (TV) as Richard Grant
2007 Vanessa as Mr. Bennet
2008 The Wrong Mr. Johnson as Jim Johnson
2008 Contract Killers as Witkoff
2009 Deadtime Stories 2 as Swan
2009 Rise of the Gargoyles as Father Gable
2009 ZOS: Zone of Separation as Dragan Michailov
2009 Death Warrior as Ivan
2009 Lost Soul as Dr. Charles Crowther
2009 Napoleonic as Adam Trufant
2009 Violent Blue as Pietro
2009 The Last Gamble as Nick
2009 Bruco as Mario, Dead Father
2010 Napoleonic (short) as Adam Trufant
2013 Real Gangsters as Vincent "Jimmie" Lo Giacamo, also producer
2014 The Big Fat Stone as Mickey Goldstein
2016 Born Dead
2017 Adam's Testament as The Stranger
2017 Misfortune as Roman
2018 Road to the Lemon Grove as Guido
Awards
Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role, 1982, for role in film Ticket to Heaven
Best Actor, Houston Film Festival, 1982, for role in film Ticket to Heaven
Best Actor, Taormina Film Festival, 1982, for role in film Ticket to Heaven
Best Actor, Academy of Family Films and Family Television, for role in film Ticket to Heaven
Best Actor, Houston Film Festival, 1986, for role in film Heartbreakers
Lifetime Achievement Award, Toronto Italian Film Festival, June 2005
References
External links
1948 births
Living people
Canadian male film actors
Canadian male stage actors
Canadian male television actors
Canadian male voice actors
Canadian people of Calabrian descent
Best Actor Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners