Adamo Angelo Ruggiero (born June 9, 1986) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

actor best known for his role as

Marco Del Rossi '' Degrassi: The Next Generation'' is a Canadian teen drama television series created by Linda Schuyler and Yan Moore. The series is now considered the first incarnation and premiered on CTV on October 14, 2001, and then ended on MTV Canada and T ...

in '' Degrassi: The Next Generation''.

Career

Ruggiero has been acting since the age of seven or eight. He has starred in many plays including ''

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a fictional reindeer created by Robert L. May. Rudolph is usually depicted as the ninth and youngest of Santa Claus's reindeer, using his luminous red nose to lead the reindeer team and guide Santa's sleigh on ...

'' and ''

Bye Bye Birdie ''Bye Bye Birdie'' is a stage musical with music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Lee Adams, based upon a book by Michael Stewart. Originally titled ''Let's Go Steady'', ''Bye Bye Birdie'' is set in 1958. The short story "Dream Man", authored ...

''. After initially auditioning for the role of Craig Manning, a role played by

Jake Epstein Jacob Lee Epstein (born January 16, 1987) is a Canadian actor and singer. He played Craig Manning, a musician with bipolar disorder, on '' Degrassi: The Next Generation''. He also played Will in the First National Tour of '' American Idiot'', an ...

, he joined the ''Degrassi'' cast in 2002 with the role of Marco Del Rossi, a gay teenager who struggles to come to terms with his sexuality. Ruggiero hosted ''

The Next Star ''The Next Star'' was a Canadian reality competition television series that was broadcast on YTV. It was hosted by Adamo Ruggiero (seasons 1–5) and Carlos Bustamante (season 6–7). The series involved a competition to find the most talented ...

'' from 2008 until 2012. In November 2008, it was announced that Ruggiero would star in the gay-themed

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

film '' Make the Yuletide Gay''. Principal filming started December 3, 2008. In 2012, Ruggiero starred in the Young People's Theatre's production of ''

The Neverending Story ''The Neverending Story'' (german: Die unendliche Geschichte) is a fantasy novel by German writer Michael Ende, published in 1979. The first English translation, by Ralph Manheim, was published in 1983. The novel was later adapted into several ...

''. In 2013, Ruggiero participated in

Salvatore Antonio Salvatore Antonio is a Canadian actor and playwright. Early life He was born Salvatore Antonio Alessandro Migliore in Toronto, Ontario. He attended an enriched Arts programme at Unionville High School, and upon graduating he was one of 10 stu ...

's ''Truth/Dare: A Satire (With Dance)'', an interactive

audience participation An audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature (in which they are called "readers"), theatre, music (in which they are called "listeners"), video games (in which they are called "players"), or ...

show which featured staged reenactments of scenes from

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

's 1991 film ''

Truth or Dare Truth is the property of being in accord with fact or reality.Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionarytruth 2005 In everyday language, truth is typically ascribed to things that aim to represent reality or otherwise correspond to it, such as beliefs, ...

'', at Buddies in Bad Times during Toronto's

Pride Week LGBT pride (also known as gay pride or simply pride) is the promotion of the self-affirmation, dignity, equality, and increased visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people as a social group. Pride, as opposed to sh ...

."Truth/Dare takes on the Material Girl"
''

NOW Now most commonly refers to the present time. Now, NOW, or The Now may also refer to: Organizations * Natal Organisation of Women, a South African women's organization * National Organization for Women, an American feminist organization * Now ...

'', June 20, 2013. The show's cast also included Keith Cole and

Gavin Crawford Gavin Crawford (born 2 April 1971) is a Canadian comedian and actor, best known for '' The Gavin Crawford Show'' and '' This Hour Has 22 Minutes''. He currently hosts the panel show, ''Because News'', on CBC Radio One. Early life Crawford wa ...

Personal life

Ruggiero's father, Tony, was born in

Coreno Ausonio Coreno Ausonio is a '' comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Frosinone in the Italian region Lazio, located about southeast of Rome and about southeast of Frosinone at the foot of Monte Maio, in the Monti Aurunci. It includes an ancient c ...

Frosinone Frosinone (, local dialect: ) is a town and ''comune'' in Lazio, central Italy, the administrative seat of the province of Frosinone. It is located about south-east of Rome close to the Rome-Naples A1 Motorway. The city is the main city of the ...

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

, Italy. Ruggiero's mother's name is Amalia. He has an older brother named Adriano, and he is from an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

family. Ruggiero attended the Roman Catholic St. Dunstan Elementary School and graduated from

Cawthra Park Secondary School Cawthra Park Secondary School, also known as CPSS, is a public high school built-in 1972 located in Southeast Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. It is one of two Regional Arts Schools in the Peel District School Board. Cawthra Park provides instructi ...

, both in

Mississauga, Ontario Mississauga ( ), historically known as Toronto Township, is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is situated on the shores of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, adjoining the western border of Toronto. With a popu ...

. Ruggiero is

openly gay Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

, having

come out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

in January 2008 saying "I come from a traditional Italian family but they aren't so traditional that me being gay was a deal breaker." He was also on the cover of the January 23 – February 5, 2008 issue of '' fab magazine''.''fab'', #338, January 23–February 5, 2008, "High school confidential", Nelson Branc

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ruggiero, Adamo 1986 births Living people 21st-century Canadian male actors 21st-century LGBT people Canadian gay actors Canadian male film actors Canadian male television actors Canadian people of Italian descent Canadian Roman Catholics Canadian television personalities Canadian television variety show hosts LGBT Roman Catholics Male actors from Ontario People from Mississauga