Biagio Messina is an American television producer, director, showrunner, filmmaker, and actor.

Background

His hometown is

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. Messina graduated from

Parma Senior High School Parma Senior High School (alternatively known as PSH or Parma High School), is one of three public high schools in the Parma City School District in Parma, Ohio. The school is a member of the Northeast Ohio Conference. The Parma Board of Educati ...

, which is located near Cleveland, Ohio. While still in high school, he wrote the play ''Me and Grandma.'' It won the ''Marilyn Bianci Young Playwrights Festival'' and was produced at Dobama Theater.

Career

He played the role of Marc Cram on the

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. It ...

sitcom ''

Kenan & Kel ''Kenan & Kel'' is an American buddy comedy sitcom created by Kim Bass. The show originally aired on the Nickelodeon network for four seasons, from July 15, 1996, to July 15, 2000. Set in Chicago, Illinois, the series follows mischievous Kenan R ...

''. His filmmaking credits include the feature-length, theatrically released documentary '' Dying to do Letterman'', which was invited by the International Documentary Association to qualify for Academy Award consideration. Messina's television producing credits include the VH1 reality TV series ''Scream Queens'', the MTV documentary series ''Caged'',

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...

reality show ''

Beauty and the Geek ''Beauty and the Geek'' is an American reality television series that premiered on The WB on June 1, 2005. It has been advertised as "The Ultimate Social Experiment" and is produced by Ashton Kutcher, Jason Goldberg and J.D. Roth. The show's ti ...

'', and the MTV ''

True Life ''True Life'' is an American documentary television series that aired on MTV from March 31, 1998 to June 21, 2017. Each episode follows a particular topic, such as heroin addiction as in the first episode – "Fatal Dose". The show is created by ...

'' ''Presents'' documentary ''Secrets, Lies, and Sex''. Messina has produced and contributed to over one-hundred hours of TV and film. He later made a feature film based on the play. The film was funded with money he won on a gameshow called ''Majority Rules.'' Messina wrote, directed, and acted in the screen-adaptation of the play, which was produced in conjunction with future wife Fincioen. While that film did not achieve major distribution, the work helped him land the role of Marc Cram on ''Kenan & Kel''. He continued producing and directing TV and film. According to the book '' Small Screen, Big Picture'' by

Chad Gervich Chad Gervich is a published author, television writer and producer, and playwright. Gervich has produced and written for shows such '' After Lately'', ''Dog With a Blog'', ''Cupcake Wars ''Cupcake Wars'' is an American reality competition se ...

'','' Messina has made "countless hours of television for both broadcast and cable networks."

Personal life

He is married to

Joke Fincioen Joke Fincioen is a Belgian-born United States-based television producer, filmmaker, director, and showrunner. She pronounces her first name /jōk/. Her television credits include the VH1 reality TV acting competition series Scream Queens (2008 TV se ...

, his wife and business partner. Together they own and run the TV and film production company Joke Productions. The married team collaborates on their film and TV productions. They also podcast and blog about the entertainment industry. They are known professionally and often credited as Joke and Biagio.

References

External links

* Living people American television directors American television producers American documentary filmmakers American reality television producers Showrunners Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-film-director-stub