Domiziano Arcangeli


Actor

Age:

36


Current Projects:

The HBO film “Coupled with Love” and a pilot for cable channel FX, “Thrust.”


On Being a Thespian:

‘I love characters with a strong emotional background or a very romantic background. In a play or a movie you get to feel like you’re reaching people’s feelings. If it’s good, people will know and they will get attached.’


Rescuing Pets:

“I see in their eyes every day what a difference it has made. They are so grateful and so intelligent; I always want to spend some time with them.”

“There are actually two kinds of typical days for me: days when I’m booked for work and days when I’m not. The days when I am booked for work are fairly simple.

I wake up at the crack of dawn and drive to the set. Then I’m on call all day, waiting for them to call for my scenes. At the end of the day, if it’s not too late, I’ll go to the gym or see an acting coach and prepare for the following day. It’s not very fun. I have to get in bed early if I have to do it all again the next day.

If I’m not working, my days are a little more exciting. I live in the Hollywood Hills and am very blessed to have a beautiful home with a view. I normally wake up at about 8 a.m. I’m not really a morning person, so I try to sleep in if I can.

I love my animals. I have six two dogs and four cats, and I got them all from the pound. I spend at least a half hour each day to give them some attention and to play a little bit.

When I’m not working, I’m even busier because I have to look for jobs. And that’s really difficult. There are meetings to set up I may have to be in Culver City at 10:30 a.m. and in the Valley at 1 p.m. so it can get pretty tight. Traffic is always a challenge because I spend so much time in my car, especially when I’m not working. I try to relax with music while I’m driving and make the best of it. I know it’s not a very popular thing to do these days, but when I drive I talk a lot over the phone.

I play soccer at least two times a week and love to play sports. I love to ride horses up in Topanga Canyon and I like kickboxing because the fighting skills are good for my roles. I play a lot of bad guys the dark, mysterious, brooding characters so that comes in handy. I can work well with a stunt coordinator without chickening out. I like the bad guy roles; they have more of an edge. I get great pleasure in playing bad people because it’s such a challenge compared to real life.

The business is a lot about patience. You can’t really tell a casting director that you have to get going. You have to be very humble, sit and wait and when you go in, you go in. It can be fun if you are auditioning for a role you know a lot about, but it can be frustrating.

I have been doing this for 25 years, since I started to work in Italy when I was 12. I moved to the United States from Italy in 1997. I had a passion for movies and acting when I was a kid. My parents weren’t really that excited about me working at that age.

Acting was all fun then. It was a little like the chance to be on my own without my parents telling me what to do. I loved it. It was extreme independence. I always did love the chance to be different characters, even when I was young and crazy like all teenagers are. When some of the productions closed, I always got very sad. I really believed the stories, and those people in the cast were like my family.

Today it’s more like a job, and I am able to detach a lot more. When I get too comfortable, I want something new or exciting so that I can see if I’m able to do it.”

As told to Anne Riley-Katz