Adamo Angelo Ruggiero (born June 9, 1986 in Mississauga, Ontario) is an Italian-Canadian actor best known for his role as Marco Del Rossi on 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 and Bye Bye Birdie. After initially auditioning for the role of Craig Manning (played by Jake Epstein), he joined the Degrassi cast in 2002 in the role of Craig's best friend Marco Del Rossi, a gay teenager who struggles with coming to terms with his sexuality. Adamo was the host of The Next Star.
Personal Life
Ruggiero's father, Tony, was born in Coreno Ausonio (Frosinone, Lazio). Ruggiero's mother's name is Amalia. He has an older brother named Adriano. Adamo attended St. Dunstan Elementary School and graduated from Cawthra Park Secondary School, both in Mississauga, Ontario.
Ruggiero came out 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 also landed the cover of the January 23-February 5, 2008 issue of fab magazine.
He is best friends with former co-stars Stacey Farber and Lauren Collins. The trio previously shared a condo, as they did in the series.
Trivia
- Adamo is a Gemini.
- The famous jean jacket he used to wear on DTNG was his brother's ex or current (unknown if they're still together) girlfriend's jacket.
- He had his nose and cartilage pierced.
- He is from an Italian, Catholic family.
- Ruggiero went to high school with Deanna Casaluce. Amanda Stepto also went to the same school.
- He is a LGBT rights activist.
- He has an older brother.
- He originally auditioned for the role of Craig Manning.
- He and Fielding Horan, who played Oskar, are the only cast members (so far) to be gay like their characters.
- Adamo worked for Epitome as part of their digital team.
- He is only five days younger than Shane Kippel.
- Although he was credited in the guest cast in Karma Chameleon, he did not appear in that episode.
- He stated in a blog for teennick.com that Imogen and Jack's relationship is his favorite LGBT relationship on Degrassi.
- Adamo has done multiple Degrassi related projects outside of his tenure as Marco on Degrassi, including hosting an interview series Straight Talk with Adamo Ruggiero wherein he interviewed several past and current (at the time) actors from the show. Other projects include co-hosting an episode of After Degrassi.
- In the 2015 interview Straight Talk with Adamo Ruggiero, Stacey Farber revealed that neither she nor Adamo could play an instrument in real life in spite of the fact that they played musicians.