After his own WB series The Bedford Diaries, a recurring role as Meg Pryor's love interest on NBC's American Dreams, and playing Rocky Balboa's son in the sixth and final installment of the Rocky series, Rocky Balboa, Ventimiglia's big break came in 2006 when he received the part of nurse-turned-superhero Peter Petrelli for four seasons on NBC's Heroes.
Early life
Ventimiglia was born in Orange County, California, the son of Carol (née Wilson) and Peter Ventimiglia. His father is of Sicilian descent and his mother has English, Irish, Scottish, French, and Cherokee Native American ancestry. His last name, Ventimiglia, is the name of the town of Ventimiglia in Liguria, Italy, which later gave its name to another city, Ventimiglia di Sicilia. The youngest of three children, he has two older sisters, one of whom is named Rose. He has explained in an interview with USA Today that his "crooked mouth" is a result of dead nerves on the left side, which cause that side to remain immobile, much like, incidentally, Sylvester Stallone, with whom he worked in Rocky Balboa.
Ventimiglia attended El Modena High School in Orange, California, where he wrestled, acted in drama productions and held the office of president in student government. He graduated in 1995. At eighteen years of age, Ventimiglia received a scholarship to study at the American Conservatory Theater for their summer program. He attended UCLA as an English major for four years, but did not graduate.
Career
At 18 years of age, Ventimiglia started auditioning, booking jobs, and working his way up. His first starring role was as a gay teenager in Must Be The Music, a short film released as part of Strand Releasing's Boys Life 2. From there, Ventimiglia studied at UCLA before landing a role on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Ventimiglia has also guest starred on such television series as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit and Boston Public. He had the part of the main character, Jed Perry, in the short-lived FOX TV series, Opposite Sex. Milo also played a key role in an Apple advert for the Apple iBook.
From 2001 to 2004, Ventimiglia played brooding teen Jess Mariano on Gilmore Girls. He signed on for a spin-off of Gilmore Girls, entitled Windward Circle, which was going to be focused on the relationship between Jess and his estranged father (played by Rob Estes), but the proposed series never made it to air because of high filming costs. The season 3 episode Here Comes the Son, was the pilot for the California-set spin-off, which would have starred Ventimiglia, Rob Estes and Sherilyn Fenn. Ventimiglia returned to Gilmore Girls for a few episodes in seasons four and six after his 2003 departure.
In the third and final season of the NBC drama American Dreams, Ventimiglia played Chris Pierce, the rebellious boyfriend of Meg Pryor (Brittany Snow). Pierce and his single mother, Shelly (Daphne Zuniga), a Playboy bunny, move into the house next to the Pryors. Chris Pierce evades the draft, fearing he would be forced to fight in the Vietnam War, where Meg Pryor's older brother, J.J. (Will Estes) was wounded. Chris and Meg escape Philadelphia in the series finale to Berkeley, California, much to the sadness of Meg's best friend, Roxanne Bojarski (Vanessa Lengies).
Most recently, he played Robert "Rocky Jr." Balboa, the son of Rocky Balboa, in the latest Rocky installment Rocky Balboa which was released in December 2006. Coincidentally, in the 2004 Gilmore Girls episode, "Nag Hammadi Is Where they Found the Gnostic Gospels", Lorelai Gilmore refers to Milo's character, Jess, as being able to "pull off an extremely convincing 'Adrian'", a reference likening Jess to Rocky Balboa.
In his biggest role to date, he starred as Peter Petrelli in the NBC program Heroes, a show about "ordinary" people discovering they have superpowers. Alongside his work in Heroes, Ventimiglia has also taken on other projects. In mid-2007 he starred as the love interest of pop/R&B singer Fergie in the music video for "Big Girls Don't Cry". In 2008, he starred in the horror film Pathology. The movie co-starred Charmed actress Alyssa Milano and was directed by Marc Schoelermann for MGM.
After working with writers Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor on Pathology, Ventimiglia appeared in the pair's next film, Gamer. He has called Neveldine and Taylor the "next big thing" in filmmaking and immediately agreed to play the part of Rick Rape in the futuristic thriller. When describing Rick Rape, Ventimiglia said that "Moonraker, silver grill, with a latex outfit making him look like a bumblebee. With the perverse nature of a teenage boy on speed." Ventimiglia is set to star in the Xavier Gens apocalypse thriller film The Divide.
He will be the voice of Wolverine in the upcoming English dub of the Marvel Anime: Wolverine anime series.
Production work
In addition to being hired as a second unit director for the 2003 and 2004 "Image Campaigns" for the former WB Network, Divide Pictures (the production company Ventimiglia co-owns and operates with best friend Russ Cundiff), is now producing and developing a mini web-series called It's a Mall World as part of a marketing campaign for American Eagle Outfitters. The webisodes are due to start airing on American Eagle's official, during episodes of the new season of MTV's The Real World, and in American Eagle stores nationwide on August 2. According to American Eagle's website, Ventimiglia will be directing the series, while his friend Cundiff will be producing it.
In 2005, Divide Pictures created The DSC, or Divide Social Club, an online and global social network for like minded individuals co-founded by Ventimiglia with his best friends Cundiff and Dino DeMilio, a radio producer for "The Tom Leykis Show". In addition to t-shirt production, Divide Social Club also produces "internet content" in the form of videos that have appeared on YouTube.
Ventimiglia, Russ Cundiff and Divide Pictures partnered with Top Cow to produce the comic series REST which will be a monthly limited series. The comic is about John Barret, a white-collar New Yorker whose life changes when he becomes addicted to a drug that prevents him from falling asleep. Divide also has a comic book called Berserker written by Rick Loverd.
Ventimiglia will co-produce and appear in "Ultradome," a web series which will debate the comparative merits of science fiction characters. The project is a collaboration between Agility Studios and Ventimiglia's DiVide Pictures. In the first episode, Ventimiglia will argue in favor of Lord of the Rings' superiority over Star Wars.
Personal life
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| Milo Ventimiglia and Hayden Panettiere |
Ventimiglia is a lacto-vegetarian and has been since birth. He also does not smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol. He is a fan of seminal British punk band The Clash, and is an avid skateboard fan. Before being cast on Heroes, Ventimiglia had been living with close friends Steve Berra and Patrick Fugit. He dated his Gilmore Girls co-star Alexis Bledel for three and a half years, beginning around December 2002, before separating sometime before July 2006. He also dated his Heroes co-star Hayden Panettiere from December 2007 to February 2009.
Ventimiglia took a United Service Organization tour from July 6 to 12, 2008 in support of American troops in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan.
He is also active on behalf of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) helping in April 2009 to launch a national public service advertisement campaign, www.SupportYourVet.org, which gives friends and family of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans tools to support their transition home from war.
Filmography
Year Title Role Notes
Film
1996 Must Be the Music Jason
1997 Boys Life 2 Jason (segment "Must Be the Music")
1999 She's All That Soccer Player
1999 Speedway Junky Travis
2000 Massholes Doc
2001 Nice Guys Finish Last Josh
2003 Winter Break Matt Raymand
2003 Blue Poles Miles Short film
2005 Cursed Bo
2005 Dirty Deeds Zach Harper
2006 Intelligence Colin Mathers
2006 Stay Alive Loomis Crowley
2006 Rocky Balboa Robert Balboa
2008 Pathology Ted Grey
2009 Gamer Rick Rape
2009 Armored Eckehart
2010 Order of Chaos Rick
2011 The Divide Josh post-production
Year Title Role Notes
Television
1995 The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Party Guest #1 Episode: "Bourgie Sings the Blues"
1996 Sabrina, the Teenage Witch Letterman Episode: "Terrible Things"
1996 Saved by the Bell: The New Class Greg Episode: "Hospital Blues"
1997 EZ Streets Young Quinn Episode: "A Terrible Beauty"
1998 Brooklyn South Johnny Mancuso Episode: "Hospital Blues"
1998 Kelly Kelly Steve Spencer Episode: "Bye Bye Baby"
1998 One World Eric Episode: "Community Service"
2000 Opposite Sex Jed Perry 8 episodes
2000 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Bobby Taylor Episode: "Friends & Lovers"
2001–
2006 Gilmore Girls Jess Mariano 37 episodes
2003 Boston Public Jake Provesserio 4 episodes
2003 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Lee Healy Episode: "Escape"
2004–
2005 American Dreams Chris Pierce 12 episodes
2006 The Bedford Diaries Richard Thorne III 8 episodes
2008 Robot Chicken Green Arrow Episode: "They Took My Thumbs"
2006–
2010 Heroes Peter Petrelli 77 episodes
2011-
present Marvel Anime Wolverine
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