Mancuso was born May 29, 1948, in Mammola, Calabria, Italy. His family emigrated to Canada in 1956 via Naples, when he was eight years old.[1] He grew up in Ontario and began acting in high school. On graduation, he studied psychology at the University of Toronto, but left to pursue acting full time.
In 1979, his American stage debut working directly with Tennessee Williams, starring in Tiger Tail and The Night of the Iguana in Atlanta. During this time, he came to the attention of producers at Columbia Pictures. Martin Ransohoff and Arthur Hiller were instrumental in getting Mancuso for the lead in the horror-thriller Nightwing, directed by Hiller and co-starring David Warner. Ransohoff and Hiller hoped Nightwing would be a hit and be a breakthrough role for Mancuso, but it failed at the box office.
Mancuso played the titular role on the NBC series Stingray, which ran two seasons between 1985 and 1987.[7] He played the antichrist Franco Macalousso in Apocalypse, a series of direct-to-video films produced by Cloud Ten Pictures. Among the other roles Mancuso has taken on there was the role of Holden Downes in Captured. In this sometime violent film, he plays a real estate tycoon on the edge. He comes across some thieves who are out to rob him and takes his anger out on them.[8] Instead, he turns the tables on them and making them the victims.[9] He has also appeared in numerous independent and short films.
Personal life
In 1981, Mancuso married Lady Patricia Pelham-Clinton-Hope (born 1949), a daughter of Henry Pelham-Clinton-Hope, 9th Duke of Newcastle; they divorced in 1983.[10] He later married his second wife, Canadian actress Barbara Williams before divorcing. In 1998, he married his third wife Toronto-born actress Nadia Capone. The two have one child together.[7]
As of July 2019[update], Mancuso resides in Toronto, and was running a six-week acting workshop there.[11] He has also published a book of poetry titled Mediterranean Man[12] and created a number of abstract paintings.[13] He is fluent in English and Italian, and speaks conversational French.
He underwent quadruple bypass surgery in 2011. A longtime vegetarian and proponent of homeopathy, Mancuso joined a class-action lawsuit against the government of Canada in 2012 over its ban of previously available herbs and vitamins that were offered by naturopaths and health food suppliers.[7]
^Townend, Paul (July 26, 2011). "Nick Mancuso". The Canadian Encyclopedia.
^Abbot, Stacey (2001). "Nick Mancuso". In Rist, Peter Harry (ed.). Guide to the Cinema(s) of Canada. Westport, Ct.; London: Greenwood Press. pp. 135–136. ISBN0313299315. Retrieved 8 September 2019. His first on-screen appearance.
Canadian Film Awards 1968–1978, Genie Awards 1980-2011, Canadian Screen Awards 2012–present. Separate awards were presented by gender prior to 2022; a single unified category for best performance regardless of gender has been presented since.