He became a teen idol while on the popular show Gilmore Girls, he has been a promising movie star, he has reached world wide recognition with the series Heroes, yet actor Milo Ventimiglia never subscribed to the ways of young Hollywood, partying hard and hitting every red carpet for exposure.
Instead he chose to use his fortune and fame to diversify projects and create his own production company called Divide Pictures, in partnership with his best friend Russ Cundiff. Together they produced original series such as It’s a Mall World which became a marketing tool for American Eagle Outfitters and Chosen for Crackle.com, anticipating the TV format revolution made popular by Netflix.
Even in his film career he has often alternated high profitable pictures like Adam Sandler’s comedies with independent features like Kiss of the Damned, a romantic European vampire story directed by Xan Cassavetes and Killing Season which paired him with Robert De Niro and John Travolta. His focus always on taking jobs that meant something personally and helped him grow as an actor and filmmaker.
I recently met Milo while he was promoting the upcoming ABC show The Whispers, an intricate thriller about a mysterious force called Drill that manipulates children’s minds and pushes them towards committing dangerous acts; a 14-episodes storyline that has been completely revamped from the original pilot shot last year.
Always engaging and easy to approach, Milo and I sat down for a candid talk about his Italian roots and his family tree. “I’ll take you one step further. I have Italian citizenship!” he cuts in on my question. “My great grandfather is from Sicily, from Alimena in the dead center, while my great grandmother was from Castelvetrano. He was naturalized after my grandfather was born here in the States, in Chicago; but because he was born here in the States and my great grandfather was naturalized after, my grandfather never renounced his Italian citizenship, my father never renounced his, therefore I never renounced mine.”
With such a strong pride of his heritage it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the characters he played often carried an Italian name. So was the rebellious, street-smart but extremely well-versed Jess Mariano, Rory Gilmore’s love interest on Gilmore Girls or the conflicted Peter Petrelli in Heroes, one of the most successful shows in recent TV history.
“I love my Italian heritage; I can’t ever walk away from it. My name alone, even today I was doing ads for Italian network I didn’t pronounce Milo the American way. I would speak differently; I said Me-Lo, like Italians do. It’s important to me, it’s who I am; as well as my American side.”
In fact Milo’s mother has a lot of different cultures in her DNA: Irish, Scottish, French, and even Cherokee and Blackfoot. “I have some Native American in my family, yes. Basically I’m a mutt,” he jokes. In United States there’s a genuine interest in tracing one’s genealogy and ancestry, by researching extensive birth records, archives, census data; it carries a profound value for American people to know where they came from.
“Seven or eight years ago, when I was doing international press for Heroes, at the time when we had the Golden Globes nomination, I met a member of the press and she said, ‘You should look at your lineage.’ [I replied,] as a matter of fact I’m working on it right now. She introduced me to the Italian Consulate here in Los Angeles, they helped me finish some paperwork and get everything I needed.” So what did Milo find out? “Very little, because, you know, the Sicilians don’t talk a whole lot!”
What he did find out was that he was eligible to officialize his Italian citizenship. Then in October 2012 he landed the role of Grace Kelly’s press agent Rupert Allan in the Nicole Kidman starrer Grace of Monaco, which was going to be filmed among the Principality of Monaco, France and Genoa in Liguria. Milo jumped at the opportunity to visit his ancestors’ hometown before starting principal photography. “I was in between two jobs, one called Killing season that I had finished up in Bulgaria and another one called Grace of Monaco. I had never been to Sicily; I had been to Italy a couple of times, but never in Sicily. I got off the plane and I felt like I was home. I went to Alimena, I stayed in Castelvetrano, I looked around. I was there for seven days. When I was traveling around, it was a good feeling.”
Having an Italian background in Hollywood means also to stand the comparison with the greats, like Sylvester Stallone who Milo had a chance to work with on Rocky Balboa, the final chapter of the legendary boxer saga.
“The funny part is I booked Rocky before I got Heroes, but then Heroes came out before Rocky and that was a big exposure for me. Stallone was one of those guys that I saw [as an inspiration] when I was younger. I watched the Rocky films, his action movies; he has had a huge influence on me as a kid. To be on that set, I kept my eyes open, my ears open and I learned from a man, not only acting but also directing and writing and producing. I applaud the guy. I was very excited to be a part of that.”
Ventimiglia spends his free time working with veterans.
His father is a Vietnam veteran; Milo himself nearly joined the Navy when he was eighteen years old. In 2008 he took a United Service Organization (USO) tour in support of American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and when he came back he felt the need to do something. He started working with IAVA, who are big supporters of helping veterans transitioning home from soldier life overseas and be a civilian again. A corroboration of his heart of gold, on and off camera.
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