A History Of Liverpool Thespians - Vince Pellegrino

Vincenzo Pellegrino was born in 1967 in Liverpool to Italian father Dino and mother, Sylvia. He feels his
grounded attitude was largely down to growing up in a struggling working-class family in Liverpool whose Dad and Mum both worked hard to send their three children to college. When Vince left Mosslands Comp with three A-levels, he didn't have a clue what he wanted to do. His first job was a paper round, then he wrapped fridges, picked flowers in Holland, and was a life model at Birmingham School of Art before he was asked to leave when he refused to take off his clothes. He next dropped out of a Sociology Degree course at Birmingham Polytechnic after a few days and returned to Liverpool to work alongside his dad at a fridge factory. It was there he discovered just how miserable his Dad's life must have been and developed a new-found respect for him. Vince said, "Dad came to England from a poor part of Naples to work in a crappy factory to pay for three ungrateful kids to go to college. He worked every day in that hell hole to pay for me to doss about. What a great bloke."

Introduced into acting by his teacher, Mr Wilson, at Mosslands School, he studied at the Manchester Polytechnic School of Theatre when he was 23, finally deciding acting was his dream job, but studying drama at Manchester Metropolitan University was a rude awakening. "It was the most miserable three years of my life," says Vince. "I could have learned more about drama at the factory." At Manchester Poly his credits included 'The Crucible'; 'The History of Tom Jones'; 'A Superior Residence'; 'Night School'; 'Fear & Misery in the Third Reich'; 'Caste'; 'Pisti & The Bloodbath'; 'The Cherry Orchard'; 'Absurd Person Singular'; 'The Fire Raisers'; 'Two Planks' and 'Passion'. However he left in 1993, disillusioned about acting, until he auditioned for 'Crocodile Shoes (1994), appearing in 6 episodes. "I lied about my age to get the part of 'The Snotter'," he says. "He was meant to be 18 and I said I was 21. In fact, I was 26. It was a baptism of fire, but Jimmy Nail was really nice. I learned more about acting from that job than in three years of studying drama." When his character was killed off after the first series, Vince became a jobbing actor appearing in the likes of 'Pie in the Sky' (1995), 'Out of the Blue' (1996) and 'Dalziel and Pascoe' (1997), before landing the role of hospital porter Sunny in 'Casualty' (1997-99). Although he appeared in over 50 episodes he said, "My Mum had to keep changing the channels when she watched Casualty, because she can't stand to see the blood!" After two years, and 4 episodes of 'Holby City' (1999), again as Sunny, he quit to join 'Where The Heart Is' (2000-01) as district nurse Chris Eckersley.

As 'Sunny' in Casualty and Holby City

There then followed 4 episodes of 'In Deep' (2002), another episode of 'The Bill' (1995-2002) and 'Merseybeat' (2003) before 'M.I.T.: Murder Investigator Team' (2003) gave him yet another medical role for 8 episodes as Dr Fergus Gallagher. His next major role was playing Sid, a careworker, in 20 episodes of 'The Story of Tracey Beaker' (2005). Many single appearances followed, including 'If...' (2006), 'Heartbeat' (2007), ' 'Mistresses' (2010) and in 2017, he played a London Journalist in the three part drama on BBC 'Three Girls'.

As Sid in Tracey Beaker

Vince's film credits include 'Fifth Element' (1997), 'Peggy Su!' (1997) and 'The Adventurer: The Curse of the Midas Box' (1994). As well as that he has also worked as a voice-over artist on three Assassins Creed games, on many television documentaries, has also directed various short films over the years and has several radio dramas to his credit. He has also been teaching acting for camera for several years, most notably at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, and also Bristol University and Weston College. His theatre credits include, 'Much Ado About Nothing' (GB Theatre Company/Tour), 'Twelfth Night' (GB Theatre Company/Tour), 'Arcadia' (Shakespeare At The Tobacco Factory), 'As You Like It' (Shakespeare At The Tobacco Factory), 'The Spire' (Salisbury Playhouse), 'The BFG' (Derby Live Theatre), 'The Pretenda Agenda' (New Players Theatre), 'Framed' (Bromley Churchill Theatre And Tour), 'Turn of the Screw' (Bristol Old Vic), 'Closer' (English Speaking Theatre Frankfurt), 'Solitary Confinement' (Kings Head Theatre), 'Road Rage' (Riverside Sitcom Festival), 'Macbeth' (Wimbledon Theatre) and 'Scouse' at the (Liverpool Everyman)

Vince has one daughter, Hattie, born in.2004 and his sister Nicky became a journalist in New Zealand and his brother Eduardo, 27 did a PhD in theoretical physics. 

see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2024/05/a-history-of-liverpool-thespians_28.html