Tony Ruggieri - Actor

     Tony shunned the world of IT for an acting career 11 years ago and never looked back.  His dedication, hard work and strong desire to “tell the story” fuels his passion for acting and commitment to perfecting his craft.

 

     A student of Penny Templeton Studio in New York city, Tony continues to polish his skills with continued training, reading plays and taking advantage of every class, seminar, coaching session or audition opportunity that is available.  Recent projects include the starring role in “The Death of Milo Freedman”, an independent short film written and directed by Anthony L. Fletcher and a principal role on the fourth season of  HBO’s “The Wire” as an Amtrak Police Supervisor in the episode “Margin of Error”.  Professional theater credits include understudy for the role of “Speed” in Philadelphia’s Walnut Street Theater production of “The Odd Couple”.  This led to the role of “Kerry Max Cook” in “The Exonerated” and the role of "Timber Tucker" in "An American Daughter" both at Theater of the Seventh Sister in Lancaster, PA, directed by Alana Campbell.

 

    New Jersey born, bred and educated, what followed was typical of most people; job, marriage, children and a move to Pennsylvania. Tony would spend twenty years as a computer analyst, working for various companies along the way.  Like most actors, the bug bit at a young age while attending plays at his local high school, finally getting his turn during his junior and senior years, performing in the farce "U.T.B.U." as "Mr. Uggims" and "Guys and Dolls" as "Nathan Detroit".  Many years passed, however, before he again started performing in local community theater productions.  It was then that his passion for acting quickly returned.  Eventually, he was laid off from his computer analyst position and he made the commitment to pursue his acting career full time.

 

     Despite the relatively late start to his acting career, Tony is no stranger to performing.  Since grade school, vocal music has been his creative outlet. With his smooth tenor/baritone voice, he performs the great songs of Broadway and popular standards in the style of the great crooners such as Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr., Dean Martin, Nat King Cole and Tony Bennett.

 

      

“It is my belief that a person never stops learning.  There is always something that can be learned from any experience, good or bad, that not only can be applied to our craft but, most important, make us better people.”