Michael Delorenzo - Cast Member of the Month

 

Michael Delorenzo was born in the Bronx, New York City on 31st October 1959, making his star sign Scorpio. Scorpios have been described as Ambitious, Honest, Loyal and Determined. For those individuals born on Halloween, it is said that they have an increased sense of loyalty and dependability and have great leadership skills.  

Michael is half Italian and half Puerto Rican. His Father Arthur is Italian and his Mother Carmen is Puerto Rican. Raised in the Bronx, Michael is the second oldest of four children. He has one sister and 2 brothers. 

He started dancing at age 7 when his Mother insisted on him taking dancing lessons to give him something to do afterschool to avoid him getting into any trouble with the other kids. He developed a passion for Ballet and studied it for 8 years. In that time he won Scholarships to the School of American Ballet and The New York School of Ballet. "I couldn't tell a lot of people I was doing ballet... I used to run home from school and get my ballet slippers, but I had to tell people I was going to the dentist like three times a week. It was a good thing I had braces then.”

His dream of becoming a top Ballet Dancer ended when he was 16 after he had an knee injury and he took a break from dancing for around a year. 

 

Michael then decided to turn his talents to acting and attending the real School of Performing Arts in New York. When the Fame Movie was casting he decided to audition but as an actor rather than a dancer. The casting people asked if he could dance, when he said he'd had some training they asked him to perform and were very impressed. so then they asked him to dance for Louis Falco, the choreographer and he got the part. 

"My mother always told me, 'You can do whatever you want if you put your mind to it. Don't let people tell you that you can't. And I've always kept that with me."

From that point he kept dancing and then came the Fame TV Series. Originally signing on to be a dancer. he was then given a small line in one of the episodes where he discovered acting paid a lot more money than dancing. From then his part of Michael was expanded. When Gene Anthony Ray was missing from either a dance routine or from the episode entirely Michael would take on the dance leads and some of Leroy's storylines.  

Michael stayed on Fame for it's first 3 seasons from 1982 to 1984. In that time touring with the cast and performing with them at Concerts and on TV Shows. The disappearance of his Character was never mentioned. He returned for the final episode of season 6.  

Whilst on Fame Michael also worked with the likes of Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie in their Music videos. After fame he appeared in Dance movies "Fast Forward" and "Breakin Through" and TV shows like "Miami Vice", "A Different World" and "The Bronx Zoo". In 1989 he became a main cast member for the last 2 seasons of "Head of the Class".

In 1994 he took the lead in "New York Undercover" which he starred in for 3 seasons. He has continued to guest star on TV in shows like CSI: NY, Blue Bloods and SWAT. Michael has also turned his talents to directing and music, where he utilized his talents for songwriting and playing piano, guitar and drums when he released his first solo album titled "Rescue Me" in 2009. 

He is currently working on new music and his production company DeloVision Inc is looking at new TV and Movie projects.