Danny Amatullo Character of the Month

 

Danny Xavier Amatullo was born and grew up in The Bronx in Nw York City. He is the youngest son of Gina and Carmine Amatullo. Their oldest son Vinny died from Leukemia when Danny was younger. In "Sheer Will" Danny is diagnosed with the same illness but he manages to beat the illness.

The Amatullo family is pretty volatile and argue a lot. Carmine struggles to show Danny any affection and doesn't approve of his chosen career as a performer and doesn't think he should attend the School of the Arts.   In "Parent's Week" Danny's parents separate and eventually divorce.  For awhile Gina dates Lou Mackie.

Danny is a drama major and has a desire to be a stand up comedian.  His dream is to win the lottery but as he doesn't think that will happen he has the fallback of performing. For some reason Danny remains in High School for 6 years! He has a particularly strong relationship with the original Drama Teacher Greg Crandall until he dies in "A Tough Act to Follow". Danny struggles greatly with the loss of his favourite teacher.

Despite his love of acting Danny does spend a period  in "Broadway Danny Amatullo" working as a talent agent and he's good at it too but realises that performing his is priority.  Danny is good friends with Chris Donlan and they team up as a double act in "Team Work

Danny also spends a lot of time thinking about girls. He has a string of brief relationships , unrequited love for Nicole and during his time in High school he dates Doris, Cleo and Jillian. In addition he proposes marriage to Maria in "Appearances" in order to help her stay in the Country.

Danny is a loyal friend and we discover that "Huckleberry Finn" is his favourite book which he credits with helping him be friends with Leroy.  We learn that his childhood hero  was "Bronco Bob". Danny would go to the Corner Theatre to watch the Bronco Bob Movies to escape his arguing parents.  His other hero Johnny Carson he meets briefly when working as a bell boy in "Passing Grade".

In "Mister Wacky's World" Danny finally gets a break when he get's the part of Noodles, the side kick to Mr Wacky who is always getting covered in slime and custard pies. Despite being hip Danny realised that it's not quite the work he's dreamed of doing.

A couple of people come out of the woodwork and cause problems for  Danny. Firstly In "The Ol' Ball Game" his nemesis Joey Laurenzano  challenges Danny to a baseball game and teases him for being a cry baby after an incident when they were kids. Then in "Best Buddies" one of his best friends Ron Stefano comes out as gay which Danny initially struggles to come to terms with.

In "Go Softly into Morning" Danny feels guilty after Nicole dies in a drink drive car after he encourages he to get into the car.