Paulo Costanzo - Biography

Paulo Costanzo was born in Toronto, Ontario.

Paulo grew up in Brampton, a suburb of Toronto, of Italian (father) and Ashkenazi Jewish (mother) descent. He attended Mayfield Secondary School for the Arts where he starred in numerous plays and musicals. He then attended one year at Ryerson University for theater, but dropped out when he started to land Toronto-based television and film roles.

His first major television role was opposite Scott Speedman and Alfred Molina in the Barbara Streisand-produced, Rescuers: Stories of Courage (1997), in which he played a Jewish teen in hiding from the Nazis in 1939 Belgium. This was significant for Paulo because both of his Jewish grandparents were holocaust survivors.

Shortly thereafter he landed the role of quirky alien Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthil on Nickelodeon's Animorphs (1998), which ran for two seasons.

When he was 21 he attended an international cattle call audition for an unnamed Dreamworks film. A week later he received a call from his agent: after seeing his tape, Todd Phillips wanted Paulo to fly to New York to screen test for Road Trip (2000). After testing for Phillips and Ivan Reitman he was offered the role of Rubin Carver. This marked the beginning of his professional career in the United States.

Costanzo played major supporting roles in several films including Josie and the Pussycats (2001) and 40 Days and 40 Nights (2002), and starred opposite Woody Harrelson and Alicia Silverstone in Scorched (2002). Three months after relocating to Los Angeles he landed the coveted role of Michael Tribbiani on what was to be NBC's great white hope: Friends spinoff, Joey (2005). It was canceled after just two seasons, but Paulo remained unscathed, winning critical praise for his work on the show. He then launched into the indie world.

He headlined Douglas Coupland's Everything's Gone Green (2006), a festival darling which won numerous awards, he starred opposite Boardwalk Empire's Shea Whigam in the cult horror hit, Splinter (2008), which won 6 Scream Awards including best picture, and he starred opposite J.K Simmons, Scott Caan and Harvey Keitel in A Beginner's Guide to Endings (2010).

It was in 2008 that he won the multifaceted role of Evan R. Lawson on the USA tent pole, Royal Pains (2009-present). He relocated to New York for the show and has directed three episodes to date.

Paulo can be seen in recurring roles on Syfy's The Expanse (2015-present), and Steve Zaillian's new HBO drama, Crime (2016). Season eight of Royal Pains will air in the summer 2016.