Rocco Ancarola is a man who seems to have lived many lives. Ancarola is a nightlife maestro and actor whose beginnings in South Africa took him to New York and Los Angeles stages, acting alongside legendary actors, including Michael Douglas, Mark Ruffalo, and Adam Sandler. Ancarola’s bright and free-spirited personality has made him a distinguished face in the nightlife and movie industry.
Up next for Rocco is a starring role in Michela Scolari’s feature film Sicilian Holiday (Sciacca, un sogno fatto in Sicilia).
Ancarola started his acting career in South Africa, where he had the opportunity to study with top Shakespearean teachers. He went on to perform in the theatre, in movies, in TV commercials and modeled in the region. Then, Rocco moved from South Africa to New York to pursue his dream of acting. He enrolled in the acting school HB Studios, where he was handpicked by Uta Hagen, one of the world’s top acting teachers who taught notable actors from Liza Minnelli to Jerry Stiller. Rocco joined her elite acting class at HB Studios, and his career started to take off.
Rocco went on to audition for Oscar-winning Actress Shelley Winters, and she took him under his wing, privately training him in her own home. Then, Shelley swept Rocco away to Los Angeles, where he joined her in an acting workshop at the LA Actors Studio, and it would turn out that Al Pacino and Martin Landau would attend the same workshop. He was also joined by acting legends Michael Imperioli, Sean Young, and Elaine Aiken in private acting classes.
The role of the Maitre’D, Louis, of the 21 Club landed in Rocco’s hands after auditioning for Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone for the film Wall Street. He played in scenes with Michael Douglas and Charlie Sheen. Following this, the Queen of Pop herself, Madonna, hand-picked him to play the lead role as her young father in the Grammy award-nominated video, Oh Father, directed by Oscar-nominated director David Fincher.
Rocco went on to play roles in TV commercials and films, such as Overboard, featuring Adam Sandler and Milton Berle, and Reservation Road starring Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Ruffalo. Although Rocco’s career progressed and he established himself in the nightlife and restaurant scene In New York, he came very close to death in 2011 after he suffered an aortic aneurysm. However, Rocco didn’t let this bring him down; he wasn’t ready to give up his acting dreams and was prepared to live life to the fullest.
Last year he starred in the film Cathedral Canyon opposite The Bold and the Beautiful star Winsor Harmon. Most recently, he starred in Adam Leipzig’s production of Sicilian Holiday and is busy filming a TV pilot Ivy League Crime Lords, produced by Michael Mailer and Michael Della Femina, where he plays a mob crime lord.
Forty years later, Rocco is still pursuing his dreams and making them a reality and shows that it doesn’t matter what age you are; it’s never too late to keep pushing forward. He has now added scriptwriter to his repertoire, he wrote a script based on the love story of his mother and father during World War II in collaboration with Michela Scolari. He will be acting and co-producing this film that came to a halt during the pandemic. Rocco Ancarola is an extraordinary man with big dreams and always walks through life with a positive mindset. There’s no stopping him; indeed, more work from him is coming.
