James Vincent Russo (born April 23, 1953) is an American film and
television actor. He has appeared in over 150 films in three
decades.Russo was born in New York City, New York, to an Italian
father and German mother. A graduate of the High School of Art and
Design and New York University (NYU), he wrote and starred in the
prize-winning short film The Candy Store. Before his first break in
acting, he drove for a cab company, worked as a construction worker
and a gravedigger. He was raised in Flushing, New York and spent his
formative years on 156th street.Russo's first role in his acting
career was in the 1981 made-for-television film Chicago Story. He then
went on to star in many hit films of the 1980s.His big break (but
small role) came in the 1982 classic comedy film Fast Times at
Ridgemont High, as a convenience store robber. In 1984, he appeared in
Beverly Hills Cop as Mikey Tandino, a friend of Axel Foley who is
murdered. That same year he starred in The Cotton Club and played
small-time hood Bugsy in Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in America.
Russo's other big role was as a brutal rapist in the 1986 drama
Extremities, opposite Farrah Fawcett. He starred in the 1988
drama-suspense-thriller film Freeway.
television actor. He has appeared in over 150 films in three
decades.Russo was born in New York City, New York, to an Italian
father and German mother. A graduate of the High School of Art and
Design and New York University (NYU), he wrote and starred in the
prize-winning short film The Candy Store. Before his first break in
acting, he drove for a cab company, worked as a construction worker
and a gravedigger. He was raised in Flushing, New York and spent his
formative years on 156th street.Russo's first role in his acting
career was in the 1981 made-for-television film Chicago Story. He then
went on to star in many hit films of the 1980s.His big break (but
small role) came in the 1982 classic comedy film Fast Times at
Ridgemont High, as a convenience store robber. In 1984, he appeared in
Beverly Hills Cop as Mikey Tandino, a friend of Axel Foley who is
murdered. That same year he starred in The Cotton Club and played
small-time hood Bugsy in Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in America.
Russo's other big role was as a brutal rapist in the 1986 drama
Extremities, opposite Farrah Fawcett. He starred in the 1988
drama-suspense-thriller film Freeway.
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