Antonio Sabato, Jr.
Los Angeles Presence
Dante Damiano (June 16th, 2005 to Present)
At a Glance
A leap year baby, Sabato was born in Rome, Italy, on February 29, 1972. His father, Antonio Sabato Sr., a veteran Italian actor with credits in dozens of spaghetti Westerns and his mother, Yvonne, a real estate agent, moved Sabato and his sister to Beverly Hills in 1984. Knowing very little English, Sabato spent his time watching American television and taking ESL courses. He attended Beverly Hills High, where he took acting classes as a way to practice his new language and make friends. At 16, Sabato left school and temporarily moved to New York in an effort to experience life on his own.
In 1989, after earning his G.E.D., Sabato decided to concentrate on acting. With his father's help, he secured a role in the 1990 Italian film Karate Rock. That same year, he appeared stateside as the topless hunk in Janet Jackson's video for "Love Will Never Do Without You." This led to Sabato's television debut as Jagger Cates, a good-hearted, hash-slinging boxer on General Hospital. For his performance in one of daytime's most memorable and brooding roles -- Jagger's moody leitmotif was Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game" -- Sabato earned Soap Opera Digest Award nominations for Hottest Male and Outstanding Newcomer. Banking on his newfound fame, the actor began moonlighting in movies of the week, starring opposite Dallas' Linda Gray as a deadly Casanova in Moment of Truth: Why My Daughter? (1993) and Beverly Hills 90210's Shannon Dougherty as an escaped convict in Jailbreakers (1994).
Sabato shocked fans when he abruptly left General Hospital in 1994 (though they did temporarily forgive him when he returned to the show for a brief cameo a year later). He subsequently joined the cast of NBC's Earth 2, a prime-time science fiction series about a group of humans who must flee Earth when it becomes uninhabitable. Developed by Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment and produced by Michael Dugan (Law & Order), Carol Flint (China Beach), and Mark Levin (The Wonder Years), the show had an impressive pedigree and was expected to be a smash hit. Yet, audiences did not buy into its futuristic premise, which featured Sabato as a rocket pilot; NBC canceled Earth 2 after only one season. Hesitant to commit himself to another series, Sabato signed on to appear as Amanda's (Heather Locklear) abusive ex-husband in six episodes of FOX's Melrose Place before starring in a succession of television films. In Her Hidden Truth (1995), he played a smitten cop who helps wrongfully convicted Kellie Martin clear her name. In If Looks Could Kill: From the Files of America's Most Wanted (1996), he portrayed real-life con artist and murderer John Hawkins. In Thrill (1996), he starred as an engineer who must put aside his fear of heights to rescue his daughter from a roller coaster that is rigged with a bomb.
Meanwhile, fashion designer Calvin Klein saw If Looks Could Kill on television and personally requested to meet with Sabato. By the summer of 1996, the actor was the spokesperson for Calvin Klein Underwear, the company's first celebrity model since Mark Wahlberg four years earlier. During his tenure with Calvin Klein, Sabato appeared in a campaign photographed by Herb Ritts and on a 90-foot billboard in the middle of Times Square.
In 1998, Sabato made his big-budget American debut opposite Wahlberg, Lou Diamond Phillips, and Bokeem Woodbine as a hired gun in The Big Hit. The following years saw Sabato headlining several low-profile television movies and independent films in the United States and Italy. He also guest starred on FOX's Ally McBeal and landed a recurring role on the WB's Charmed.
Acting and modeling are not Sabato's only claims to fame. A fitness enthusiast, he published the best-selling exercise book No Excuses: Workout for Life in 1999. Sabato also owns his own production company, NAMTAB Productions (Batman spelled backwards), and is the celebrity spokesperson for the SAP United States Grand Prix Formula One race.
Acting Portfolio
TELEVISION
The Bold and the Beautiful
Dante Damiano
June 16th, 2005 to Present
Final Ascent
David
November 2000
The Outer Limits - Skin Deep
Chad Warner
2000
Charmed
Bane Jessup
2000
Wasteland
October 1999
Jack
Ally McBeal
Kevin Wyatt
May 10, 1999
Tribe
Jack Osborne
1999
Fatal Error
Dr. Nick Baldwin
March 28, 1999
Daydreaming [Music Video]
1998
The Perfect Getaway
Randy Savino
February 12, 1998
Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales For Every Child / Thumbelina
Mario Mariposa
April 20, 1997
Lay's Baked Potato Chips [Commercial]
January 26, 1997
Code Name: Wolverine
Harry Gordini
December 3, 1996
The New Adventures of Superman
Bob Stanford/Deathstroke
Sunday, November 17, 1996
Padre papà [Italian miniseries]
Don Giuseppe
1996
Thrill
Jack Colson
May 20, 1996
If Looks Could Kill
John Hawkins
February 1996
Her Hidden Truth
Matt Samoni
November 1995
Melrose Place
Jack Parezi
September/October 1995
EARTH 2
Alonzo Solace
1994 - 1995
Jailbreakers
Tony
1993
Moment of Truth: Why My Daughter?
A.J. Treece
1993
General Hospital
John "Jagger" Cates
1992 - 1994; Fall 1995
Malcolm Takes a Shot
Love Will Never Do (Without You) [Music Video]
1990
Acting Portfolio
FILM
Director's Cut
Sgt. Dan De Sousa
2001
Mindstorm
Dan Oliver
2001
The Base II
Lt. John Murphy
December 2000
Jack of All Trades
Tommy
July 1999
The Chaos Factor
Jack Poynt
July 1999
Women of a Certain Distinction
Mel
1999
Goosed
Dr. Steven Stevenson
1998
The Big Hit
Vince/Vinnie
April 24th, 1998
Circles
Jeremy Bonner
September 1998
High Voltage
Johnny Clay
1997
If I Didn't Have Love
1991
Karate Rock [Italian Film]
Kevin Foster
1990
Arizona Road [Itlaian Film]
Emiliano
1990
Born to Race
Enrico Lombardo
1988
Vital Statistics
DATE OF BIRTH: February 29, 1972
PLACE OF BIRTH: Rome, Italy
PARENTS: Antonio Sabato, Sr. and Yvonne Kabouchy
SIBLINGS: Sister, Simonne Sabato
CHILDREN: Jack Antonio, born August 6, 1994 (son with Virginia Madsen); Mina Bree, born August 29th, 2003 (daughter with Kristin Rosetti).
News Archives
News Archive: Former GH star, model to join cast of B&B. [May 9th, 2005]
News Archive: Sabato, B&B agree to part ways. [Nov 15th, 2004]
