Erik Palladino

Dark haired and olive complected, with chiseled features and a mischievous smile, actor Erik Palladino's looks could evince both an exotic allure and a down-to-earth all-American blue-collar charm. The New York born and bred actor got his start in the city's Children's Repertory Company and was trained at Marymount Manhattan College, enrolled in the only co-educational program in the primarily female institution. He went on to appear in productions of "Entertaining Mr. Sloane" and "True West" on the New York stage. In 1989, the fashionably long-haired Palladino married his performer's poise and his love of music with a job as presenter for the hard rock music magazine series "Heavy Metal Meltdown" (aired in NYC on WWOR-TV). In the mid-90s, he had a stint in a similar vein, appearing on MTV as a VJ, covering Woodstock '94 for the network in addition to hosting the network's failed home shopping series "The Goods." Palladino took on the daily late night "Dreamtime" stretch and also presented from MTV's popular summer "Beach House." Other basic cable credits include his regular work on the Comedy Central news/anthology series "Short Attention Span Theater."