Luca Argentero

Luca Argentero (born 12 April 1978 in Turin) is an Italian actor, model and reality TV star. He has appeared in more than eighteen films since 2006.

Born in Turin, Argentero grew up in neighboring Moncalieri. After completing high school at the Catholic "Collegio San Giuseppe", he worked as a bartender in a local nightclub, while continuing his studies and eventually earning a degree in Economy & Commerce in 2004. Argentero rose to fame in 2003 as a participant in the third season of the popular reality TV series Grande Fratello (Big Brother), arriving to the final and earning 3rd place, with 9% of the Italian votes. After this experience, Argentero began guest appearing on a variety of television shows and worked as a model, even posing for a sensual calendar made by the Italian monthly magazine Max.

In 2005, Argentero made his debut as an actor in the television series Carabinieri, in which he portrayed the character of Marco Tosi in the fourth, fifth, and sixth seasons. In 2006, he played the main character in the short film Il Quarto Sesso (The Fourth Sex). That same year, Argentero also made his cinematic debut in A Casa Nostra (Our Country), directed by Francesca Comencini. In 2007 he returned to the big screen in a film by Ferzan Özpetek, Saturno Contro (Saturn in Opposition) playing the role of a homosexual man, Lorenzo Marchetti. The same year Argentero also appeared alongside Violante Placido in Lezioni di Cioccolato, a film by Claudio Cupellini. In addition, he appeared on television as one of the two main characters in the miniseries La Baronessa di Carini, alongside Vittoria Puccini.

In 2008, Argentero took the role of the protagonist in the film Solo un padre, directed by Luca Lucini, with costars Diane Fleri, Fabio Troiano and Claudia Pandolfi. Production on this movie began in January 2008 in Argentero's hometown of Turin. In 2009 he returned to the big screen in Diverso da Chi? (Different from Whom?), in which he once again portrayed a gay man, Piero. Piero is a young left-wing politician running for mayor of a small town who finds himself in the middle of a "love triangle" between his partner, Remo (played by Filippo Nigro), and his running partner Adele (played by Claudia Gerini). This role earned Argentero his first David di Donatello nomination as best actor.