Milo Anthony Ventimiglia (born July 8, 1977) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles in the television series Gilmore Girls, American Dreams and Heroes.

An Anaheim native, Ventimiglia attended El Modena Public High school in Orange, CA, where he wrestled and held the office of president in student government(ASB). He is of Sicilian descent on his father's side and a combination of Irish, English, Scottish, French, Cherokee, and Indian descent on his mother's.

At 18 years old, Ventimiglia started auditioning, booking jobs, and working his way up. He received a scholarship to attend the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, California for their summer program.[citation needed] From there, Ventimiglia studied for a while at the University of Southern California and UCLA before landing a role on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.[citation needed] Ventimiglia has also guest starred on series such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Law and Order: SVU and Boston Public.

From 2001 to 2003, Ventimiglia played broody teen Jess Mariano on Gilmore Girls. He signed on for a spin-off of Gilmore Girls, entitled Windward Circle, which was going to be focused on the relationship between Jess and his estranged father, but the proposed series never made it to the air due to high filming costs. He also directed the 2003 and 2004 WB Image Campaigns for the WB. Ventimiglia has returned to Gilmore Girls for a few episodes since his 2003 departure.

In the third and final season of the NBC drama American Dreams, Ventimiglia played Chris Pierce, the rebellious boyfriend of Meg Pryor (Brittany Snow). Pierce and his single mother, Shelly (Daphne Zuniga), a Playboy bunny, move into the house next to the Pryors. Chris Pierce evades the draft, fearing he would be forced to fight in the Vietnam War, where Meg Pryor's older brother, J.J. (Will Estes) was wounded. Chris and Meg escape Philadelphia in the series finale to Berkeley, California, much to the sadness of Meg's best friend, Roxanne Bojarski (Vanessa Lengies).

He starred in the mid-season replacement series The Bedford Diaries in 2005 but the show lasted only 8 episodes. Currently, he stars in Heroes, a show about ordinary people discovering they have superpowers. He also is slated to play Robert "Rocky Jr." Balboa, the son of Rocky Balboa, in the new Rocky film Rocky Balboa coming out in December 2006.

Ventimiglia is a lacto-vegetarian. His mouth is crooked because he was born with dead nerve endings in his lower lip. He has two older sisters, and goes to weekly family dinners when he can. He was romantically linked to his former Gilmore Girls co-star, and on-screen girlfriend, Alexis Bledel. He confirmed in a July 2006 interview with TV Guide that he is now single. He and Bledel split in early spring 2006 after 3 and half years together.

Posted by Night Owl on Tuesday, December 19, 2006 at 1:45 AM | Permalink