Man of the Day: Antonio Sabato, Jr.

Antonio Sabato Jr. was born on February 29th, 1972 in Rome, Italy. He was the son of noted Italian actor Antonio Sabato, who had made his film debut in John Frankenheimer’s Grand Prix. When Sabato Jr. was twelve, the family moved to the United States. It took some time for him to adjust, as he did not speak English at the time. Like his father, Sabato made his debut in a racing movie. 1988’s Born to Race was set to the backdrop of stock car racing in North Carolina. A driver falls in love with a beautiful Italian engineer. She has developed a revolutionary prototype engine, but is kidnapped by a rival team who want the design for themselves. Unfortunately for Sabato, this movie was nowhere near as good the classic in which his father had debuted. It bombed. After appearing in two Italian action movies (Karate Rock and Arizona Road) in 1990 and the video for Janet Jackson’s ‘Love Will Never Do (Without You)’, Sabato made his breakthrough in ‘General Hospital’. Shortly after he had joined the cast as John ‘Jagger’ Cates in 1992, the show jumped from seventh to third in the ratings for daytime series. Sabato quickly established himself as a leading heartthrob and sex symbol. This led to his casting in a made-for-TV movie, 1993’s Moment of Truth: Why My Daughter. The next year, he played Jack Parezi, Amanda’s long-lost abusive husband, for a season of ‘Melrose Place’. With his 1994 calendar quickly selling out and his contract as an underwear model for Calvin Klein, he had reached the pinnacle of male modelling. After finishing his run on ‘General Hospital’, Sabato tried to get away from his heartthrob image in ‘Earth 2’. After one season playing in competition with the popular news-show ’60 Minutes’, ‘Earth 2’ was cancelled because of low ratings. After this setback, Sabato acted in several made-for-TV movies. Sabato’s other major made-for-TV movie from this period was If Looks Could Kill: From the Files of America’s Most Wanted. After recently completed his contract for Calvin Klein, Sabato appeared at an event for Durex condoms. He is currently raising one child, five year old Jack Antonio. The mother is Virginia Madsen, who played Princess Irulan in Dune. They were never married, and have since parted ways. He was briefly married to Alicia Tully Jensen in 1992, but they were divorced a year later. All of these events have been watched carefully by Sabato’s hordes of female fans, who have established him as the leading heartthrob of the 1990’s.