1980's TV heartthrob Jack Scalia, a Brooklyn native of Italian descent, was born Giacomo Tomaso Tedesco on November 10, 1950. The son of former Brooklyn Dodger Rocky Teseco, Jack's name was changed to his stepfather's surname after his mother remarried. Raised in Brentwood, NY, he was considered an All-American athlete by the time he graduated from Brentwood High School in 1969. He went on to play three sports through college while participating in four triathlons and six marathons.
A promising pitcher for the Montreal Expos, an injury ended his three-year pro career. In 1975, he took advantage of his muscular build and macho good looks by modeling with Armani, later joining the Ford Modeling Agency and signing on as the "Jordache Jeans Man". In January 1980, Scalia made a surprisingly easy transition into acting, which led to his first film role in the mini-movie The Star Maker (1981) starring the late Rock Hudson.
The blue-eyed, cleft-chinned hunk got his first taste of series stardom as an unshaven, rough-and-tough detective who joins forces with his slick and debonair father (Hudson again) in the TV series, The Devlin Connection (1982). Though the series had a short life, Scalia received scads of attention. His more popular credits during this busy time included I'll Take Manhattan (1987), Ring of Scorpio (1991), Lady Boss (1992) and Casualties of Love: The Long Island Lolita Story (1993), playing infamous tabloid news maker Joey Buttafuoco, with Alyssa Milano as his teenage object of desire.
Though Scalia didn't quite manage to scale the super star heights of a Tom Selleck or Pierce Brosnan, the tall, dark, handsome actor remained a durable "ladies' man" and "man's man" for over three decades. Never finding that one smash series that would have put him over the top, he would headline or co-star in a near-record nine TV shows that kept him constantly in the running, including Hollywood Beat (1985), Wolf (1989), Tequila and Bonetti (1992) and Pointman (1995). Nabbing a recurring role on Remington Steele (1982) and an early season on Dallas (1978), Jack later joined the cast of All My Children (1970) for a period of time in 2001, earning a daytime Emmy nomination in the process. He also copped a recurring role in 2003 on the dramatic series Saints & Sinners (2016)
Living in Rome during the early 1990's, he returned and moved into typical hero/villain roles in low-budget thrillers and good-looking lovers in romantic comedies/dramas with flicks include The Rift (1990) (aka "Endless Descent"), Illicit Behavior (1992), Amore! (1993), Under Oath (1997), Boys Klub (2001), Shattered Lies (2002), Red Eye (2005), Honeymoon with Mom (2006), Act of War (1998) and Ground Zero (2000). He also received assorted producing credits for other on-camera films including T-Force (1994), The Silencers (1996), Dark Breed (1996), Follow Your Heart (1999), The Genius Club (2006) and Black Widow (2010).
Jack made his stage debut in 1994 as a former Vietnam vet in the Pulitzer Prize-nominated play "Red River Rats" in Los Angeles. Divorced twice, Jack was married to one-time model Joan Rankin and then to Karen Baldwin, a former "Miss Universe" (1982). He has two daughters, Olivia and Jacqueline, from his second marriage.
