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Rising Stars: Meet Robert DiTillio

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Robert DiTillio.

Hi Robert, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I grew up in Queens, NY where my parents owned a small amusement park. This is where I first got a taste of what being an entertainer might be like. After attending NYU business school, I decided the corporate world wasn’t for me, so I returned to NYU to study filmmaking and, at the same time, starting taking acting classes at the renowned HB Studios in Greenwich Village, NY. I loved both these pursuits and realized I wanted to be in show business, specifically film and TV. I got a Certificate in Filmmaking after two years at NYU and continued studying acting at HB. I began finding work in both film production and acting, but time-wise they started to conflict with each other. So, I decided to focus on being in front of the camera. I booked my first paying acting gig on a low-budget action/horror film called The Occultist in 1987. I consider this the beginning of my professional acting career. I spent the next five years in New York City acting in independent films, music videos, and commercials. I also did stage work, performing in off-off Broadway plays, most notably two rarely produced works by Joyce Carol Oates. After building a considerable resume of non-union on-camera work, I realized I had gone as far as I could in NYC, so I decided to move to LA where there was a lot more production happening. In 1992, I made the transition. Within six weeks, I booked my first Hollywood job playing Bill Black, Elvis Presley’s original bass player, for a reenactment of Elvis’ life on the news magazine show Hard Copy. That got me into the Screen Actors Guild. Being fresh to LA, I wanted to meet people and continue exercising my performance muscles, so I decided to try something new to me, improv comedy. I joined a group called The Wild Side Theater and instantly fell in love with this art form.

I continued working on television shows in co-star and guest-star roles in the 1990s. In the 2000s, my on-camera career took a turn and I started to work more in independent films, both features and shorts, while still making occasional TV appearances. Over these next decades, I performed improv comedy all around LA as a member of various troupes including a group I started, Are Ya Talkin’ Ta Me? I also acted in several LA stage plays over the years, including some well-received work in the Hollywood Fringe Festival. In 2014, I joined a filmmaker’s collective called We Make Movies, which inspired even more creative endeavors. I became a writer, director, and producer. My talented wife, Christine DiTillio, whom I frequently work with, wrote a short film script called The Book Club which became a finalist in a We Make Movies Film Challenge. We eventually produced and starred together in The Book Club which is currently making film festival rounds. In 2019, I was one of the winners of another We Make Movies Film Challenge for my short horror film script, Easy To Scare. After a two-year Covid delay, we shot Easy To Scare in 2021 with a wonderful cast including Christine in a very memorable role, and me in the director’s chair. The film is now in the final stages of post-production and will premiere this year.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I don’t think any career in the performing arts is ever going to be smooth! There are too many people vying for too few jobs. But, aside from the numbers struggle, there are unexpected tribulations that come up. When I was in NY, I did a lot of non-union work and after a couple of years, felt I was ready to move up to union jobs. I joined AFTRA (before they merged with SAG) because it was a potential way into SAG. In NYC, I worked background on a soap opera called Loving with the hope that they would throw me a line which would qualify me to join SAG. I worked on that show six times and often asked for just one line, one word even, to make me SAG eligible. Though I was very reliable and readily available to work, they wouldn’t do it. I remember one scene in particular when they had me playing a sanitation worker and one of the principals on the show was speaking directly to me, asking me questions. Instead of letting me answer him, they told me to just nod yes or no. He asked me something like four detailed questions! It was absurd that I couldn’t respond. After that, I didn’t seek any more work on the show. Another time, I was booked on a feature film called New Jack City, which eventually became kind of a cult classic. I was cast to be a member of the Italian gang in the film. This would have made me SAG eligible immediately. I spent a week speaking to production daily on the phone, going over things like wardrobe, location, call times, etc. The night before I was scheduled to arrive on set, they called and asked if I was in SAG. I said no, I thought you were going to Taft-Hartley me. They said sorry, we can’t use you and hung up. I was devastated. Hopes and dreams dashed! It was shortly after that I decided to move to Hollywood to make something happen, and it did. Very quickly, in fact! But, even after becoming a SAG member, other struggles came up.

Most of the people I’ve met and worked with in this industry have been wonderful, but there’s the occasional bad egg. A few times, I was never able to get a copy of my work as I had been promised. Other times, I had to fight for the pay I was supposed to receive, even as a SAG member. The worst case was during a feature film shoot where the writer/producer mishandled the movie’s finances, which resulted in the studio she was renting locking her out. We had shot three-quarters of the film and were never able to complete it. It was a really exciting project that took place in Northern Ireland in the 1970s and had a couple of well-known actors in it. We even had a dialect coach for the Irish accents. I was proud of the work I did on that movie, but never got to see even one frame of it. On top of that, I wasn’t paid for my work. I filed a claim with SAG and they followed up on it, but it took four years to receive only about one-quarter of the pay I should have gotten. What a mess!

Aside from business-related challenges, there’s also personal sacrifice that can be hard. Moving across the country, leaving dear friends and family to start a new life, was not easy. My parents, Katherine and Gabriel, were always supportive of anything I wanted to do in life. We were quite close. Saying goodbye to them was very difficult even though I knew we’d see each other on visits in subsequent years. They’ve both since passed away. My brother Larry DiTillio, a successful television and animation writer who lived in LA, is also no longer with us. Larry was a great guy with a wonderful sense of humor and we had many fun times together. And I still think of and miss my friends whom I grew up with in NY. But I’ve got a lot of great friends and relationships here in LA, and am married to the love of my life, Christine. So, no regrets!

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Way back in the 1980s, I was at a fan convention listening to a talk by horror make-up artist/actor/director Tom Savini who said, “The more you do, the more you get to do.” That’s advice I’ve carried throughout my career which has resulted in me dabbling in many different aspects of the entertainment industry. I’m primarily an actor. In New York, I worked in about a dozen music videos, mostly with rappers, indy films, off-off Broadway plays and a murder mystery troupe. I also did production work in NY including building and working on film sets. In LA, I acted on numerous TV series including NYPD Blue (which was one of my goals when I moved out west), Babylon 5 (thanks to my Bro for getting me in the door), Sliders, Profiler and several other shows. I had guest roles in the soap operas Days of Our Lives, Port Charles and General Hospital. On TV, I’ve played a lot of cops and gangsters but I was also a prizewinner on America’s Funniest People for a sketch I co-wrote with my friend, K.C. Marsh.

I’ve appeared in feature films over the years, most notably Dragon Fighter with Dean Cain, which is currently streaming on Amazon Prime, the remake Night of the Living Dead 3D (in case seeing me in 2D is not enough) and The Mean One, a Christmas horror parody which was released in December 2022 and had a super successful 5-week theatrical run. The Mean One will be returning this holiday season on a TBD streaming service. You may notice a pattern here. I’ve been in many horror films, often in prosthetic make-up as either monster or victim, and that is A-OK with me because it’s one of my favorite genres! I have done dozens of short films including award winners Attack of the Film Festivals, Happy Hour, Tip Toe, Moving Violation, and, of course, The Book Club with my wife Christine. Online, I’ve appeared in a variety of web series including the Facebook Original series Turnt, The Rose Chronicles, for which I was nominated as Best Actor in a Comedy Web Series, and the award-winning live performance Zoom drama, Now, Now, Now… I’ve also done a few commercials and some voice-over work.

On stage and Zoom in LA, I’ve done improv comedy with The Wild Side Theater, LA Connection, Rogue Improv!, Community Improv and my own troupe, Are Ya Talkin’ Ta Me?, which performed frequently at The Comedy Store. Plays in LA include the hit Crappie Talk at Group Repertory Theater and Death Unit at Hollywood Fringe Festival. For three years, I was president of First Stage, one of the earliest script-reading writer’s development organizations in LA, something that is now commonplace.

In print, I wrote an article about my experiences filming Dragon Fighter in Bulgaria which was published in Fangoria Magazine. I was interviewed by Jodi Nelson for the book Confessions of a Working Actor, which is available on Amazon, and by Sam Weisberg for his online guide, Hidden Films, which chronicles rare and obscure movies, such as many of the ones I did early in my career.

On the production side, I’ve worked in all kinds of jobs including PA, grip, lighting, prop master, costumes/wardrobe, set builder, set dresser, stage manager, cameraman, editor, writer, producer and director. For my current short, Easy To Scare, I’ve been engaged in several of these areas!

All the above falls in line with “the more you do, the more you get to do.” I’ve always tried to take advantage of opportunities that were presented to me as long as I felt they were worthwhile.

I’m most proud of my willingness to take on new challenges and my commitment to doing the best job I can no matter what aspect of the industry I happen to be working in. I think what sets me apart from others is I am willing to take risks and I’m not afraid of failing or looking foolish.

What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
When I was younger, I always felt that doing the best job I could would lead to success. Integrity and dedication were essential. That remains true, but there’s a little bit more. Now that I’ve been in the business for decades, I realize that self-confidence may be the most important quality an artist or performer can have. You must deal with a lot of rejection in show biz, sometimes even from those close to you, so the more confidence you have in yourself, the better you will do. I started out well in that department, mostly thanks to my parents. And with years of experience, it’s only gotten better.

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