GETTING TO KNOW: ADAMO RUGGIERO

Adamo Ruggiero

On Degrassi: The Next Generation, Adamo Ruggiero takes his role playing Marco Del Rossi, a gay teen, very seriously. He chatted with TEEN magazine about the importance of playing what can be a controversial character and dishes on his co-stars.

Teenmag: How are you and your character Marco alike and different?
Adam Ruggiero: We are alike in that he is a peacekeeper. He doesn't really have any enemies and whenever there are fights or problems happening, he is always breaking them up and trying to heal the deal and make sure all his friends are not hating each other. He is kind of like the peacekeeper and that is definitely how I am with my friends. I think in terms of how we're different...he's a lot more eccentric than I am. He's just very charismatic and very colorful with his clothes and he's totally comfortable to be up there and run for student senate and talk in front of a whole school. I am a little more "lay low" than that. I'm a little bit more chill; not as eccentric. I'd be the last one to take on school president.

Teenmag: How has it been playing a gay role as a teenager?
AR: Well, at first when I heard that my character was going to have the whole sexual orientation dilemma, I was a little bit nervous because I know that there are a lot of kids out there, especially going to high school, and I have so many friends around me dealing with this, so I really wanted to do a good job. I didn't want it to be stereotypical which would be the main thing a lot of people are expecting, so I was worried about making this character stereotypical. When I took this character, I thought, "Who is this person on his own? Let's forget about sexuality, let's forget about race, let's forget about everything. What's his style, what's his disposition, what's his personality and then somehow trace in the gay thing and trace in the Italian thing with my character." So, I just try and make it an aspect of a character that he already was in order to try and avoid the stereotype. Making it so it's not the ultimate definer.

Teenmag: Have you had any strange fan encounters?
AR: There's been random things. There's a few things that happened that we're all like "wow". But I think the most obvious and recent thing for sure that wasn't creepy, but was just very overwhelming was when Lauren and I went to NYC for a mall tour. Lauren and I are always afraid that people won't show up. But, it was one of the first situations where, we were just sitting there and there were so many fans to the point where the fire department closed them down because people were getting trampled and bloody noses. It turned into this riot and we were so beside ourselves because it seemed surreal to us. And then we all hopped in a cop car and it escorted us out because these fans were just really into it. I had just never seen that before. Lauren and I felt really weird. I mean, for us, why? And then I came home to Toronto and had to take the garbage out and go back to school, so it's just a huge drastic change that really blew my mind.

Teenmag: Any on set romance for you?
AR: In terms of me and someone else? No. But there have been on set romances, but I am going to have to definitely keep that on the DL. They would all hate me.

Teenmag: Where would you like to see yourself five years from now?
AR: Well, first off. I'd first like to see myself with a (university) degree. I
hope I can pull that off. I just think that's really important. While I was
growing up, I have always been really dedicated to school. With the acting, it's a challenge, so I really hope to balance both and pull that off. In terms of my career, I hope in five years I will be able to be in a position
where I can look back and show that I have proved my diversity. I know that Degrassi, me playing a gay character for a few years, can really set the stereotype or even lower expectations of what people might think and not expect that much afterwards. So, I hope that I can prove that wrong and show that I can take on diverse projects and diverse roles. Also, hopefully, I can participate in something that's not just acting, like
behind the screens or something. Do something along the lines of writing and doing my own thing and just kinda letting my own creativity fly out and seeing how I can mix that with my experience in the industry.