Juan Pablo Di Pace (born 25 July 1979) is an Argentine actor, director, dancer and musician. He began his career in the United Kingdom, performing in a number of musicals and appearing in films like Survival Island (2005) and Mamma Mia! (2008). He later moved to Spain, starring in several television series from 2009 to 2012. In 2013, Di Pace moved to Los Angeles where he starred as Nicolas Treviño in the TNT drama series Dallas. And in 2014 he was cast as Jesus Christ in the NBC limited series A.D. The Bible Continues which earned him a Movieguide Award for Best Male Performance. From 2016 to 2020, he played the role of Kimmy Gibbler's estranged husband, Fernando, on Fuller House, a spin-off series of Full House. In 2024, Juan Pablo wrote, co-directed and starred in the film Duino, his directorial debut feature alongside Andres P. Estrada (co-director) and executive produced by Norman Lear.

Juan Pablo Di Pace
Born (1979-07-25) 25 July 1979 (age 45)
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Occupation(s)Actor, director, singer
Years active1999–present

Early life and education

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Di Pace was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and moved to Spain when he was twelve. He was raised Catholic.[1] He lived in London for ten years.[2] He speaks fluent Spanish, Italian and English. At age 17, he was awarded a scholarship to attend the United World College of the Adriatic in Duino, Trieste, Italy, later studied theatre at the London Studio Centre and at the HB Studio in New York City.

Career

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Prior to joining the big screen, he played the role of Danny Zuko in the Trieste production of Grease in Italy, partly directed by Di Pace. In 2003, he appeared in the London production of the Bob Fosse musical Chicago. For one year, he starred as Tony Manero in the 2009–2010 Spanish production of Saturday Night Fever in Madrid, with songs by The Bee Gees, produced by Stage Entertainment - which won him the title of "triple threat" by the European press. In 2011-12 he starred in the original Spanish production of Más de 100 Mentiras produced by Drive Entertainment, based on the songs of Spanish legend Joaquin Sabina. [3] In 2017 he premiered his solo show in New York's 54 Below, which was nominated for Best "One Person Show"at the Broadway World Awards.

Di Pace has made several appearances on British television, such as the BBC One comedy The Catherine Tate Show, BBC One film Aftersun, BBC One series New Tricks and BBC Scotland soap River City, which he joined in 2005 playing the character of Luca Rossi.[4] His on-screen debut was in the 2005 film Survival Island.[5] He is also featured in Mamma Mia! (2008).

Upon moving to Spain he played regular roles in TV series such as Supercharly, Angel o Demonio, Los Hombres de Paco, 90-60-90, and El Don de Alba. In 2011 he starred in the final season of Física o Química,. Di Pace also starred in the video for the 2004 Eric Prydz hit "Call On Me". In the video, he is the only man amongst a group of women in an aerobics class. He also directed and starred in the sequel What a Feeling by Hughes Corporation in 2006, which is loosely based on dance sequences from Flashdance and Dirty Dancing. In 2008 he directed a music video for Katie Melua. In 2009 he appeared on the music video Time Is Running Out by Muse.

In 2013, Di Pace moved to the US and was cast as series regular billionaire businessman Nicolas Treviño for season 3 of the TNT drama series Dallas.[6][7][8]

In 2014. Roma Downey and Mark Burnett cast Juan Pablo as Jesus Christ in the NBC series A.D. The Bible Continues [1] which earned him a "Grace" Award at the 2016 Movieguide Awards. [2]

In 2016, Di Pace appeared in a recurring role as Fernando, the fiancé and ex-husband of Kimmy Gibbler on the Netflix series Fuller House.[9] Starting in the second season he was promoted to the main cast, playing the role for 5 seasons until the show's end in 2020.

In 2018, he was announced as one of the celebrities to compete on season 27 of Dancing with the Stars, being paired with the professional dancer Cheryl Burke.[10] Despite earning five perfect scores and holding the highest average of the season, they were eliminated in the semi-finals. Len Goodman along with judges Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli, expressed their outrage for the results. A frustrated Len said, “I know the Americans, we like fair play but mostly we like justice. And there’s no justice here.”[3] Fans of the TV show deemed Juan Pablo's premature exit “ridiculous,” an “injustice” and “not acceptable.” [4]

in 2024, Di Pace wrote, starred and produced his debut feature film "Duino" [5] (formerly known as "For Another Time") executive produced by Norman Lear and Brent Miller (producer), [6] and co-directed by Andres P. Estrada -editor of Argentina, 1985, the 2022 Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film. [7]. "Duino" premiered in the US at Frameline Film Festival and won "Best International Feature" at Rio LGBTQIA+ Festival Internacional de Cinema.

Personal life

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Di Pace came out publicly in March 2019 while giving a TEDx talk at the United World College Maastricht in The Netherlands called "The Story of Your Life".

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role Notes
2004 Piccadilly Jim Ben Uncredited
2005 Three Manuel Alternative title: Survival Island
2006 Aftersun Felipe TV film
2008 Mamma Mia! Petros
2009 Tutti intorno a Linda
2013 Rubenesque Hernandez TV film
2015 Fuera de foco Marcos
2016 After the Reality Dunkin
2018 Admission Russo Short
2020 Dashing in December Heath TV film
2021 Resurrection Jesus
Raise a Glass to Love Marcelo Castillo TV film
2023 The Mattachine Family Oscar
2024 Branching Out T.J. Cruz TV film
2024 Duino Matias Also co-director

Television

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Year Title Role Notes
2005 New Tricks Antonio Episode: "Fluke of Luck"
Mile High Vito Garcia Episode: "2.23"
2005–06 River City Luca Rossi Recurring role (2 episodes)
2006 The Catherine Tate Show Salsa Dancer Episode: "1951–2006"
2009 Los hombres de Paco Carlo Episode: "Todos los planes de Lucas Fernández"
2010 Supercharly Recurring role (5 episodes)
2011 Ángel o demonio Episode: "El demonio de los celos"
Física o Química Xavi López Recurring role (7 episodes)
2013 El don de Alba Víctor Recurring role (4 episodes)
Camp Miguel Santos Recurring role (5 episodes)
2014 Dallas Nicolas Treviño Main cast (15 episodes)
2015 A.D. The Bible Continues Jesus Christ Recurring role (5 episodes)
Tango Americano Tango singer TV Miniseries
2016 Rosewood Antonio Espada Episode: "Silkworms y Silencio"
2016–20 Fuller House Fernando Hernandez-Guerrero-Fernandez-Guerrero Main cast (69 episodes)
2017 Angie Tribeca Ricardo Vasquez Episode: "Welcome Back, Blotter"
2018 Dancing with the Stars Himself Contestant on Season 27; 5th Place
2020 Minutiae Tomás Series regular
2022 Travesuras de la niña mala Ricardo Somocurcio Main cast

Theatre

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Year Play Role Venue Notes
1999 Grease Danny Zuko Silvio Pellico Theatre, Trieste
2000 Boléro Performer Sadler's Wells Theatre, London
2002 Chicago Aaron Adelphi Theatre, London with The Weissler Company
2009–10 Saturday Night Fever Tony Manero Teatro Coliseum, Madrid with Stage Entertainment
2012 More Than 100 Lies Juan Teatro Rialto, Madrid with Drive Entertainment
2012–13 Primer Acto (One Man Show) Juan Pablo Pequeño Teatro, Madrid

Awards and nominations

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Year Award Category Work Result
2012 Mi Butaquita Theatre Awards Best One Man Show Primer Acto (One Man Show) Won
2016 MovieGuide Awards Most Inspiring Performance in Television A.D. The Bible Continues Won
MovieGuide Awards Best Actor - Television A.D. The Bible Continues Won

References

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  1. ^ "Playing Jesus: Actor Spends a Night Under the Stars in the Desert to Get in Character". 3 December 2015.
  2. ^ Gonzalez, Maricela (24 February 2014). "'Dallas': Josh Henderson and EP Cynthia Cidre preview a wild season 3". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 10 December 2019.
  3. ^ "Entrevista Juan Pablo Di Pace - Más De 100 Mentiras". YouTube. 14 November 2011. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 25 February 2014.
  4. ^ Paul English (31 October 2013). "From River City to Dallas: Former Shieldinch star Juan Pablo Di Pace set for starring role in oil barons' soap". Daily Record. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  5. ^ Jonathan Trout (24 April 2006). "Three". BBC. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  6. ^ "'Dallas': Juan Pablo di Pace Joins Season 3". Hollywoodreporter.com. 17 November 2011. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  7. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (October 2013). "TNT's 'Falling Skies' & 'Dallas' Add Regulars". Deadline.com. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  8. ^ + data.results.personName +. "'Dallas' Season 3: 'Camp's' Juan Pablo Di Pace takes on the Ewings - Zap2it". Blog.zap2it.com. Archived from the original on 31 October 2013. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  9. ^ Fuller House Adds Dallas Troublemaker Juan Pablo Di Pace as Kimmy's Ex
  10. ^ Murphy, Desiree (12 September 2018). "'Dancing With the Stars' Season 27 Cast Revealed -- Meet the Celebs and Their Pro Partners!". Entertainment Tonight. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
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