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Franceso Cura Profile |
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Birth Date: March 7, 1977
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Birth Place: New York City, New York, USA
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Birth Name: Francesco Maria Cura
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Height: 6'2"
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Biography |
Francesco Cura' (full name Francesco Maria Cura', also known
as Francis J. Cura) is an actor, singer, and former male
fashion model born on March 7, 1977.
His parents are Arturo Cura' and Ornella Cardinali. Ornella
moved from Bologna to the mountains near Parma (Bedonia) in
1973 when she married Arturo. Francesco has one older
sister, Valentina Cura', who is a make up artist and artisan
in Parma.
Francesco grew up in Bedonia where he attended the "Giovanni
Agazzi Elementary School”. His father was a local filmmaker,
a painter, a sculptor, a musician, and theatre director, as
well as a television entertainer. Hence, Francesco was
raised in an ultra artistic environment and very encouraged
to explore his creativity. Even from an early age, he showed
artistic ability leaning especially toward visual arts.
Arturo often used Francesco and his sister Valentina for
some of his theatre, film, and television productions. In
one of them (Robe de L'Etru Mondu - 1984) Francesco played a
little devil from a phantasmagoric hell, wearing a mask
built by his father. Shortly after, he became part of
another production at Teatro Orfeo ("Bestie" - 1985), a
comedic and allegoric tour de force in a world where humans
become animals and vice versa. Following these two
productions, he appeared as one of the sons of Pontius Pilot
in "The Passion of the Christ", which partly took place in
the streets of Bedonia and was filmed by the national
television network RAI TRE.
In 1987 his father made a transition to a local television
station (VideoTaro) and decided to use Francesco for a water
commercial (Lynx) during which he portrayed a thirsty Arab
crawling on a desert dune. In 1988 he played the part of an
elementary school student on the variety show during which
he improvised with Domenico Zambelli, who played a
caricature of a teacher.
In the following three years he attended grammar school and,
at the age of fourteen (on September 15th 1991) moves to the
city of Parma. Following his growing passion toward visual
arts, he registers at the famous "Paolo Toschi Art
Institute" and enrolled in the graphic design section. He
became a very talented portraist and developed much interest
in the history of art. Francesco was a great student,
attaining excellent grades - except for math, where he
showed very little interest. But his involvement in the arts
affected his appearance as well. His interest in grind core,
avant-garde, goth, punk, grunge and rock music led him to
wear the thriftiest clothes in town. A pair of “cow pants”
he picked up in Paris became famous throughout the small
town. A rasta hairstyle followed soon after as well as a
colorful mohawk. In his high school -which was famous, and
infamous simultaneously- all of this was considered normal.
Francesco frequented the Irish bar/club Onirica, in Pasubio
Street and often would travel to Bologna to go to the
"Livello 57" punk venue.
During this time a photographer noticed him and asked him to
pose as a modern day Saint Sebastian. The pictures were
meant to be part of an exposition, but shortly after their
shoot the photographer unfortunately died of cancer. Not
long after, another photographer (Corrado Dalco') began to
photograph him, sometimes paired up with his sister and with
friend Corrado Franchini. Francesco started to find more
confidence in front of the camera and immortalized many of
his peculiar street looks alla Johnny Rotten. Valentina
Cura' also became the designer of many of his clothes, one
of which was a metal made hat.
In 1995, before the last year in high school, he decided to
attend school during the night, almost like a call to
maturity. He graduated high school with 58/60 and
contemplated the idea of enrolling at the University of
Parma (Universita' di Parma) to pursue history of Arts. But,
instead, decides that while waiting to begin mandatory civil
service (the alternative to military service) to go move to
Milan (where his sister worked as a make up artist and a
costume designer). So, in September, 1996 he moved to the
smoggy capital of fashion in an attempt to work as a male
model. He lived in a horrid part of town (close to Piazzale
Loreto) which contributed to his hatred toward the city.
Francesco took a few pictures during his time in Milan, but
with little results. He was only nineteen and the
competition was ferocious, so he quit.
In April,1997 Francesco returned to Parma, and began work as
a bartender in the nightclub Kremlin, while concurrently
fulfilling his civil service requirement working for the
Provincia di Parma. In July of that year he began studies at
the Academy of Music of Parma where he met soprano Caterina
Grandi, who he would train with as a tenor for the next
year. Revealing a four-octave range, he started to train as
a sopranista (the so called castrato), tenor and baritone,
worked intensely on the baroque repertoire and developed a
deep interest toward music. Mrs. Grandi tried to convince
Francesco to continue operatic training in Milan, but he
refused to go back to the city and had also begun leaning
more toward blues, jazz, soul and R&B than opera. With this
revelation, he decided to move to the United States to
pursue a music career more centered on popular music.
On November 2, 1998, with his civil service mandate
completed, Francesco left Italy – destination New York, NY.
Francesco arrived in New York City on a sunny November day.
He took a cab from the Newark International Airport to a
hostile on 83rd Street and Columbus Avenue. He stayed there
only two days and then moved with a friend to a four-bedroom
house on Washington and Myrtle Avenue in Brooklyn, and then
to Park Place and Washington Avenue. Within a couple of
months, Francesco moved to Manhattan at 300 East 79th Street
and finally settled in a one-bedroom apartment on 78th
Street and Second Avenue.
While working as a bartender (one of the many odd jobs he
found in the big apple) he started to check out the prices
of singing schools (Juilliard especially) but the costs were
far too high for his pockets. He also searches the Village
Voice for recording studios, but, likewise, his finances
wouldn’t allow him to do anything. One day, while trying to
find a recording studio on Bleecker Street, he happened to
see an acting school. He walked in and saw a stage - the
same sort of stage on which he performed some fifteen years
earlier. It totally fascinated him and consequently he tried
to enroll at the HB Studio, but the overwhelming number of
students kept him from being accepted. He then decides to
train at the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute. On April 3rd
2000 he began an intensive method training that would become
his fundamental acting tool. |
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Other Information |
Changed his hair color four times a week during his youth -
he has had dreadlocks, a rasta, a mohawk and purple and
green hair.
Francesco is a classically trained opera singer with a
four-octave range.
Is an accomplished artist. He in fact, degreed as a Graphic
Designer and Art History Specialist from a prestigious
visual arts school in Europe.
Was voted the "Most Beautiful Guy" for two consecutive years
at his high school of over 1,000 students. |
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