| Nico Mirallegro | |
|---|---|
| Born | Nico Cristian Mirallegro 26 January 1991 Manchester, Greater Manchester |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 2007-present |
Nico Cristian Mirallegro (born 26 January 1991 Manchester, England)[1] is a British actor who played the role of Barry "Newt" Newton in the British soap opera Hollyoaks between 22 October 2007 and 25 June 2010.
His father is Sicilian and his mother is Irish-English.[2] A native of Manchester, he portrayed "Newt", an emo teenager who is the foster child of Jack and Frankie Osborne in Hollyoaks. In a backstage video produced by Channel 4, Mirallegro insisted that he was nothing like his character. He wore a wig and fake lip-piercing to portray him.[2] Prior to winning the role, he was a student, starting in February 2007, at the Manchester School of Acting. At the same time as filming for Hollyoaks, he was also playing Cam Spencer in web series LOL, which explores sex, drugs and relationships.[3]
He has a younger sister called Claudia Marissa, born in 1992.
In March 2010 the new producer Paul Marquess axed a string of characters in a bid to shake up the show. Nico Mirallegro was not part of this cull; he quit in September 2009 to work on other projects.[4] His last day of filming on Hollyoaks was 29 April 2010. His character 'Newt' left the show on 25 June 2010, in a storyline about moving to Scotland to live with his mother and baby brother Jensen.
Nico Mirallegro filmed a short film by Plato Films and All-Seeing Eye Productions, called Six Minutes of Freedom,[5] in July 2009, between filming for Hollyoaks. Nico stars as a troubled teenager called Chris who is training to be a boxer. Nico's sister Claudia also makes an appearance. This film was entered into four film festivals. On 31 August 2010, Plato Films announced that Six Minutes of Freedom won Best New Wave Short Film at the Yellow Fever International.
Six Minutes of Freedom was released for download at Mi Shorts on January 12, 2011, following a successful festival run in the summer of 2010.
On November 10, 2010, Nico appeared as a gay character called Jamie, who suffers bullying (because of his sexuality) in an episode of series 2 of the BBC drama series Moving On.[6][6] The episode is called "Losing My Religion".
Nico recently appeared as a guest in nine episodes of the regular BBC series Doctors; this was announced on June 7, 2010 in an article by Digital Spy.[7] He appeared in the role of Italian foreign exchange student Giovanni Mannasorri, who arrived in Letherbridge to study at university. His first episode in this role was shown on September 24.
Nico recently finished filming for his role in McQueen the Movie by Bitter Sweet Pictures. He plays Sam, a young Jewish lad (one of the two main protagonists of the story: Sam and Nick). The movie is set in suburbia in the North of England in the 1990s.
From the 26th to the 28th of December 2010, Nico appeared in the BBC1 1930's period remake of Upstairs Downstairs. He played a young footman called Johnny Proude, who took up a position in service to escape the poverty of the Northern mining town where he was born. In the first episode, Johnny Proude got into trouble with the police within his first week of service at 165 Eaton Place, and was sent away to a borstal, but returned in the third episode.
On the 10th of February 2011, the BBC Press Office announced that the series has been re-commissioned for a further six episodes, which will be shown in 2012.[8]
In May 2011, Nico Mirallegro appeared in the BBC's 3-part psychological thriller Exile, playing the teenage version of leading character Tom Ronstadt (played by John Simm).
20 September 2011 Nico played the role of Sam; a gay heroin addict in the BBC drama The Body Farm [9] Sam was a key witness in the central murder plot of the story.