| Rocco Siffredi | |
|---|---|
Rocco Siffredi in January 2010 at the AVN Awards in Las Vegas |
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| Born | Rocco Antonio Tano 4 May 1964 Ortona, Abruzzo, Italy |
| Other names | Rocco Lorenz, Ginger Rocco, Dario, Rocco Siffedi, Rocco Sifferdi, Rocco Sifredi, Rocky Siffreddy, Roco Siffredi, The Italian Stallion |
| No. of adult films | 452 as actor 251 as director |
| Website | |
| http://www.roccosiffredi.com/ | |
Rocco Siffredi (born Rocco Antonio Tano, 4 May 1964, in Ortona, Abruzzo)[1][2] is the stage name of an Italian pornographic actor, director and producer of pornographic movies, famous for his rough sex scenes. As of October 2011, he has starred in more than 450 pornographic films.[3]
Rocco took his stage name from the character "Roch Siffredi" played by Alain Delon in the French gangster film Borsalino (1970).[4] He is also known as the "Italian Stallion".
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Siffredi met porn actor Gabriel Pontello in a French sex club in 1984. The actor introduced Siffredi to producer Marc Dorcel and director Michel Ricaud, who cast him in his first pornographic role, Belle d'Amour (1989). Siffredi then stepped away from porn and worked as a fashion model, but returned to the business after two years with the help of porn actress Teresa Orlowski.[5] Siffredi went on to perform in both plot-based and gonzo-style pornography, with styles of sex ranging from conservative to extreme. However, it was Siffredi's performances involving rough sex, anal sex and analingus, and his psychological intensity and athleticism, that earned him recognition and ultimately a cult following. Through collaboration with John Stagliano's Evil Angel studio, and then his own Budapest-based Rocco Siffredi Produzioni as both a performer and director, "Rocco" became one of the most powerful and recognizable personalities in pornography. "Rocco has far more power in this industry than any actress," John Stagliano commented in 2001.[6]
Siffredi's rough sex performances include spitting, slapping, spanking, deep throat, irrumatio, urolagnia, hair pulling, choking and general roughhousing. Despite these sexual practices becoming more common in pornography in the 2000s, Siffredi's on-screen behavior is distinct from most present-day depictions of dominant men in sadomasochistic or erotic humiliation scenes. He often places himself in submissive poses, such as smothering his face with an actress's feet or buttocks, or accepting physical retorts such as slaps across the face. He is also known for pouring verbal praise on his co-stars during scenes, and indeed he is revered in some facets of Italian popular culture as a romantic. Siffredi on rare occasion portrays the submissive fully, in films like Rocco More than Ever in London 2, Animal Trainer 11, and Marquis de Sade, appearing in drag in the latter. Actress Bobbi Starr noted of Siffredi, "[A]ny girl in the industry who has been with him . . . will tell you that they have done things with him that they [would] never do with anyone else."[7] Speaking of his female partners, Siffredi says, "I want to see emotion . . . fear . . . excitement . . . the eyes going up from being surprised."[8]
Siffredi's most iconic and notorious performance may be alongside Sidony Lavour (Lamour) in 1995's Sandy Insatiable, which depicts him forcing the actress' head into a flush toilet during anal sex. In 2009's Rocco Returns to L.A., Siffredi recounts the production of the scene as both spontaneous and consensual, before re-enacting it with an insistent Bobbi Starr. Siffredi is known for several long-term professional partnerships: his series of torrid performances with Kelly Stafford, his world travels and video productions with John Stagliano and his mentoring of and on-screen performance alongside Nacho Vidal. He is known for including members of the "Rocco Siffredi Fun Club" (his fan club) and anonymous local European men in his films, and for staging productions and seeking female talent in varied locales including Budapest, Prague, Russia, Brazil and Canada. Although different in tone than his famous gonzo films, Siffredi is also known for his performance in 1995's Tarzan X: Shame of Jane (originally known as Jungle Heat) alongside his wife Rosa Caracciolo.
In June 2004, Siffredi declared that he would retire from performing in porn for the sake of his children, and instead focus on direction and production. "My children are growing up," he said, "and I can no longer just say 'Dad is going to work to make money for the family.' They want to know more."[9] Regarding Siffredi's long career, Axel Braun commented, "The problem is that he's been trying for years to find an 'heir to the throne,' but it's no easy task. He thought he found him in Nacho Vidal, but then Nacho went his own way."[10] Siffredi, while continuing to direct, was largely absent as an on-screen performer for nearly 5 years. However sexual frustration, and disappointment as a director with his male talent and the state of the porn industry overall, led Siffredi to return as a performer in 2009.[8]
Siffredi is one of a few porn actors to enjoy crossover appeal and success with respect to other segments of the adult-film industry, as well as some in mainstream media. As a primary example, although his acting has been restricted exclusively to heterosexual pornography, his good looks have resulted in his attracting a large gay audience. In December 1990, Siffredi was selected to pose as the nude centerfold in the adult mainstream magazine Playgirl. Accompanying him on the cover was the caption, "At last! A centerfold to die for!"
In 1999, he appeared in the controversial Catherine Breillat film Romance. His performance in this role was followed by a part specifically written for him by the same director in her 2003 film Anatomie de L'enfer (Anatomy of Hell), in which he plays a gay man who becomes sexually involved with a woman. Both films feature unsimulated sexual scenes involving Siffredi, although it is disputed whether he actually has intercourse with co-star Caroline Ducey in Romance. (She says no, Siffredi says yes.)[11]
Siffredi is also visible in non-pornographic roles on Italian television, including:
Siffredi is married to Rosa Caracciolo, whom he met in 1993 in Cannes, and performed with 2 years later in Tarzan X: Shame of Jane. Together they have two sons Lorenzo and Leonardo.[12] Upon his decision to return to on-screen pornographic performance in 2009, Siffredi recounted, "I spoke with my wife and she said it’s my problem only, it doesn’t belong to her and the boys. And she said, 'You decide to stop, we never ask you. So if you want to go back, just go back.'"[8]
Siffredi has discussed having genital herpes.[13]
Siffredi has won nearly 40 AVN awards (list) since 1991's Buttman's Ultimate Workout including:
He has also won:
He was recently voted #10 in AVN's list of the Top 50 Porn Stars of All Time. He has received numerous other awards, including the prestigious Hot D'Or Platinum Award and induction into the XRCO Hall of Fame.