Connor Paolo (born July 11, 1990) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Eric van der Woodsen on

the CW The CW Network, LLC (commonly referred to as The CW or simply CW) is an American commercial broadcast television network which is controlled by Nexstar Media Group through a 75% ownership interest. The network's name is derived from the firs ...

's teen drama series ''

Gossip Girl ''Gossip Girl'' is an American teen drama television series created and developed by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage and based on the series of novels of the same name by Cecily von Ziegesar. It follows a group of students on Manhattan's ...

'' and Declan Porter on the ABC drama series ''

Revenge Revenge is defined as committing a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance, be it real or perceived. Vengeful forms of justice, such as primitive justice or retributive justice, are often differentiated from more fo ...

''. He has also appeared in two

Oliver Stone William Oliver Stone (born ) is an American filmmaker. Stone is an acclaimed director, tackling subjects ranging from the Vietnam War and American politics to musical film, musical Biographical film, biopics and Crime film, crime dramas. He has ...

films, ''

Alexander Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here ar ...

'' (2004) and '' World Trade Center'' (2006).

Personal life

Paolo was born in New York City, the son of Julia Mendelsohn, a vocal coach and classical pianist, and Colin Paolo, a writer and screenwriter. He attended, beginning in 2006, the

Professional Performing Arts School The Professional Performing Arts School, colloquially known as PPAS, is a public middle and high school specializing in the performing arts, located in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. PPAS maintains professional pa ...

alongside Sarah Hyland, Paul Iacono and Taylor Momsen. He took acting classes at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute. Paolo also attended Appel Farm Arts and Music Center Summer Arts Camp located in Elmer, New Jersey for several summers. He attended

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

for one semester in fall 2008.

Career

Paolo played a preteen murderer-rapist in an episode of '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit''. In 2004, he was on ''

One Life to Live ''One Life to Live'' (often abbreviated as ''OLTL'') is an American soap opera broadcast on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC television network for more than 43 years, from July 15, 1968, to January 13, 2012, and then on the internet as ...

'' as Travis O'Connell, a recurring character. Paolo also made a return appearance on ''Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'', playing a disturbed teenager based on the real case of Justin Berry. He made his motion picture debut in

Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western (genre), Western TV series ''Rawhide (TV series), Rawhide'', Eastwood rose to international fame with his role as the "Ma ...

's Oscar-nominated ''

Mystic River The Mystic River is a riverU.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 in Massachusetts. In the Massachusett language, means "large estuary", alluding to the tidal ...

'' (2003), playing young Sean. Other films include '' World Trade Center'' for Oliver Stone in 2006; '' Snow Angels'' (2007), directed by David Gordon Green; and ''Favorite Son'' (2008), his first leading role. Paolo has a background in

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...

and commercials. He has appeared on the Broadway stage in the hit musical ''

The Full Monty ''The Full Monty'' is a 1997 comedy film directed by Peter Cattaneo, starring Robert Carlyle, Mark Addy, William Snape, Steve Huison, Tom Wilkinson, Paul Barber and Hugo Speer. The screenplay was written by Simon Beaufoy. The film is set ...

''. In 2010, he starred in the vampire apocalypse film '' Stake Land'' directed by

Jim Mickle Jim Mickle (born 1979) is an American director and writer, known for such films as ''Mulberry Street (film), Mulberry Street'', ''Stake Land'', ''We Are What We Are (2013 film), We Are What We Are'' and ''Cold in July (film), Cold in July''. He ...

. From 2007 to 2011, Paolo had a supporting role on

television series ''

'', where he played Eric van der Woodsen, the brother of lead character

Serena van der Woodsen Serena Celia van der Woodsen Humphrey is a fictional character in the '' Gossip Girl'' novel series and in its TV adaptation, in which she is portrayed by Blake Lively. Serena is featured on the blog of the series' mysterious narrator, "Gossip ...

. His last regular appearance was in the sixth season. In April 2011, Paolo joined the cast of ABC's dramatic series ''

''. In August 2011, Paolo stated that he would be taking on the new series ''Revenge'' full-time and his character Eric van der Woodsen on ''Gossip Girl'' would no longer appear on the show. He, however, returned to ''Gossip Girl'' for a brief appearance during the

series finale A series finale is the final installment of an episodic entertainment series, most often a television series. It may also refer to a final theatrical sequel, the last part of a television miniseries, the last installment of a literary series, ...

. Paolo exited ''Revenge'' in May 2013, after his character was written off the second season finale. In 2020, '' Variety'' announced Paolo was joining the cast of the Chris Blake quarantine comedy '' Distancing Socially''. The film was shot at the height of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

in 2020, using remote technologies and the iPhone 11. The film was acquired and released by Cinedigm in October 2021.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Music videos

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Paolo, Connor 1990 births 21st-century American male actors American male child actors American male film actors American male soap opera actors American male television actors American male video game actors living people male actors from New York City