Dane DiLiegro

Dane Robert DiLiegro ( ; born August 6, 1988) is an American actor and former basketball player. DiLiegro played professional basketball for eight seasons for teams in Italy and Israel. DiLiegro has appeared in productions such as ''Running Point'', ''American Horror Stories'', '' Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3'', and starred as the Predator in the film ''Prey'', which currently holds the record for biggest film or TV series premiere in Hulu history.

Career

Basketball

After graduating from Lexington High School in 2006, DiLiegro went on to spend a year at Worcester Academy, where he refined his skills as a basketball player in the school's postgraduate program. He averaged 11 points, 10 rebounds, and 4 blocks at Worcester. This led to DiLiegro receiving a full athletic scholarship to play at the University of New Hampshire.

As a four-year starter for the New Hampshire Wildcats from 2007 to 2011, DiLiegro found his place on the team through defense, rebounding, and outworking his opponents. He graduated from UNH in May 2011 with the second-highest number of rebounds in program history. DiLiegro made ESPN's Top Ten plays of the day on February 19, 2009, for a dunk.

After going undrafted in the 2011 NBA draft, DiLiegro went on to play in Europe, being a part of Assi Basket Ostuni, (Ostuni, Italy), Dinamo Sassari (Sassari, Sardinia, Italy), Pallacanestro Trieste (Trieste, Italy), Hapoel Gilboa Galil, (Gan Ner, Israel), Mens Sana 1871 Basket (Siena, Italy), Tezenis Verona (Verona, Italy), and Pallacanestro Forlì (Forlì, Italy).

DiLiegro won a gold medal with Team USA as a basketball player at the 18th Maccabiah Games in 2009 in Israel.

Acting

In 2019, DiLiegro was invited to work as a stand-in on ''Free Guy'', which was filming in his native Boston. While on the set, stunt coordinator Chris O’Hara suggested to DiLiegro to look into acting. Just two weeks later, DiLiegro was cast to play Protein in the Netflix show '' Sweet Home''. The role required him to wear a foam latex suit weighing 80 pounds. He followed it by playing Master Chief in an Xbox commercial. In 2021, he portrayed the titular character Ba'al in the fifth episode of ''American Horror Stories''. He starred as the main antagonist in the 2022 Doja Cat music video for Get Into It (yuh). DiLiegro appeared in the Tom DeLonge-directed ''Monsters of California''.

He stars in the ''Predator'' film ''Prey'' as the Predator; He performed all the acting, stunts and motion capture of the creature. Prior to filming, he lost 25 pounds and spent months training parkour, martial arts and strengthening his neck due to the new design of the Predator, which sat the 15 pound animatronic head on top of his head, forcing him to shoot every scene essentially blind.

DiLiegro conducted a substantial amount of research in preparation for his role as the Predator:

Director Dan Trachtenberg on DiLiegro's performance:

In 2022, Comic Book Resources named DiLiegro among the top ten monster actors of all time.

DiLiegro appeared in the 2023 Marvel film '' Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3''. In 2024, DiLiegro starred in the Blumhouse film ''Imaginary'' as the final antagonist production, '' Star Wars: Skeleton Crew''.

DiLiegro appears in the series ''Running Point'', as a recurring character Badrag Knauss, a Slovenian player who, although massive in stature and at times quite blunt, often surprises the team with his thoughtfulness. The series premiered in 2025 and is penned by Mindy Kaling, Ike Barinholtz, and David Stassen, for Netflix.

Personal life

DiLiegro currently resides in Los Angeles.

DiLiegro is Jewish. He holds American, Italian, and Israeli citizenship. His father is of Italian descent, with roots in Gaeta and Canosa di Puglia, and his mother is Jewish.

DiLiegro's father played basketball and wrestled at the University of New Hampshire, and his brother played basketball for the Syracuse Orange from 2003 to 2007.

Starting in 2016, in his off time, DiLiegro served as an apprentice under famed Tuscan butcher Dario Cecchini for multiple years; they maintain a close friendship to this day.

As of 2019, DiLiegro hosts a culinary travel series on YouTube called Adventure Monday.

In August 2022, DiLiegro officiated the wedding of his friend, Kelly Olynyk.

As of early 2025, DiLiegro is currently dating Olivia Wilde.

Filmography

Film

Television

Music video

Commercial

References

External links

Dane DiLiegro
at sportingpulse.com, LNP

Dane DiLiegro
at eurocupbasketball.com, Eurocup

Dane DiLiegro
at euroleague.net Euroleague

Bio
at unhwildcats.com
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Diliegro, Dane
1988 births
Living people
21st-century American male actors
Basketball players from Massachusetts
Dinamo Sassari players
Male actors from Massachusetts
New Hampshire Wildcats men's basketball players
Pallacanestro Trieste players
Sportspeople from Lexington, Massachusetts
American people of Italian descent
Jewish American male actors