Giancarlo "Gian" Sammarco (born 30 January 1970) is an English nurse and former

child actor The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting on stage, television, or in film, movies. An adult who began their acting career as a child may also be called a child actor, or a "former child actor". Closely associa ...

. He is best known for playing the

title role The title character in a narrative work is one who is named or referred to in the title of the work. In a performed work such as a play or film, the performer who plays the title character is said to have the title role of the piëce. The title o ...

in the television dramatisations of '' The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾'' (1985) and its sequel, '' The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole'' (1987).

Early life and education

Born in

Northampton Northampton ( ) is a town and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is the county town of Northamptonshire and the administrative centre of the Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority of West Northamptonshire. The town is sit ...

, England, the son of Jacqueline and Pietro Salvatore Sammarco, Gian Sammarco is one of a large family of Italian descent. He attended Kingsthorpe Upper School (now Kingsthorpe College) in that town. The artistic director of the Royal Theatre in Northampton,

Michael Napier Brown Michael Patrick Napier-Brown (17 March 1937 – 18 August 2016) was a British actor, theatre director, and playwright who was the chief executive and artistic director of the Royal Theatre in Northampton for over 20 years. Early years Born in ...

, selected Sammarco from 200 boys who auditioned to appear in his first theatre production, '' The Innocents''.

Career

He was among 100 boys auditioned by

Thames Television Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a franchise holder for a region of the British ITV television network serving London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until the night of 31 December 1992. Thames Television broa ...

for the role of Adrian Mole, having been suggested by

. Napier Brown also recommended another actor, Lindsey Stagg, also from Northampton, who won the role of Pandora Braithwaite. In 1987 he toured the UK in the play ''Widow's Weeds'' by Anthony Shaffer. Apart from the two series of 'Adrian Mole', Sammarco's other television appearances included an interview on '' Des O'Connor Tonight'' (1985), co-presenting the first series of the children's Saturday morning show '' Get Fresh'' (1986), playing Whizzkid in the 1988 ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

'' story '' The Greatest Show in the Galaxy'', and the geeky trainspotter in the '' Press Gang'' episode " Something Terrible" (1990). His last acting role was in the 1990 children's

Indiana Jones ''Indiana Jones'' is an American media franchise consisting of five films and a prequel television series, along with games, comics, and tie-in novels, that depicts the adventures of Indiana Jones (character), Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, ...

-style comedy series, ''Jackson Pace: The Great Years'', alongside Keith Allen and

Josie Lawrence Josie Lawrence (born Wendy Lawrence; 6 June 1959) is an English actress and comedian. She is best known for her work with the Comedy Store Players improvisational troupe, the television series '' Whose Line Is It Anyway?'' and as Manda Best in ...

Personal life

In August 1990, Sammarco married Stephanie Bates at the Northampton Register Office. Bates was a fan of the Adrian Mole series and had written to him regularly until the relationship blossomed. Sammarco and Bates had a son, Jonathan, who was born 19 January 1992. Sammarco then gave up acting soon after the birth of his son and trained as a nurse. He is now a psychiatric nurse at the Berrywood Hospital in Northampton. In 1998, he subsequently married Joanne Young, a nursing colleague, and continues to live in Northampton.'The Strange Secret Life of Adrian Mole, 29 3 /4; Growing Pains: Twice Married Giancarlo Sammarco Goes From Child Star to Geriatric Nurse'
'' Scottish Daily Record'' 1999

Filmography

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sammarco, Gian 1970 births English male child actors English male television actors English people of Italian descent Living people Male actors from Northampton