Biography
Walter Nudo was born in Montreal (Canada) on June 2, 1970. He's the son of immigrants and his first steps are taken on the outskirts of the big city, in those areas well described by De Niro with all the difficulties that assimilation bring on. In 1980 he moved to Genoa, Italy with his family. In 1994 he received a call from M. Costanzo to take part in the "Maurizio Costanzo Show". He becomes a regular guest everyday for eight months. This is the starting point for his first jobs in Italy: TV and film.
Once again, another bet changes the course of his life. While having dinner at a friend's house, someone challenges him: "You're tall and big but you'll never have the courage to jump into the ring!" Two months later he's already in the ring. He fights with a boxer who already has 45 matches to his credit, their match ends in a tie. From '96 to '97 he faces ten matches in the Heavyweight and Super heavyweight categories. He wins the regional and interregional championship. In the meantime his first child, Elvis is born.
But while he's training for the Italian Championships, a phone call gives another dramatic change in the direction of his life. He gets called to host a television program: "Love at first sight" For two years, running around several Italian cities, he interviews young people he meets on the street. The show is a hit! His enthusiasm, his good nature, and his boyish clean cut look meet the approval of not only the younger audience but the older public as well. His second son, Martin is born.
Things come to a dead halt. He goes into a crisis with himself. TV isn't enough for him anymore. Walter knows that the only thing that can shake him up and save him is doing sports. Boxing. Then he gets back in the ring to fight but the first match is suspended because of a head banging ... by now he's almost thirty years old and supporting a family. These are the most difficult years which include a lot of financial hardships, but his sense of responsibility keeps him going and he finds a job as a sales rep for natural products, in particular Aloe vera.. Hard times that force him to question everything, above all himself, his dreams get frozen.
He goes back to school and attends the "Duse" in Rome in 2000, studying under Francesca De Sapio and the "International Acting School " of Dominique De Fazio. The Strasberg method Nothing happens. But once again sports save him when his marriage falls apart. Walter begins to run: step by step, day by day, the marathon gives him strength and a new sense of self-esteem. He has a new goal: The New York Marathon.
Only a year has gone by since that tragic September 11th and Walter, who went there to regain his sense of self-esteem; finds a lot more: people from different cultures, religions and skin color, united under a single flag, the American one. The land of opportunity, of freedom and of respect for human beings and the affection of a big heart beating through the streets of Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan... Walter not only finishes the Marathon (despite a fall which injured three tendons in his left foot two weeks before the race) but he manages to finish it in 3 hours and 52 minutes. A great victory for himself! On that November 3rd 2002, things start turning upward for him!
Then a film with Richard Harris follows: "Saint John the Apocalypse" He feels ready to go back to boxing again, but in 2003 a production company offers him a role in an Italian soap opera, "A place in the sun". After a few months of work, nothing else happens. Then one day another phone call will change the direction of his life, once again.
A person has fallen ill and has to leave his place as a contestant in a television program; the famous "Survivor VIP" has aired for the first time in Italy.
Walter has fifteen minutes to decide whether to accept or not. In his bedroom with his eyes staring at the ceiling while he keeps repeating in his mind: "Maybe it's better to forget about it, maybe it's wiser to change your way of living. By now you've already missed the train" But that sentence doesn't get passed his heart which insists passionately: "Remember,Walter, that there is always more than one train". It's September 23 in 2003. Twelve hours later, he's at the airport leaving for Santo Domingo, final destination Los Haitises, the beach for the TV program "Survivor VIP" ("The Island of the Famous").
For 55 days Walter overcomes every kind of obstacle in surviving and competing with the other contestants. He loses 18 kilos. But tenacity, honesty, generosity, inner strength and sincerity reward him, and on November 14th he is proclaimed the winner with almost 90% of the popular votes. A unique experience which in particular allows him to refine his emotional character and which earns him the public's affection. Everybody talks about him, including the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister, because he's a simple man who managed to pick himself up again by his own strength and get back once again in the race towards his dreams. "Resist, resist, resist and never give up" is his creed, that's what he's learned. For a lot of people, he becomes an example, a role model to identify with. "A winner is a dreamer who never gives up". And his dream of becoming an actor finally comes true.
A television production offers him the lead role in "The Enchantment" program for the seventh series. Together with the actress Samuela Sardo they become Antonio Corradi and Giulia Donati, a well-loved television couple. It turns out to be a huge success, so much so that they are both reconfirmed for the eighth series of "The Enchantment"; an unprecedented event in that the actors are usually completely different in every new season of the series.
Antonio Corradi, a role played for two years, becomes so much a part of his personality that he can't separate himself from it, and for this reason, on a rainy day in late winter, after the last scene is shot signalling the end of two years of "The Enchantment", he says good-bye to everybody, packs his backpack and at eight in the evening he's on the Aurelia road on the outskirts of Rome. He travels more than three hundred kilometres on foot from Rome to the island of Elba. 16 hours of walking Three days among darkness, rain and trucks in order to get back to being Walter. It's February 2006.
His feet are still bandaged when at the beginning of March he's asked to do a testimonial in the Treviso Marathon, a benefit charity race to support various projects in favour of the "cartoneros", the inhabitants in the outskirts of Buenos Aires.
The doctors, after having examined him, on the eve of the marathon, during the press conference, maintain that he's not in condition to run. But Walter, knowing the sponsors wouldn't have honored the contract for charity... the next day he's at the starting line and, thanks to his strong sense of solidarity with people who are suffering ... at the finish line too: in 3 hours 57 minutes 26 seconds.
But it's also time for Walter to get involved again with his old passions that he decides to develop once more. That's his meeting a new band with whom right away a new musical understanding is born: rock!
He starts singing again with his band and he performs in the finest clubs and squares in Italy and Europe. He enjoys interacting with audiences at live concerts, with songs that are connected to his past and present. Music and singing are relaxing fun for him and the audience sings and dances with him.
After two years of work, he decides to take a break, fascinated by the great wonders of America: the desert. A trip to Arizona.
On foot, by car, by motorbike for Walter the road represents the ideal place to rest and reflect. "The road is the best metaphor for life. There's always a starting point and finishing line. Then once you get there you decide if you want to start up again for another destination." So, riding on top of a Harley Davidson, alone, he travels through the U.S.A. through the wilderness, the wide open spaces, the most genuine, unspoiled parts, and through Native American reservations. From Phoenix, in Arizona, he crosses the state and arrives in Las Vegas, in Nevada. The sky and the desert. He drives slowly and thinks about his children, Samuela and everything he's put together up to now.
Upon his return, he finds the role of Giacomo Contini awaiting him: the Staff Sergeant Giacomo Contini from "Carabinieri 6", and then the Warrant Officer Giacomo Contini in the television series "Carabinieri 7". A character who manages to bring out his ironic side.
He discovers that he really likes playing comic roles and it allows him to express his positive attitude towards life, a life that continues "on the right track".
