Biografia
P.J. Marino grew up in Boston's tight-knit Italian neighborhood, the North End, known for its close community. He was active in sports, worked in restaurants, and built lifelong friendships. While studying marketing at Merrimack College, he completed a cooperative education term as a mutual fund accountant, where he met stand-up comedian Paul Nardizzi. Nardizzi encouraged P.J. to try an open mic night at Nick's Comedy Stop, a pivotal moment that launched his comedy career. In 1993, at Nick's, P.J. began performing alongside rising comics such as Gary Gulman, Dane Cook, and Bill Burr. After several years performing throughout New England and landing his first national commercial audition for a Nike spot featuring Ken Griffey Jr., P.J. relocated to Los Angeles in 1997. There, he trained under Aaron Speiser and attended casting director workshops. Soon, auditions led to steady work as a reliable blue-collar character actor. To date, he has appeared in over 100 TV shows, films, commercials, and web series. Notable roles include a recurring part on Everybody Hates Chris, portraying the weary video game character Luigi Jumpman in the MTV Networks web series Video Game Reunion, and a guest appearance in the Season 2 finale of HBO's Barry, starring and directed by Bill Hader. On stage, he performed in 2004’s The Talking Cure—written by Oscar-winner Christopher Hampton and directed by the renowned Gordon Davidson—alongside Sam Robards at the Mark Taper Forum, as well as in Harbor at the Victory Theatre opposite Matthew Lillard.
P.J. has also expanded his passion for TV and film into writing and producing screenplays. His drama-mystery Captain Tsunami was produced and is currently streaming, featuring P.J. alongside Madeleine McGraw, Tessa Munro, Craig Frank, and Jeremy Sisto as the Captain. He has several other completed scripts at various stages of development.
