Los Angeles CA (August 20th ) It was August 14th, and the middle of the night in the small town of Bojano (pronounced Boiano), Italy in the region of Molise. Dominic Pace was on vacation to see his family he hadn’t seen in 23 years. The son of Joseph Pace, who immigrated to America to find a better life when he was 18, Dominic had been chipping away at a career in acting since he was the same age.
Beginning on Off-Broadway in the Italian American comedy, Tony and Tina’s wedding, Pace has had a steady career of bit character roles hit T.V. Shows such as Desperate Housewives, NYPD Blue, Cold Case, and countless more. He had never landed a starring role… until now.
For ten years, Pace was very loyal to his agency who submitted him regularly for Cop, Bouncer, Mob roles. At 6’4″/ 250 pounds, Pace was a natural physically for these roles. Not to mention athletic ability to frequently do Stage Combat with some of the roles. Pace would press his agents over the years for larger roles. He figured if he kept booking these bit, TV roles, casting would take notice at such an extensive resume. The A-list TV shows were calling Pace in, but only for a few lines.
In 2015, Pace was billed 8th in the Feature Film, The Midnight Man. An Action/Thriller with solid name talent like Doug Jones, Vinnie Jones, Will Kemp, Steve Valentine, William Miller, Max Adler, Brent Spiner, along with Pace. A low budget film a little under a million dollars, Pace pleaded with his agents to seek more low budgets than the Big League projects, as he knew he’d get larger roles and have an opportunity to shine. Pace studied the craft extensively under Terry Knickerbocker of the William Esper Studio in New York, along with Susan Batson and Mimi Turque of The Actor’s Studio.With no luck, the majority of the auditions from his agents were still for bits like Guard #2 and Bouncer. When 2016 came, Pace had enough. Though his loyalty was admirable, there also comes a time when the actor has to do what’s right in their best interest.
Pace was introduced to Talent Manager, Christina Scott of CA Talent through a mutual friend. “Christina was everything I wanted in a Manager since Day 1. She’s hungry and seizes every opportunity for her clients. That’s what I wanted. You can play hardball all you want, but if you’re waiting tables, driving Uber, or working for a Moving Company, what have you accomplished rather than being on set?”
Asylum Entertainment Casting Director, Scotty Mullen, introduced Pace to Megalodon director James Thomas. “When I got the call I received the lead role, it was sentimental to me. As a kid from the 80’s, this was the genre that inspired me to get into this business. Bloody Crime Dramas are sometimes very ‘ho-hum’ as the performer. Action/Adventure was where the excitement was. Growing up on Stallone, Ford, Willis etc.. that was what I wanted.”
Pace had only 3 days to memorize nearly 100 pages of dialogue squeezed into 8 days of filming. “I locked myself in a room, slightly overwhelmed, but my adrenaline was pumping as I wanted to do the best I could. When you work with James Thomas, you’re rooting for him because he cares about his cast and crew. It’s also extremely refreshing to be with a director who knows exactly what he wants and gets it done given the budget he has. I never thought of producing due to the fear of going over budget, but someone like James would give any company confidence as he gets it done, and hires the right people.”
3 am hit in Italy on August 14th, Pace knew Megalodon was now showing in his home state of New York. “The texts, tweets, and emails starting coming in. I was so pleased so many felt my conviction and passion for this role. It was less about the film at times and more of a testament to my 25-year journey. The rejection, the odd jobs, the pretentious people and hierarchy you have to deal with in LA and NY. I was finally able to let it all out in that role. I’ve also been surrounded by very special people in my life who love me. They allow me to keep my heart open in such a business and world that is less than kind. I am so grateful to have that love and it gives me all the passion and conviction in the world for my work.”
Megalodon became the most watched show on cable at 9 pm, August 13th. Though there will always be criticism with a film that has less than 1% of a major studio budget, Pace’s performance was recognized by many.
A busy remainder of 2018 for Pace, as he is attached to a future Sci-Fi film produced by Michael Biehn (Aliens/Terminator). Pace has also been tapped by late night host, Jimmy Kimmel, to play in opening sketches on the show frequently. He’ll be touring some international festivals later this year as he starred in the film, The Painters, from Swedish director Sam Larsson. Pace will also star in Anonymous Killers, as a cold-blooded hitman, Romero Scaranelli. “Killers” will be due out in theaters 2019.
To learn more about Dominic visit-
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0655124/
https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=Dominic%20Pace
