Born on February 29, 1972 in Rome, Italy, Antonio Sabato Jr. is best known for his numerous appearances in soaps, the most notable of which is General Hospital. His family moved to Hollywood in 1984 when he was 12. They stayed in Beverly Hills and he finished high school at Beverly Hills High. When he was 16, the family moved again to another part of Los Angeles, Marina Del Rey. In 1996, he became a naturalized citizen of the US. His first foray into show business was as an underwear model for Calvin Klein in 1990, then for the music video of Janet Jackson’s “Love Will Never Do.” He then moved to mainstream acting, landing a role in the hit soap opera General Hospital and later on in Melrose Place. He played a small role in the 1998 movie The Big Hit, starring Mark Wahlberg, himself a former Calvin Klein underwear model. In 2005, Sabato was cast in another daytime soap The Bold and the Beautiful, although his stint was cut after just a year.

Sabato was shortly married to actress Alicia Tully in the early 1990s. His girlfriend of two years, Virginia Madsen, gave birth to their son Jack in 1994. Eight years later, he had another child with longtime girlfriend and model Kristen Rosetti. He also owns a production company, has written a fitness book, and has been invited to appear in several reality shows, but turned them down.

Apparently, not for long, as Sabato is one of the contestants in the NBC reality show Celebrity Circus, which features six celebrities who will learn the ropes of circus life, including mastering death-defying stunts with high wires, flying trapezes, and fire dancing. The contestants will then face a panel of judges for critique. Sabato says filming the show can be physically demanding as they train five days a week, morning to night. “We don’t leave,” he says. “We have an hour of lunch, and then we just go back in. All day long.”