Glenn Scarpelli

Glenn has always been open and bold about his sexuality and had no hesitation while admitting that he is gay. He has never hesitated to talk about his unique personal and career paths. He is very close to his friends Jude and Bonnie Franklin. He considers Bonnie as his mentor. She played his mother in the show, ‘Hot in Cleveland’.

Glenn was in a relationship with Gary, a theatrical manager. In 1987, Gary was diagnosed with AIDS. Distressed by the hatred that they received from people towards homosexuals and AIDS patients, they moved to Los Angeles.

Glenn has been in a relationship with Jude Belanger for a very long time now. He is also very close to his Broadway co-actor, Valerie.

Glenn Christopher Scarpelli was born on July 6, 1966 in Staten Island, New York, USA. He attended the St. Joseph Hill Academy where he studied till eighth grade. Right from his childhood, Glenn wanted to become an actor. When he told his parents about his wish they introduced him to a theatre manager in Manhattan.

Glenn got his first professional acting job when he was just eight years old. He bagged an opportunity to act in a commercial for Celeste frozen pizza. For the commercial, he had to eat 27 pieces of pizza, and later puked all night.

He made his Broadway debut at the age of ten. The show was titled, ‘Golda’s Balcony’, based on the life of Golda Meir, former Prime Minister of Israel. Another Broadway that he was part of was ‘Richard III’ in 1979.

He was also involved in outlining the adventures of comic characters in Archie Comics. As a part of the 70th year celebration of Archie comics, a series named ‘Glenn Scarpelli in Hollywood’ was launched in 1985. His character visited Riverdale and hung out with other characters like Archie, Betty and Veronica. In 2010, he released a series of Archie books called ‘The Americana Series: The Best of the Eighties’. Unlike other comic characters, the characters of Archie Comics were never animated and hence remained on the pages of the comics.

The first film Glenn starred in was a movie that was written by his father. It is a horror movie titled ‘Forced Entry’, the remake of a 1973 movie of the same name. Another movie that he did around that time was ‘Nunzio’.

He attended the Professional Children’s School which was a high school. Within his first two months in the school, he was booked for the sitcom, ‘One Day at a Time’ in 1983. It was a correspondence school, so the school authorities allowed their students to work.

At the age of 14, Glenn was already bestowed with the title ‘teen heartthrob’ for his role in the long-running sitcom. His popularity furthered when Barbara Bush, wife of the then President George Bush, invited him to White House to sing a popular number as part of a charity show. Barbara had become a fan of his after watching the hit show, ‘One Day at a Time.’ He left the show during the last season to work in another show, ‘Jennifer Slept Here’, which also would go on to become a massive success.

He starred in the series, ‘The Love Boat’ in 1983 as Mark Hammond for the episode titled, ‘Vicki's Dilemma’. He once again appeared in the show as Alan Stevens in the episode, ‘Don't Leave Home without It’. He made his third appearance in the show in 1985 as Boomer Panner in the episode, ‘Getting Started’.

Glenn also starred in ‘The Bloodhound Gang’, a segment from PBS’s educational show, ‘3-2-1 Contact’. When he was 14, he did a movie titled ‘Rivkin: Bounty Hunter’ alongside actor Ron Leibman. Glenn was also featured in a single from the album, ‘Get a Love On’ which was later retitled as ‘Don’t Mess up This Good Thing’. Glenn was also a part of an after-school special in the early 90s. He then starred in an episode of the show, ‘MacGyver’, directed by his dear friend, Harry Harris.