As a young actor, Anthony Ippolito was long “taken” by Sylvester Stallone’s origin story, so when he heard that a movie, I Play Rocky, was being made about Stallone’s mission to star in Rocky, he became determined to get himself “in the conversation.” One problem: “Nobody was asking me to audition,” he admits. But just as Stallone did with Rocky, Ippolito willed himself to the verge of stardom.
Ippolito is no stranger to playing younger versions of A-listers. His first major project was appearing as the teen version of Adam Sandler in Pixels. Then, he had the perfect I Play Rocky warm-up with The Offer, the Paramount+ series about the production of The Godfather in which he starred as Al Pacino. Ippolito says he didn’t “plan” on becoming the go-to actor for Italian-American movie icons breaking out in iconic films, but jumping from The Godfather to Rocky Balboa was a no-brainer.
