Edoardo Purgatori

Ed Hendrik (birth name 'Edoardo Purgatori') was born in Rome in 1989 to Andrea Purgatori, an Italian journalist and screenwriter and to Nicola Schmitz, a German art historian and actress. Ed is the eldest of three children and since kindergarten he attended the German School of Rome, where he began to cultivate a passion for acting when becoming a part of the school's theater company. By the age of 19 he'd already gathered a plethora of acting experiences, including several shows over six years at school. Ed also attended several rigorous acting workshops conducted by visiting teachers from the Actors Studio in New York. In 2007 he made his professional debut in the television drama 'Donna Detective' directed by Cinzia Th. Torrini. In a short time more television roles followed with directors Ricky Tognazzi, Alberto Sironi and Luigi Perelli, for Italy's national public broadcasting company, Radio Televisione Italiana (RAI). In 2008 he shortly attended the University LUISS Guido Carli in Rome, where he studied international relations before moving to England to further pursue his acting training. In London he studied with private teachers, attended courses at the Actor's Temple before being offered a place at the Oxford School of Drama. After two years abroad, Ed returned to Rome and continued his studies with Dominique De Fazio, a member of the Actors Studio, who soon became his artistic father. The first project he got involved in was a stage production of Tennessee Williams' 'The Glass Menagerie'. Then he played the starring role in 'The Shape of Things' by Neil LaBute. Edoardo also performed Mark Antony from William Shakespeare's 'Julius Caesar'. At the same time in 2012, he starred in many independent short films as well as the RAI TV film, 'Anita Garibaldi', where he played Nino Bixio, directed by Claudio Bonivento. In 2013 he played Emiliano Lupi in the eighth season of RAI's 'Un Medico in Famiglia'. Ed's work as Emiliano proved a resounding success with the show's fans, seeing him continue as the character for the upcoming ninth and tenth seasons. 2014 started strongly with the February screening of comedy feature film 'Amore Oggi', where Ed played a heartbroken, obese man. Working closely with directors Giuseppe Stasi and Giancarlo Fontana - and the film being produced by SKY Cinema - 2014 continued positively. A procession of roles followed. Acting in 'La mossa del Pinguino', Claudio Amendola's directing debut, was swiftly followed by starring in SKY Germany's short film, 'Am Wald'. 2014 also saw the screening of ARD's TV Film, 'Trennung auf Italienisch' shown on German prime time television. Ed started 2015 with a role in the new film by Claudio Fragasso 'La grande Rabbia', inspired by the public riots in Tor Sapienza, Rome, where he played a police officer from the Italian police department, Reparto Mobile. Afterwards he started preparing for MGM's remake of the epic feature film 'Ben-Hur', where he worked with Jack Huston (Hur) and Morgan Freeman. Straight after 'Ben-Hur', Ed was cast by director Carlo Carlei in the WWI drama 'The Border', where he played a young Italian soldier fighting in the trenches against the Austrian army. 2015 also saw Ed reprise his popular role of Emiliano Lupi in RAI's 10th season of 'Un Medico in Famiglia'. The production will end in March 2016. Ed currently lives and works between London, Rome and Berlin as well as continuing to build his career in the United States.