Jovanna Vitiello

Jovanna Vitiello is an Italian & Puerto-Rican actress and model. She was born and raised in South Paterson N.J., by a very hard working Italian immigrant father and hard working self-taught Puerto-Rican/Filipino mother who grew up in the South Bronx. Jovanna found her love of acting when she attended Rosa Parks High School of Fine and Performing Arts, in Paterson N.J., under the tutelage of George Dearani, her favorite teacher who influenced and inspired her greatly. While under his direction, she worked on many different shows such as starring as Rizzo in the schools' theater production of Grease. She had an active role in performing at schools throughout N.J. with Positive Impact Ensemble (P.I.E.), a popular theater group whose mission was to spread awareness and combat bullying. At the beginning of her senior year, she was a passenger in a car accident that required the "jaws of life" to release her from the wreckage, and she suffered a traumatic brain injury, requiring 100 stitches to her face, reconstructive surgery, and weeks in the ICU. But she persevered through her injuries to graduate with her class in 1994. After high school, Jovanna worked in night clubs around N.J. and down at the Jersey Shore as a cocktail waitress/ food server to save up the money she needed to move to California to continue her burgeoning acting career and realize her childhood dream. Jovanna worked hard at various jobs while attending Berkeley Business College, where she majored in Public Relations. But after completing her first year of college, she knew it was not what she wanted to do and decided to commit fully to acting and modeling. Never a shy one, she posed for Playboy for the first time at the young age of 20, quickly thereafter moving on to her first acting gig, working with Woody Allen as a featured extra in "Deconstructing Harry," which granted her a coveted Screen Actors Guild card in 1997. She then decided it was time to drive cross country in her silver bullet (aka- her tiny silver Honda Prelude), to create her new life in California in August of 1997. Since arriving in Hollywood, she has had the great privilege of working with many talented directors throughout the years, including Joel Schumacher, Ron Howard, Michael Bay, Joe Johnston, Gregory Poirier, Malcolm Venville and many others. To this day, Jovanna still resides in sunny Southern California with her 6 year old son as she continues to successfully pursue her passions working in various aspects of the entertainment industry.