Dennis Maragliano

Dennis discovered his interest in acting in the 5th grade when he played the role of Pres. Abraham Lincoln in a school play. He didn't return to the stage again until his senior year in high school playing the role of Riff, in the school's play version of the musical West Side Story. He put his dream of acting on hold for many years to come until the early 90's when he and a close friend entered a talent show as The Blues Brothers, with Dennis playing Elwood Blues as they sang Soul Man and Hey Bartender and won first prize. It was around that time he met a popular Puerto Rican soap star at work by the name of Julio Axel Landrón. In the Hispanic theater, Mr. Landron would often put on comedy skits on stage as well as some full length drama plays. There he took Dennis under his wing and trained him to become stage manager for a number of his productions. Not long after, Dennis felt the urge to move up and perform as an actor. Julio promised him that one day he would give him that shot and not long after, kept that promise. Julio wrote and directed a comedy play called The River. It was about a birthday party that took place by a river, where Dennis played a drunken intruder who temporarily crashed the party, annoying the guests, especially the pretty girls. His role was short, but extremely funny, leaving an impression to many. Once again his acting career came to a halt, until he got another chance with yet another actor and director from Puerto Rico, Héctor Luis Rivera, and founder of Teatro TEBA. Dennis has been performing with TEBA since 2006, where he has played the leading role of King Lear, adapted by Mr. Rivera. Subsequently, Dennis and other TEBA actors performed at the Broadway Blackbox Theater in Alejandro Casona's Suicide Prohibited in Springtime, adapted and directed by Mr. Rivera. This production was accepted in a theater festival in Santiago, Dominican Republic, where it was performed at the Gran Teatro Del Cibao. Soon after, he wrote and directed a comedy short titled Fortress of Dumbbells (2015), a story about a bunch of misfits in a local gym in Brooklyn, which was officially accepted at The Brightside Tavern Film Festival and having him nominated for Best Director of a Comedy in August of 2016. Most recently, the neo-noir short Ma Belle Amie (2018) conceived and directed by Mr. Maragliano, based on his own novel 'Catching Dreams', became an Award Winning Short Film in the category of Best Experimental '2018 bestowed at the Point Lookout Film Festival's first season, where it was actually world premiered in April 4th 2018, besides being later on an Official Runner Up at many other festivals.