Luke Pasqualino (Paolo)

Luke Pasqualino was born on February 19, 1989, in Peterborough, England, as Luca Giuseppe Pasqualino. His parents are both of Italian descent, from Sicily and Naples. He is an actor, known for Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome (2012), Snowpiercer (2013), and The Apparition (2012). He attended Walton Community School, and the drama classes held by Martin Tempest at Stamford Art Centre.

As Paolo on The Borgias (Starz), Luke Pasqualino is given the nickname "Narcissus," not because of his vanity—his character is far too earnest and naïve for vanity—but because he is a boy so beautiful, he could fall in love with his own reflection. Paolo is a simple stable-hand who dares to love the Pope's daughter, Lucrezia Borgia (yes, the Pope had a daughter whom he openly acknowledged). Needless to say, things do not end well.

Paolo is not Pasqualino's first star-crossed lover; there is a certain innocence to the young Italian-Brit's looks that lends itself to the part of the sacrificial lamb. Before his arc on Starz's Jeremy Irons-helmed historical melodrama, Luke's big break came when he played Freddie, Effy's boyfriend on the British teen series Skins. Like Paolo, Freddie's devotion led him to a rather sticky end, this time involving a deranged psychiatrist, a basement, and the wrong end of a baseball bat.

BORGIA BEGINNINGS: The only thing I knew about the Borgia [family] was that Mario Puzo actually based The Godfather on the Borgias. That was all I knew about them. When I found out I had been offered the role, I did a bit of research. A couple of my friends had been offered roles in it as well—Augustus Prew, who played Alfonso of Naples, and Elyes Gabe, who played Djem, the Turkish prince—so we kind of helped each other out, really. We'd have chats and we'd check out websites and send each other links about the Borgias. My character Paolo was an amalgamation of two real life characters during the time when the Borgias were in power, so that was quite interesting to find out.

I loved the idea of going in and doing something period; this was my first period role—and obviously it being set in Italy was also something that really attracted me to it, being Italian myself.

STAR-CROSSED LOVERS: Paolo and Freddie were two obviously different characters, but they both had the strong love interest going on for the women in their lives. It was like a Romeo and Juliet love story, really, in both shows. So I had that kind of connection with them. They both die? [laughs] Yeah, both characters die.

BACK-UP PLANS: My cousin owns restaurants, and I used to work in his restaurants with his chef. I've always liked food, and I've always been interested in cooking and stuff like that. Before I was an actor, I needed a way to sort of support myself, so I went and learned how to cook in his restaurants. I became a chef for a little while, and then as soon as I got the offer for Skins, I was out of there.

I did enjoy cooking, I still do really enjoy cooking—I make a nice salmon dish, and I'm a huge meat freak, so I love to bang a few steaks on the grill or pasta. Anything Italian, really.