Michael DeLorenzo (born October 31, 1959) is an American actor, director, writer, producer, dancer, and musician. He is known for his work in television and film. Early life DeLorenzo was raised in The Bronx, New York. His late father, Arthur DeLorenzo, was of Italian descent and his late mother, Carmen DeLorenzo, was from Puerto Rico. DeLorenzo is the second eldest of four children. He has one sister and two brothers. DeLorenzo first began performing at a young age as a dancer with Tina Ramirez's Ballet Hispanico. DeLorenzo went on to receive various scholarships from the School of American Ballet, the Joffrey Ballet and the New York School of Ballet. He danced alongside Rudolph Nureyev and the National Ballet of Canada. DeLorenzo performed with Mikhail Baryshnikov and the American Ballet Theatre. He went on to attend the Manhattan-based High School of Performing Arts, made famous by the movie and television series Fame. He danced with Richard Thomas' U.S. Terpsichore Ballet Company, but suffered a serious dance injury forcing him to leave a career in professional ballet. Career DeLorenzo has acted on the stage, in film, and on television. One of DeLorenzo's first acting roles was on stage in the Broadway revival of West Side Story, appearing as one of the members of the Sharks street gang. He then moved on to appear in the 1980 movie Fame and the television show Fame (1982–1987) as a series regular. DeLorenzo appeared in television shows such as Miami Vice and A Different World. and appeared in movies such as Fast Forward (1985) directed by Sidney Poitier. DeLorenzo continued to work on Broadway appearing in the musical Streetheat in 1985. DeLorenzo worked with Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie. He appeared in Jackson’s music video "Beat It", and in Lionel Richie's music video "Running With the Night", "Ballerina Girl", and "Dancing on the Ceiling". He appeared in other music videos and dance performances such as Alexander O'Neal's "Fake". He danced in Chaka Khan's performance of "I Feel for You" at the 1985 Grammy Awards. DeLorenzo won a Drama-Logue Award for Best Actor in a play at the Mark Taper Forum titled Stand Up Tragedy with a performance portraying five different roles,(1989). For his performance on the stage, he was tapped by the producers of the ABC sitcom Head of the Class to star as Alex Torres, alongside Howard Hesseman joining the last two seasons of the