Russo was born in New York City, New York, to an Italian father and German mother. A graduate of the High School of Art and Design and New York University (NYU), he wrote and starred in the prize-winning short film The Candy Store. Before his first break in acting, he drove for a cab company, worked as a construction worker and a gravedigger. He was raised in Flushing, New York and spent his formative years on 156th street.[citation needed]
Russo's first role in his acting career was in the 1981 made-for-television film Chicago Story. He then went on to star in many hit films of the 1980s.
His big break (but small role) came in the 1982 comedy film Fast Times at Ridgemont High, as a convenience store robber. In 1984, he appeared in Beverly Hills Cop as Mikey Tandino, a friend of Axel Foley who is murdered. That same year he starred in The Cotton Club and played small-time hood Bugsy in Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in America. Russo's other big role was as a brutal rapist in the 1986 drama Extremities, opposite Farrah Fawcett. He starred in the 1988 drama-suspense-thriller film Freeway.

Return to James Russo Autograph Profile