Zoe Saldana, 44, has teamed up with Italian actor Eugenio Mastrandrea, 28, on the popular new Netflix miniseries From Scratch. Zoe plays an American art student in Florence named Amy, who is based on author Tembi Locke, while Eugenio plays Lino, a brilliant chef, who is based on Tembi’s late husband Saro. The eight-episode series (which debuted Oct. 21) is inspired by Tembi’s memoir about a cross-cultural love story in Italy.
Fans already known Zoe Saldana from her appearances in major film franchises like Star Trek, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Avatar. But who is her handsome co-star, Eugenio Mastrandrea? Get to know more about the breakout From Scratch star below!
Lino, Eugenio’s character in From Scratch, is a professional chef at a restaurant in Sicily. He meets Amy, a law student who is studying in Italy, and they fall in love. But their relationship takes a turn once they move to the U.S. and have to adjust to major changes. Plus, Lino faces a tragic health diagnosis that complicates their relationship even more.
Eugenio told Netflix’s Tudum that he felt major pressure to play Lino in the miniseries which is based on real-life stories. “I felt responsible to carry the story on my shoulders,” he explained in the interview. He also explained how there was “strange overlap between himself and his character Lino. “A lot of things that were happening to Eugenio being in a Netflix production in Hollywood [were like], ‘Wow. What the f**k is going on here? Let me try and figure this out, OK?’ That was kind of happening to Lino, too.”
Eugenio is credited with three previous Italian film/TV roles on IMDb. Those projects are the 2012 film A.C.A.B – All Cops Are Bad, the 2018 series Nero a metà, and the 2019 miniseries La fuggitiva. Eugenio is likely to have a big career after this thanks to his breakout role in From Scratch.
Eugenio comes from a traditional old-school Italian family filled with cooks. “Food is central in my life,” he told Netflix’s Tudum. His history coming from an Italian family definitely helped him nail his role in From Scratch.
Eugenio moved to Los Angeles to film From Scratch, which marked his first time in America in his life. He admitted that he was overwhelmed by L.A. “That giant mass of population, buildings, distances, spending two hours in the traffic to go from one place to another — it was a lot to take in,” he said.
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