Carmine Dominick Giovinazzo (born August 24, 1973) is an American actor.
Giovinazzo was born and raised on Staten Island, the son of Nancy and Dominick, who was a police officer. He comes from a family of cops and has Italian (originally from Naples), Norwegian, Native American and English ancestry. Growing up in the streets of Staten Island, Giovinazzo was an avid athlete; though he played many different sports, baseball and roller hockey were his preferences. He graduated from Port Richmond High School in 1991 and attended Wagner College. He had hoped to become a professional baseball player, but a serious back injury dashed his career plans, so, with the support of his family, he turned to acting. As a child, Giovinazzo participated in making short films, but remembers no particular time when he had the idea to start acting. "Before I knew it, I was running around Manhattan with a headshot and taking classes at HB Studios." He did several short films at NYU and SUNY, plus a few independent films before he moved to Los Angeles to pursue his career further.
Carmine's first Hollywood role, in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer pilot "Welcome to the Hellmouth."
In 1997, Giovinazzo moved to Los Angeles. Not long after, he successfully landed his very first Hollywood role in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer pilot, in which his character was the show's first on-screen victim. Afterwards, he appeared in numerous guest-starring roles on television and in film, including Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss, For Love of the Game, The Big Brass Ring and Black Hawk Down. He was also cast as one of the stars of the short-lived UPN sitcom Shasta McNasty. Other films in which he had starring roles include Lions Gate Films' In Enemy Hands with William H. Macy, and Players, with Freddy Rodriguez and Peter Dobson.
Giovinazzo is currently cast as forensic scientist Danny Messer on the hit TV series CSI: NY. He often calls on his family for advice, as his father and sister were both NYPD officers. Danny is described as "passionate, with an urge to question all that is corrupt… a kid from the streets who studied and made good for himself." Giovinazzo is the first actor to appear in all three CSI series; his CSI: NY character was introduced in the CSI: Miami episode "MIA/NYC Nonstop" (along with the other cast members of CSI: NY) and he guest-starred in the third season of the original Las Vegas-based CSI as a street racer named Thumpy G in the episode "Revenge is Best Served Cold".
Giovinazzo has a tattoo on his right shoulder. He plays the guitar and writes songs and poems in his spare time. He is also a painter, mostly in oils, and one of his paintings appeared in the "Tri-Borough" episode of CSI: NY. He dated Las Vegas star Vanessa Marcil from 1998-1999. He is currently lead vocalist in his band 'Ceesau'.
He is a cousin of Buddy Giovinazzo, Rick Giovinazzo, and Larry Romano, who played Danny Messer's brother, Louie Messer, in the CSI: NY episode "Run Silent, Run Deep".
