The actor Miguel Gobbo Diaz, protagonist of the Rai 1 fiction “Nero a mezzo”
The new stars of Italian fiction have black skin and a tricolor heart. In particular, three fascinating Italian actors who are the protagonists of as many successful series that are alternating these days on Rai 1. Loved by the public, with their leading roles at last they are helping to undermine many prejudices. We started with Dr. Gabriel Kidane, a young and generous doctor of Doc – In your hands of Rai 1 branded Lux Vide, aka Alberto Malanchino from Cernusco sul Naviglio (Mi); to move on to Daniele Peirò, an elegant businessman who is the adoptive brother of the protagonists of the fiction We produced by Cattleya, two more episodes on Rai 1, played by Livio Kone from San Vittore Olona (Mi); up to Malik the strong-willed policeman paired with Claudio Amendola, or Miguel Gobbo Diaz from Creazzo (Vicenza) protagonist of Half black, series in 6 evenings co-produced by Rai Fiction-Cattleya, whose third season debuts on April 4 on Rai 1. Let’s get to know them better.
Miguel Gobbo Diaz, “Half Black” policeman
«Reaching the third series gives a lot of satisfaction, above all I’m happy to see a black actor starring in a positive character. He made people understand many things, giving a different image of seriality “he is convinced 32-year-old Miguel Gobbo Diaz. “My role as a dutiful policeman, even if with its frailties, helps to overcome prejudices – adds -. Thanks to Half black and other series, the public has seen that we are able to play different roles, policemen, lawyers, entrepreneurs and not just criminals or drug dealers ». Miguel left Santo Domingo at the age of three to move to Creazzo, a small town in the province of Vicenza, with his Dominican mother and Italian adoptive father. As a teenager Miguel dreamed of being a footballer, while in high school he discovered theater during his afternoon acting classes. «I was completely overwhelmed – he explains -. So I studied with determination until I was admitted to the Experimental Center of Cinematography in Rome ». Never suffered episodes of racism, he explains, even if «as a child I experienced a sort of disorientation. At the Creazzo kindergarten in 1992 I was the only dark child while all the others were blond and blue-eyed. I asked my mom “why am I different?”. “Because you look like your grandmother” he reassured me. Sometimes you create prejudices yourself .. ». «We all have a prejudice towards what we do not know, instead we should approach the world with love» he adds smiling. Now it’s up to his generation to affirm the multicultural reality of Italy in TV series and cinema. “Different cultures enrich the country. And when you are in a country that is changing like Italy, you want to give your contribution to enrich it ». After the role of policeman Malik who in this new series “will be more adult and determined”, Diaz will return to writing for the theater. «After my first text My life in Italy about my adolescence, now I write a text on how to always choose the brighter side of life ».
Livio Kone, the manager of “Noi”
“Yes, it was time. We is a beautiful fiction where everything is intense and strong, and which unhinges prejudices. Not the usual clichés of the black actor, but a successful man who is perfectly integrated into society ». Livio Kone (born Livio Madou Kone) is the revelation of the series, he is Italian, born in Milan in 1994 from two parents from the Ivory Coast, a mechanic father and a mother who called him Livio after the child he babysat. His first life, however, was that of a footballer in several teams including Crystal Palace in the Premier League, Ascona and Porza in the second division in Switzerland. “I learned football when I was 6 in the oratory field, but I have always had an outgoing and comic verve”. And so at the age of 21 Livio Kone enrolled in a film school and then got noticed in Zero Netflix and Crazy for football “A film about inclusion that taught me a lot,” he adds. Finally the series We, where his character comes to terms with his paternal roots. “I feel 100% Lombard and I have never had problems with racism – he explains -. Society is moving forward and it is we, the second generation, who can change things. Our parents, with their sacrifices, gave us the opportunity to dream ». And what is Livio dreaming of? “Having a family.” Meanwhile, the AC Milan actor returns to football: «I am shooting a series on football for Rai which was to be launched for the World Cup. The non-qualification of Italy hurt me a lot ».
Alberto Malanchino, the doctor of “Doc”
Fresh from the enormous success of fiction Doc 2 – In your hands on Rai 1 30 year old Alberto Malanchino await confirmation on the third series: will Dr. Gabriel stay or return to Ethiopia? Alberto is Italian, like his father, while his mother comes from Burkina Faso and he, who likes to call himself “Afro-descendant”, has very clear ideas. «Between saying” colored “and” black “I prefer black which is a beautiful color – he explains -. Otherwise white becomes the “golden standard” to which all the other colors act as a counterpoint ». Concepts taught him by her mother, to whom she also owes her passion for acting thanks to the great films on which she learned Italian. «I devoured as a child The Octopus, The Godfather the films of Aldo, Giovanni and Giacomo and Jim Carrey. During middle school I had my first theatrical experiences at the oratory and at school – he adds -. Thanks again to my law teacher at Accounting who took us to see The Merry Wives of Windsor in Milan. I fell in love. I thought: “When I grow up I want to do this. I want to be paid for being crazy”. And so the courses at the Civic School of Theater “Paolo Grassi” in Milan and at the Biennale College in Venice arrive. He then works in the theater with Moni Ovadia, on TV with Crozza and in fiction like One step from heaven And Don Matteo. From 26 April it will be staged at the Sala Umberto in Rome in the pièce The boys in the band.
The dream is that soon there will no longer be any need for clarification, he adds: “The goal we are working on is to make this type of process normal, so that black actors can play both the baker, the lawyer, the doctor, the policeman. as much as the drug dealer and the immigrant. We want to be able to identify ourselves in every role beyond the color of the skin and we hope for the cascading effect on actors of Asian or South American origin who are part of this society “. Is Italian fiction finally representing multicultural Italy? «Color does not align thought – explains Malanchino -. It is a question of wanting to tell the cross-section of today’s society and it is necessary to give credit to a generation of writers and screenwriters that is challenging the laws of the market ». Like his Gabriel, a character between two worlds “who in the end understands that loyalty is belonging to himself, that home corresponds to the place and people we love”.
Television. Fiction, here are the new stars of multicultural Italy