The Most Recognizable Goatee in Britain
By Larry Jaffee
Michael Greco (Beppe di Marco) caught the acting bug at eight years old. Unsurprisingly, given his EastEnders alter ego's ladykiller image, he initially was interested in theatre mainly to impress a girl. 'She was my childhood crush, my sweetheart,' reminisces Greco, in the lobby of the Jury's Inn hotel in Islington. 'My school was doing a production of Alice in Wonderland. She was cast as Alice. So I went out for the part of the White Rabbit, the male lead, and also the Mad Hatter, thinking that after-school rehearsals would be a great way to get to know her better.'
The young Michael didn't get either part that he coveted; rather he was the Mock Turtle'stuck with a huge shell on his back and a stocking on his head, 'looking like a complete fool.'
But he didn't give up his thespian itch, and soon was in the school production of Peter Pan, although it was a few years before he was getting the male lead parts that he wanted. He took a year off after graduating from high school at 18, and then enrolled in drama school, the Guildford School of Acting in the county of Surrey, outside London, where he studied for three years and where his classmates included future EastEnders alumni Des Coleman (Lenny) and Howard Antony (Alan Jackson).
Before coming to EastEnders, Greco spent six years throughout Britain acting in classical plays by the likes of Shakespeare, Chaucer, Ibsen and Chekhov, as well as those of contemporary writers. 'I was always doing different types of roles. Money was pretty scarce because doing theatre isn't lucrative.' Four and a half years ago, he was acting Shakespeare's All's Well That Ends Well when his agent called about EastEnders casting a new Italian family. They wanted to see him for one of the parts. 'I thought 'OK, that would be interesting.' I wanted to break into film. TV wasn't my idea, but I'd give it a go. If I got it, I could always turn it down. If I didn't get it, they've made up my mind for me. I watched EastEnders from Day One. I always knew one day I'd be on it. When I was struggling as an actor people said to me that I should be on EastEnders, that I'd be perfect.'
The next morning, he drove several hours to Borehamwood (where the EastEnders studio is located) for the audition and then back to southern England for that night's performance. His agent called to tell him that they wanted to see him again. He did a screen test for the role of Beppe, and EastEnders offered him a year's contract.
For the Shakespeare play, he was wearing the now-familiar goatee. Although facial hair wasn't what the creative team originally had in mind for Beppe, they liked the look, and told Greco to keep the beard because the character was supposed to be a cop in the vice squad. It would help him fit in on the street. Since then, it's become his trademark, with women telling him they've asked their boyfriends to grow it and guys also telling him they've grown it because their girlfriends like it on Beppe. Greco's flattered by all the attention.
The celebrity he's gained from playing Beppe led to Greco twice working with Jennifer Saunders, first in a sketch on the U.K. charity Comic Relief and then in a cameo on Absolutely Fabulous, in which Michael played himself. A very drunk and bad-smelling Edwina and Patsy grope a very uncomfortable-looking Greco, who calls for security to get rid of them. 'It was great to be asked to do that, really good fun.' Greco laments that EastEnders never worked the vice side of his work into storylines, but that would require additional characters, and EastEnders is typically family based.
'When a new family hits the Square, EastEnders tends to introduce them with a bang,' he explains. 'People wonder who they are. The only way the audience gets to know them is by seeing more of their life, what they do as a job, where they eat, where they go, how they talk, how they are perceived by people.' Speaking of family, Greco's own family is very important to him, and he thanks his parents for a wonderful upbringing. They grew up poverty stricken in Italy and moved to England to make better lives for themselves without knowing how to speak English. 'Dad was a chef and mom was a nurse who looked after sick children. They wanted me to have a really good English education. I had a brilliant upbringing. I'll never forget where I came from. I can't thank my parents enough. I earned more in the last four years than they did in 30 years. That's not me bragging. That's me thinking crikey, there's no justice out there. My mum and dad worked so hard to bring up a family. They couldn't speak English. They had no friends here. I've always been told to keep my feet on the ground.' Having an Italian heritage also didn't hurt Greco's chances with the EastEnders producers. He still has many relatives living in Italy, which he visited every year with his family up to the age of 18.
Although Greco doesn't speak Italian fluently, he does understand quite a bit of what his relatives say in conversation.
It's also probably no accident that when asked which actors influenced him, he quickly cites Robert DeNiro, John Travolta and Al Pacino'all three Italian-Americans. He praised DeNiro's versatility, and in particular, Mean Streets, as the film that prompted him to want to become an actor. Travolta in Saturday Night Fever and Grease also made a huge impression.
Among film actors closer to his own age who he thinks regularly turn out stellar work, he cites Sean Penn, Ed Norton and John Cusack. After a recent visit to Los Angeles, Greco hooked up with an agent there, and he's hoping to make it big in the States.
'New York is the only place other than London where I'd actually live. The city is very similar to London. The people are more friendly. Brits are really accepted there. I know a lot of Brits go to America to try to crack it."
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