Everything Girl

Christopher DeBlasio is precisely the kind of man we here at All Things Girl had in mind when we created the Man of the Moment/Month (there is some dispute regarding the title of this column, our EiC Deb Smouse likes Man of the Moment but I like a man who will last longer than a moment). He is intelligent, witty, driven and not overly difficult to look at. He is the whole package, the perfect candidate for our Man of the Moment (definitely a man who could last longer than a moment).

Christopher has a deep respect and love for women that undoubtedly began with his strong, independent, hard-working single mother who struggled to raise her son while working, sometimes as many as three jobs. Christopher grew-up nearly penniless but happy in the working class neighbourhood of Bloomfield, New Jersey. As we chatted and he reflected on that time it was with obvious bittersweet nostalgia that he recalled that time of childhood joys and financial hardships. It was also obvious just how much respect Christopher has for his mother and all that she struggled though, to make his life better. It boarders on a kind of sweet, idealistic hero-worship.

“Yet despite the apparent harshness and austerity of his upbringing he manages to maintain an air of light-hearted playfulness…”

It is also undoubtedly this background of hard graft that has made Christopher the man he is today. A man unafraid of the unknown or of hard work; a man determined to capture those stars he is reaching for, a man not easily intimidated by a challenge. Yet despite the apparent harshness and austerity of his upbringing he manages to maintain an air of light-hearted playfulness that I found utterly enchanting.

It was in junior high-school that Christopher began taking drama, although he had been interested in making movies from a very young age. Carrying around a Fisher Price camera, and writing stories and scripts for fun, under his covers, late at night. He got his first showbiz “break” in 2006 while living in New York City, he was spotted by a producer for ABC and began to take parts on many of the popular daytime soaps, even landing a recurring roll on On Life To Live.

Now relocated to LA, Christopher has started his own production company. He is currently working on producing a script he co-wrote A Loss for Words, hoping to turn it into film sometime next year. Considered one of Hollywood’s hottest young up-and-comers, I have no doubt that Christopher will make it to the top of any ladder he decides to climb, whether it be producing, acting, writing or even boxing (a favourite pastime).

Not long ago Christopher took some time out of his very busy schedule to chat with me about love, life and the meaning of hard work.

Hello Christopher, thanks so much for talking with me today. First off will you to tell us about your childhood and the struggles you faced growing up? Do you think your childhood circumstances are the reason you are so driven?

Well I grew-up in New Jersey, in a town called Bloomfield. It was basically just me and my mother. My mother and father separated when I was about two years old. We really didn’t have much money. It was tough growing up. I grew-up in a two family house, on the not-so-great side of Bloomfield (laughs). We just had to work through it.

My mom, god bless her heart, she’s a really strong woman and she really did care about me. She did everything she could to provide with what little we had. It’s funny but I didn’t even know what candy was until I was five years old, because she got what we needed to eat.

When I was a child, sometime in January, It was freezing out, like below freezing and I was just a baby. It was tough and she was barely making it, the gas man came, the PNG guy came with his wrench and they were going to shut off our heat. My mother cried, it was just me and she was taking care of me and she begged him just to keep it on for one more week. He did and my mother got a second job (laughs) or something like that, or a third job probably knowing her, and she was able to make the payment. She did whatever she could to keep me happy. No matter how hard times were, it’s funny if you look at all of my baby pictures there is always a smile on my face. I have to thank my mom for that.

You had a recurring part on On Life To Live as a boxer. When was that and how long were you on the show.

It was like six or eight months, I don’t remember exactly. It was back in 06.

So where did you move on from there?

From there I actually decided to take my career towards film and that’s why I moved out to Los Angeles. I started my own production company out here. And that’s where I am right now.

Have you been in any films?

I’ve just been getting settled out here with my production company. One of the scripts we’re working on, that’s in pre-production, I’m attached to the lead roll. A lot of my energy is going towards that.

And when do you think that will start filming?

It’s so hard to tell but we’re hoping the end of the summer. If all goes well.

And this is a script that you co-wrote, correct? What’s it called?

Yes I did. It’s entitled A Loss for Words.

Tell me about that.

I wrote it with another writer from New Jersey. He is one of my very good friends named Thomas Colandro. We wrote it awhile ago. It’s funny because it just started out on notebook paper (laughs). We just started throwing something together and I said “You know this could really work. Let’s do this.” At the time I believe I was working in New York and I had just started on Life and we were doing this in the meantime. Just one thing led to another. I had a script before I came out to Los Angeles, and I figured while I’m here I might as well do something with it (laughs).

Tell us about the story.

It’s a psychological drama. It’s basically deals with the downfall of one main character in the film. What’s good about it is I think we all can relate to him because of all the ups and downs he has through the course of the film. It’s an emotional roller-coaster for the audience and what I really appreciate about this film is… what I wanted to do is give a really great twist at the end and I think it’s going to shock and surprise a lot of people. At the end of the film I think everybody’s going to be left in their seats, really thinking about the entire film as a whole.

A.L. Harper is a freelance writer and motorbike fanatic originally from Salt Lake City, Utah but now living in Scotland. In edition to being the Managing Editor for All Things Girl, A.L. is the Assistant Music Editor for Blogcritics.org and a freelance writer for hire.

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