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Hollywood Hottie

American Fitness, July, 2001 by Bonnie Siegler

Television and film actor Danny Nucci talks about the importance of diet and exercise in his weight management.

"Are you ready for this one?" asks Danny Nucci with a big smile. "I have a reclining exercise bike. I sit on that in front of the TV, play my Sony PlayStation 2[TM] for an hour and that's my cardio workout. The first 40 minutes I'm focused on the game and then the last 20, I'm dying for the game to be over." But fitness is not a game for this 32 year-old actor who co-starred in the highest grossing movie of all time. For Danny Nucci, who played the idealistic Fabrizio (Leonardo DiCaprio's stowaway cohort) in Titanic, keeping fit is a major part of his everyday life.

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"I used to play basketball," explains the 5'10 1/2" ("you like that half in there?") actor, "but three years ago, I took an elbow to the mouth and I have a scar there." The scar is faint, but nevertheless a flaw on an otherwise flawless face. "I play like I'm a power forward, so I've semi-retired my hoop shoes. I have this constant desire to go inside, and it's just not a good idea when you're not 6'7". Being an actor, you have a tendency to protect your face because that's your living," he adds. Born in Austria and raised in Italy, New York City and Los Angeles, Nucci has been acting professionally since landing a role in General Hospital at age 14.

So, instead of playing contact sports, you can find Nucci peddling his recumbent bike four days a week or training at the gym twice a week. "[I do] the gym weightlifting routine usually when I'm training for a role. It's easy--you're in-and-out in an hour," says Nucci, who now stars as the rather clueless, but entirely goodhearted, Frankie on the CBS sitcom Some of My Best Friends. On his spare time, Nucci plays his saxophone, writes and records music or plays with his four year-old daughter, Savannah. "That's the best of anything," he beams.

Living in the Hollywood Hills with his girlfriend, actress Paula Marshall, Nucci loves spending time with his daughter. "We're always doing something together. We go to the park, go on hikes, play adventure games in the house or just sit and read together. She's taught me I have to be a good example for her--it's mostly my actions I'm judged on, not my thoughts. Thank God for that too," he laughs, "or I could be in big trouble."

A veteran of more than two dozen movies, it was 1992's Alive that began Nucci's weight gain odyssey. "I was asked to put on 15 pounds for that film, so I did. That was the first time I ever ate everything in sight. But then they gave me just six weeks to lose around 25 pounds," he says. "I lost 24 pounds in six weeks after putting on 15. Ever since then my metabolism has turned into that of a water buffalo."

Now, Nucci understands the importance of a good diet and regular exercise. Though he feels "very healthy," Nucci knows as he gets older, the battle of the scales will pose a bigger challenge. "In my experience, it's just the older I get, the more difficult it is to take off weight ... it's much easier to put it on. Part of it is, I liked the way I looked at 155 pounds. There's kind of that image of me being lean, but in reality, I was gaunt," he admits. Carrying around extra weight is a concern for the handsome actor. "I get those love handles, but everybody has their problem spots. As I lose weight, they get smaller."

However, don't think that Nucci adheres to a strict low-fat diet, deprivation or nutritional supplements. "If I'm watching what I eat, I might have a bowl of oatmeal or eggwhites and some protein, like bacon, for breakfast. But I have days when I eat what I want and that means pancakes or two eggs, bacon and toast for breakfast," he explains. "A bad lunch would be gnocchi with cream sauce--delicious! A good lunch would be a big salad or grilled chicken dish."

He doesn't skip meals and relies on trail mix ("good fat"), apples ("fiber") or protein bars ("quick and easy") for snacks during the day. "A bar and a bottle of water and you're done," he says. Nucci's big secret is not allowing his body to get too hungry, "because then, I have less choice of what I will eat. A salad is just not appetizing to me then. Not eating late and having mostly protein for dinner also helps. If I'm having a New York steak, I'll have it with green beans, broccoli and carrots instead of a potato."

He credits Paula's "I love you" trick in helping him maintain a trim physique. "Before she goes to work, she [prepares] a series of little Tupperware[R] containers filled with healthy foods, so that when I finish working out or doing whatever, all I have to do is pop one in the microwave. They're always satisfying and healthy. I think that really says `I love you!'"

Bonnie Siegler has been covering celebrity fitness for American Fitness since 1990. Based in Playa del Rey, California, Ms. Siegler is an internationally published writer whose work has appeared in McCall's, Redbook and InStyle.

Hollywood Hottie

American Fitness, July, 2001 by Bonnie Siegler

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