Biografie

Has three children with ex-wife Jennie Garth: daughters Luca Bella Facinelli (born June 29, 1997), Lola Ray Facinelli (born December 6, 2002) and Fiona Facinelli (born September 30, 2006).

Italian-American.

Studied acting at the Atlantic Theater Company Acting School, New York City, New York under such teachers as William H. Macy, Felicity Huffman, Giancarlo Esposito and Camryn Manheim.

Met Jennie Garth while filming Blond ist die Rache (1996).

Grew up in Ozone Park, Queens, New York.

(2011, on career choices) I switch it up and do something different. I get bored if I do the same thing over and over. When I look back at the characters I've played, they've all been so distinctly different from each other. "Mike Dexter" from Ich kann's kaum erwarten (1998) is completely different than the character I played in The Scorpion King (2002), which is completely different than the Unterwegs mit Jungs (2001) role or the role I played on Damages: Im Netz der Macht (2007). Put that next to the guy that I played in Fastlane (2002), then put the character in "Fastlane" next to Twilight - Biss zum Morgengrauen (2008)'s "Carlisle", and put that character next to Nurse Jackie (2009)'s "Dr. Cooper", and they're all so vastly different that, whenever my agent says, "What do you want to do next?", I say, "Whatever I haven't done before". I like shaking it up and doing different things.

I remember waiting in line all away around the block for Superman premier and I thought "wow this is amazing, all those people are here to see this movie, it must be something special". And then you come to Comic-Con and people camp out for days and it puts things to perspective, like how amazing movies are and how movies can bring groups of people together for their passion, and they make friends... I thing anytime something can bring people together in a positive way it's a great thing.

Last week I was in London at an awards show, then I flew home and was in an RV park with my wife and kids in our motorhome, this week I'm in NY doing a charity event, and tomorrow I'll be coaching my daughters soccer practice. I guess the range of roles I play on film stem from the range of roles I play in real life.

There were days when I was literally running for hours in the forest and then I'd jump on a plane and then I'd be on the Nurse Jackie (2009) set. I was going from Vancouver to New York every three days. For me, it was really invigorating.

What I like about the third movie is you get to see a side of Carlisle you haven't seen before. You actually get to see what his vampire capabilities are because there's some great battle sequences. It's my favorite book. Carlisle is holding on to that humanity. He doesn't want to be a vampire.