Michael Carrino is Enjoying His Second Act

(CLEVELAND, Ohio) — When people think of stardom, they usually picture Hollywood or New York City. But long before they became household names, actors like Molly Shannon, Halle Berry, Tom Hanks, and Paul Newman all came from Cleveland.

Today, Cleveland and other major cities in Ohio continue to have a thriving arts scene. Akron-based Michael Carrino has been a professional actor for the past 10 years. He performs individual shows with The Dinner Detective and THEY Improv while working on various on-screen productions.

Carrino’s latest project concerns  one of Cleveland’s most infamous unsolved murder cases from the 1930s. In “Kingsbury Run,” starring alongside Jim Osso and Angelo Oddo, Carrino portrays Dr. Francis Sweeney, the alleged Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run, wearing thick-rimmed glasses, a dark suit, and a pencil mustache.

Originally unfamiliar with the case, Carrino plays Sweeney as a sophisticated man who only loses control when pushed to his limit.

To prepare for the role, Carrino said he modeled his approach after his father, a first-generation Italian who grew up in Wadsworth’s predominantly Pennsylvania Dutch community during the Great Depression. Carrino’s father wasn’t a criminal, but like Sweeney, he was determined to overcome adversity.

“They didn’t let Italians really succeed,” Carrino said. His father had to work 10 times harder than everyone else just to be taken seriously. Even with a doctorate and successful career, it took him 80 years to gain the community’s respect.

Carrino carried that same determination into his portrayal of Sweeney. The result was a disturbing yet powerful performance that left the audience visibly uneasy.

Jenny Brady played Florence “Flo” Polillo, one of Sweeney’s alleged victims. The two share their first scene together at a bar. Drunk, they flirt back and forth before Sweeney walks her home.

Soon after, Polillo begins to stumble after drinking from Sweeney’s flask. Just as she realizes she’s been poisoned, she falls to the ground, and Carrino, as Sweeney, bludgeons her to death.

Unlike his character, Carrino loathes violence against women. By the time they filmed her death scene, he and Brady had begun dating.

“We had to film it like 10 times because he couldn’t,” Brady laughed.

Even as roles like “Kingsbury Run” add to his growing list of acting credits, Carrino refuses to consider himself a local celebrity. If he did, “I would stop growing,” he said.

In front of the camera, Carrino is a chameleon. Whether he’s playing comedy or horror, he shifts effortlessly from one character to another. While he enjoys lighthearted roles, he’s more drawn to the depth that comes with playing a villain.

Prior to “Kingsbury Run,” Carrino starred in Brandon Rice’s short film “Bluefin.” He plays Simon, a cannibalistic father who lures his daughter’s boyfriend into a deadly trap. Carrino’s performance is unsettling. Combined with the film’s deliberate pacing, his performance keeps viewers on edge until the very end.

A first act in computers

Carrino’s foundation in media and technology helped shape the start of his acting career.

Carrino started in computers, attending the University of Akron from 1982 to 1986, where he earned a degree in mass media production. While in school, he worked at the local radio station WZIP, then called WAUP. Back then, they worked with three-quarter-inch tape and Super 8 film. Today, the industry relies on digital technology and artificial intelligence.

Starting as a computer consultant, Carrino worked for Renaissance, where he was assigned to work at the NASA Glenn Research Center.

Based just off the main campus on Aerospace Parkway, he frequently took part in space experiments. What was originally meant to be a few weeks turned into eight years.

“I happened to be at the right place at the right time,” Carrino said.

His entrepreneurial, out‑of‑the‑box thinking helped streamline how information was sent to the main campus. They originally relied on floppy disks, but he pushed for a web-based system instead.

Throughout his life, Carrino wanted to be an actor, but he never pursued it because he’d been raised to believe that a man’s role was to provide for his family and mow the lawn.

“A man doesn’t act,” he added.

But after his children were born, he decided to stop conforming to that stereotype and pursue his dream. He partly credits his children with giving him the push to finally become an actor.

His children attended the Magical Theatre Company in Barberton, a professional theater for young audiences. When picking them up one day, he jokingly asked when they were going to start an adult program.

While they never started an acting school for adults, he was able to take part in their programs. From there, he worked on a 48‑hour film project with his daughter, Gabrielle, titled “Wolfe Who Cried Pig.”

Around 2014, he continued building his acting experience by learning improv – his “first love of acting.” Having spent years in audio production, he wanted to combine the two to gain experience on movie sets.

Today, the same children who inspired Carrino to pursue acting have given him the freedom to take bigger risks. Now that they’re grown and financially independent, Carrino has the flexibility to accept more film roles.

For Carrino, acting is no longer a pipe dream. It’s the result of choosing the life he wanted rather than the one he thought he was supposed to live.