Anthony Catanzaro – Grit and Determination

Q.  Are there any current projects that you are working on?

A.  I am actually just doing some romance novel modeling, I just got into that actually.  I am in the process of making an exercise video, my first exercise video.

Q.  Why did you decide to participate in “Mr. Romance?”

A.  Well, I’ve been married for twelve years and my wife thinks I’m one hell of a romantic guy, so I figured hey might as well go do it.  Show the world who I really am, what I’m all about.  It was pretty exciting, just to have the opportunity just to be able to do it.

Q.  How did your family and your wife feel about you possibly being the next romance novel cover guy?

A.  My family, I have four sisters actually and one brother, they’re all a lot older than me actually.  My father and mother have both passed away, they died back in 1993 and 2000.  They were all pretty stoked that I could possibly be the next romance cover guy.

Q.  With all the various reality shows, what makes “Mr. Romance” unique?

A.  They put twelve good looking guys in a house together and we had to cook for ourselves and everything and I was actually the cook in the house, a lot of the guys just didn’t know how to cook, I did all the cooking and stuff.  What makes it really unique is the fact all the guys were really different, so when it came down to it there were twelve different guys and women are going to really be able to see twelve different characters.  Not just looks but also their personalities as well, it’s not your basic everyday reality show, it’s not based upon ruining your life or making you look like a fool.  Just basically getting some great looking guys from all around the country, putting them into one house and getting to know their personalities and watching the story unfold in front of your eyes.

Q.  How did you get to be a master of impersonations of voices and characters?

A.  Oh, it all started when I was a kid, I used to imitate my Uncle Sal, he’s from Italy and he’s a really cool character.  My mother would ask him if he wanted like breakfast, and he couldn’t really say breakfast so he’d say “I ate crabs already,” he’d sound like he would say crabs.  So, it was just funny and I would imitate him and stuff and I pretty much thought I was him when I was about eight years old.  I just started imitating anybody I pretty much thought that was funny, and everyone would just go wild when I did my imitation ‘cuz I really sounded just like the person.  I just love to imitate people, whether they are funny or not, if they’re serious, whatever it is just kind of an art to just study someone so well you can become them.

Q.  Why did you decide to take up dancing?

A.  I didn’t really take it up, it was really weird,  I used to be kind shy when I was really, really young.  When I was eight, nine years old I started doing imitations and stuff then I was at my brother’s wedding, I was like ten years old when my brother got married.  I just started dancing with my sisters, and they’d be like “Tony, you dance good,” and I just kind of liked it, I just felt comfortable dancing, I just like to dance.  I was really into music and stuff, I like club music and disco, I like a lot of different music, my favorite performer is Elvis Presley actually.  But, I like all kinds of dance music whether it’s from the 50s, 70s, 80s or 90s, doesn’t really matter, I just became a dancer.

Q.  What’s it like for you competing in Male Modeling competitions?  How do you prepare for them?

A.  I kick ass in them, I live my life like I am ready to compete tomorrow.  My diet, I have a very strong regimen with my diet, I eat very, very clean and my meaning of clean is with no oils, no mayonnaise or mustard, no cheeses.  I eat everything dry and clean, like if I wanna eat grilled chicken, I’ll just have grilled chicken, maybe I’ll put some lemon on it, that’s it.  I just pretty much eat everything dry and I don’t drink alcohol, I don’t smoke, I’m totally into health and fitness. So, when I prepare for a modeling or bodybuilding show I prepare myself year round and stay in good shape.  I just believe that a person should take care of themselves, and there is no such thing as a diet.  The best diet is no diet, just basically sticking to what you need to eat, balancing your whole plate, half proteins, half carbohydrates, half vegetables and basically keep it like that.  If you eat carbohydrates with every single meal your blood sugar will always stay stabilized.  Some people say “I don’t want to eat carbs, I don’t want to eat carbs,” but then your blood sugar drops too much.  So, that’s the worst thing about dieting, I just believe in eating clean.

Q.  You deal in personal training and fitness, how did your passion begin?

A.  It started when I was fifteen years old, my sister was going out with her fiancée, who later became her husband, his name was Louie and he used to like to work out.  I started with him a little bit and I used to be really into WWF wrestling when I was a kid, and I used to watch Hulk Hogan and I used to really get excited when I saw Hulk Hogan.  He used to say things like eat your vitamins, this and that, and I thought it was kinda cool and I was like yeah I’m going to do that.  I pretty much loved to work out, I was like a home body, I still am, I basically don’t like to go out unless I have to work or something.  I like quiet evenings with my wife and stuff, as much as I like being around people, I like my alone time too.  I built a gym inside my house and I worked out for ten years, I actually moved out when I was twenty-five.

Q.  If you could pass on a piece of advice about health and fitness, what would it be?

A.  I’d pass on definitely stay natural, to guys especially, to the guys out there stay natural, take time and have patience with this, stay natural.  I’ve never taken any kind of steroid, growth hormone, I’m 100% natural and guys come up to me all the time at the gym and say “you can’t be natural, how can you be so cut and ripped and have your size and be natural.”  I’ve been working out since I was fifteen years old and I eat this type of food and I put dedication into it.  With patience comes rewards, people have to understand that, anything that’s good in life you just have to work hard for it and it’ll come little by little.  If I don’t work out for a couple of months, I’m not going to lose anything, guys who are on drugs, once they come off it they lose what they worked so hard to gain because it’s fake, it’s not real to begin with.  It’s so unhealthy for you, women out there, just the same exact thing, keep your diet right and get really involved with your fitness.  Don’t let your age change who you are or what you believe that you can accomplish, don’t let anything stand in your way.  All that matters is what you think!  If you want to make a change in the way that you look do it, don’t let any obstacles get in your way. 

Q.  Do you have a most memorable moment from filming “Mr. Romance?”

A.  Yeah, I broke my toe while I was there, so I would say breaking my toe was the most memorable moment.

Q.  Is there anything that you’d like to say to your fans and supporters?

A.  I’d like to say to all my fans and supporters out there, thank you for supporting me and thank you for believing in me.  As much as you believe in me, I believe in you and I hope that keep supporting me and if there is anything that I could do for my fans, I’d be glad to do it.  They have my website and if they have any questions about fitness or life in general they can email me.  Lots of love to everybody out there.