Paulo Costanzo

Paulo Costanzo
Biographical information
Species	Human
Gender	Male
Hair color	Brown
Eye color	Brown
Born	September 21, 1978
Occupation	Actor; Potrayed Ax in the TV show
Behind the scenes
First appearance	The Message
Last appearance	Changes pt 3

Paulo Costanzo played Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill in the TV show.

Biography

Paulo Costanzo was born in Toronto, Ontario and is of Italian-Jewish descent.

Paulo grew up in Brampton, a suburb of Toronto, and attended Mayfield Secondary School for the Arts where he starred in numerous plays and musicals. He then attended one year at Ryerson University for theater, but dropped out when he started to land Toronto-based television and film roles.

His first major television role was opposite Scott Speedman and Alfred Molina in the Barbara Streisand-produced, Rescuers: Stories of Courage (1997), in which he played a Jewish teen in hiding from the Nazis in 1939 Belgium. This was significant for Paulo because both of his Jewish grandparents were holocaust survivors.

Shortly thereafter he landed the role of quirky alien Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthil on Nickelodeon's Animorphs (1998), which ran for two seasons.

When he was 21 he attended an international cattle call audition for an unnamed Dreamworks film. A week later he received a call from his agent: after seeing his tape, Todd Phillips wanted Paulo to fly to New York to screen test for Road Trip (2000). After testing for Phillips and Ivan Reitman he was offered the role of Rubin Carver. This marked the beginning of his professional career in the United States.

Costanzo played major supporting roles in several films including Josie and the Pussycats (2001) and 40 Days and 40 Nights (2002), and starred opposite Woody Harrelson and Alicia Silverstone in Scorched (2002). Three months after relocating to Los Angeles he landed the coveted role of Michael Tribbiani on what was to be NBC's great white hope: Friends spinoff, Joey (2005). It was canceled after just two seasons, but Paulo remained unscathed, winning critical praise for his work on the show. He then launched into the indie world.

He headlined Douglas Coupland's Everything's Gone Green (2006), a festival darling which won numerous awards, he starred opposite Boardwalk Empire's Shea Whigam in the cult horror hit, Splinter (2008), which won 6 Scream Awards including best picture, and he starred opposite J.K Simmons, Scott Caan and Harvey Keitel in A Beginner's Guide to Endings (2010).

It was in 2008 that he won the multifaceted role of Evan R. Lawson on the USA tent pole, Royal Pains (2009-present). He relocated to New York for the show and has directed three episodes to date.

Paulo can be seen in recurring roles on Syfy's The Expanse (2015-present), and Steve Zaillian's new HBO drama, Crime (2016). Season eight of Royal Pains will air in the summer 2016.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Ready or Not	Tom DeCarlo	Episode: "Second Generation"
1997	The Don's Analyst	Young Vito
1998	My Date with the President's Daughter	Arthur
1998	Rescuers: Stories of Courage: Two Couples	Yaakov/Gaston	Marie Taque segment
1998–1999	Animorphs	Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill	19 episodes
1999	Seasons of Love	Unknown Role
1999	Psi Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal	Tony D'Angelo	Episode: "Nocturnal Cabal"
2000	Road Trip	Rubin Carver
2001	Josie and the Pussycats	Alexander Cabot
2001	Gypsy 83	Troy
2002	40 Days and 40 Nights	Ryan
2003	Scorched	Stuart 'Stu' Stein
2003	A Problem with Fear	Laurie
2004	The Tao of Pong	Hank	Also producer
2005	50 Cent: Bulletproof	Matt, the Morgue Attendant	Video game; Voice
2006	Dr. Dolittle 3	Cogburn the Rooster	Voice
2006	Puff, Puff, Pass	Tenant #1
2004–2006	Joey	Michael Tribbiani	Main cast
2006	Everything's Gone Green	Ryan
2007	The Day the Dead Weren't Dead	Deputy Sandbrooks
2008	The More Things Change..	Nesby Phelps
2008	Splinter	Seth Belzer
2009–present	Royal Pains	Evan R. Lawson	Main cast
2010	A beginner's guide to endings	Jacob 'Cob' White
2013	How to Be a Man	Gary
2014	Criminal Minds	Shane Wyeth	Episode: The Black Queen
2015	The Expanse	Shed Garvy

Interviews and Articles about Animorphs

• Behind the Scenes:Ax

Gallery

Ax's bio from VHS limited edition poster

Behind the Scenes on scholastic.com/animorphs

Paulo on the set of Animorphs

Ax morphing from Andalite to human

Paulo behind the scenes of the episode Face Off

Paulo in Road Trip, circa 2000