Michael Mantenuto
Michael Mantenuto was an American college ice hockey player, film actor, and Army non-commissioned officer, best known for his performance as Olympic ice hockey star Jack O'Callahan in the 2004 Disney film Miracle.
Early life and sports
Michael Mantenuto was born on May 13, 1981, in Natick, Massachusetts, to parents Ed Mantenuto and Kerry Lee Barton. He had three sisters. Mantenuto is of Italian descent. His father, the assistant principal and the school hockey coach at Holliston High School, taught him how to play hockey at an early age and eventually became his high school coach. He is an alumnus of the University of Maine, where he played one season for the Maine Black Bears men's ice hockey squad; following that season he transferred to the University of Massachusetts at Boston and played one additional season for their team while taking acting classes.Film career
His time playing hockey allowed him the opportunity to audition for, and ultimately win, the Miracle role of Jack O'Callahan, a player on the 1980 Olympic men's ice hockey team, who beat the Soviet Union team in a game that is now referred to as the "Miracle on Ice". During auditions, Mantenuto got into a fight with another player in front of director Gavin O'Connor, after the player was picking on other actors. This impressed O'Connor and led to Mantenuto receiving the role of O'Callahan. The real Jack O'Callahan praised Mantenuto for his performance. Mantenuto stated the film allowed him to combine the important aspects of his life, "to be able to combine the acting, all the expression, the hockey, and be able to segue from one career that I loved so much to another where I wanted my life to go... It was pretty special".After Miracle finished filming, Mantenuto moved to California to pursue an acting career. He appeared in only two other films, including the Matthew McConaughey feature Surfer, Dude.