Joseph Michael Manganiello is an American actor, director and producer. His professional film career began when he played Flash Thompson in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man. His breakout role came in the form of werewolf Alcide Herveaux on five seasons of the HBO series True Blood, for which he was voted “Favorite Pop-Culture Werewolf of All Time” in 2011 by the readers of Entertainment Weekly and one of Men’s Health’s “100 Fittest Men of All Time.” Take a look below for 30 more fun and interesting facts about Joe Manganiello.

1. Manganiello was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Susan and Charles John Manganiello.

2. His father, born and raised outside of Boston, MA, is of Italian descent, from Naples, and his mother is of Armenian, Austrian and Croatian ancestry.

3. He was raised in Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania.

4. He has a younger brother, Nicholas.

5. He was a student at St. Bernard School, a Roman Catholic elementary school in Mt. Lebanon, and then attended Mt. Lebanon High School, where he graduated with honors in 1995 and won the school’s Great Alumni Award in 2011.

6. Growing up, he was the captain of his football, basketball, and volleyball teams and went on to play at the varsity level in all three sports.

7. He won the role of Jud Fry in his school’s senior year production of Oklahoma!, and was involved with the school’s TV studio.

8. He would borrow equipment to make films with his friends, and became interested in acting to become a better filmmaker.

9. After a series of sports injuries, including a torn medial collateral ligament returning a kickoff in a varsity football game against Ringgold High School, Manganiello auditioned for the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama as a senior in high school.

10. He was not accepted, so he enrolled at the University of Pittsburgh and worked at theater.

11. He reapplied to Carnegie Mellon a year later, and was one of 17 students accepted into the acting program.

12. He performed in theater productions and wrote, produced, and acted in a student film entitled Out of Courage 2: Out for Vengeance.

13. He graduated in 2000 with a BFA in acting.

14. He traveled to New York and Los Angeles through his university to participate in group auditions, which provided him contacts in the entertainment business.

15. While a student at Carnegie Mellon University, Manganiello appeared in numerous productions in Pittsburgh’s theater scene, including Ulfheim in Henrik Ibsen’s When We Dead Awaken, Lorenzo in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice for Quantum Theatre, and Joe in the Pittsburgh premiere of The Last Night of Ballyhoo.

16. He moved to Los Angeles, California after graduating from Carnegie Mellon.

17. He quickly signed with a talent agent, and three days later, he auditioned for the role of Peter Parker in the Sam Raimi-directed film Spider-Man (2002).

18. He landed the role of Eugene “Flash” Thompson, Peter Parker’s nemesis, as his first acting job out of college.

19. He reprised the role several years later, making a brief cameo at the end of Spider-Man 3 (2007).

20. In 2017, Manganiello won an Emmy as the narrator of the documentary Pittsburgh is Home: The Story of the Penguins, which documented the first 50 years of history of the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team.

21. Manganiello was cast as Big Dick Richie in Steven Soderbergh’s Magic Mike, the story of a young stripper in Tampa, Florida, played by actor Channing Tatum.

22. Manganiello is a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Wests Tigers.

23. He directed and produced the 2007 short documentary DieHardz about Steelers fans who meet up at bars in Los Angeles, California.

24. Manganiello is also a noted Pittsburgh Penguins fan and hosted the 2017 NHL Awards and the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft.

25. Manganiello was once a roadie for the band Goldfinger and is friends with lead singer John Feldmann; he toured internationally with the group as a member of their security.

26. In July 2014, it was reported that Manganiello had begun dating actress Sofía Vergara.

27. They became engaged on Christmas Day 2014 after six months of dating.

28. They married in Palm Beach, Florida on November 21, 2015.

29. He has also been a longtime Dungeons & Dragons fan and player, appearing on episodes of Nerd Poker, CelebriD&D and the web show Critical Role as well as Force Grey.

30. Manganiello has learned Transcendental Meditation.