Charlie Picerni

'Charlie Picerni' (qv) was born in Corona Queens, New York. The fourth of five children to Italian parents. After high school, he worked different jobs, one being construction work on high-rise buildings in Manhattan. He married, at a young age, his childhood girlfriend, Marie. He had a son after one year of marriage and decided he didn't want to work in construction, anymore. So, he headed west to try his luck in the movie business!His brother, 'Paul Picerni' (qv), was an actor on a hit TV show at that time called _The Untouchables (1959)_ (qv). Charlie worked as a stand-in, an extra and started doing stunt double work. Charlie immediately fell in love with this work and moved his family to California. Charlie excelled as a stuntman and then moved up to stunt-coordinating TV shows. He got his big break on _Starsky and Hutch (1975)_ (qv), he was the stunt coordinator and 'Paul Michael Glaser' (qv)'s stunt double. 'Aaron Spelling' (qv) and 'Duke Vincent' (qv) saw what direction Charlie was heading in - Directing"!He started second unit-directing _Starsky and Hutch (1975)_ (qv) and then moved up to directing episodes of "Starsky". He continued stunt-coordinating and second unit-directing such shows as _Kojak (1973)_ (qv) and _Magnum, P.I. (1980)_ (qv). He then started directing television for producers 'Aaron Spelling' (qv), 'Leonard Goldberg' (qv) and 'Stephen J. Cannell' (qv), for such shows as _T.J. Hooker (1982)_ (qv), _Matt Houston (1982)_ (qv), _Vega$ (1978)_ (qv), _Hardcastle and McCormick (1983)_ (qv), _Hunter (1984)_ (qv), _Stingray (1985)_ (qv), _Finder of Lost Loves (1984)_ (qv), _The A-Team (1983)_ (qv), _J.J. Starbuck (1987)_ (qv), _Spenser: For Hire (1985)_ (qv), _Blue Thunder (1984)_ (qv), _Gavilan (1982)_ (qv) and HBO's _Tales from the Crypt (1989)_ (qv).At that time, Charlie caught Warner Brothers producer 'Joel Silver' (qv)'s eye. Joel hired Charlie to stunt-coordinate _Die Hard (1988)_ (qv). This led to second unit-directing and stunt-coordinating on the films, _Die Hard 2 (1990)_ (qv), _Road House (1989)_ (qv), _Lethal Weapon 2 (1989)_ (qv) & _Lethal Weapon 3 (1992)_ (qv), _Hudson Hawk (1991)_ (qv), _National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)_ (qv), _The Last Boy Scout (1991)_ (qv), _Demolition Man (1993)_ (qv), _Ghost (1990)_ (qv), _Ricochet (1991)_ (qv), _Basic Instinct (1992)_ (qv), _A Low Down Dirty Shame (1994)_ (qv), _True Romance (1993)_ (qv), _2 Days in the Valley (1996)_ (qv), _15 Minutes (2001)_ (qv) and many more. Charlie also, during this time, directed multiple episodes on a TV series, called _Seven Days (1998)_ (qv), for Paramount studios.Charlie also worked as an actor in many TV and film projects throughout his career. Realizing he wanted to further his career as a director, he studied at the "Beverly Hills Playhouse" in the Master class for two years. In 2007, he directed, produced and co-wrote a feature film entitled _Three Days to Vegas (2007)_ (qv), starring 'Peter Falk' (qv), 'Rip Torn' (qv) and 'George Segal' (qv). In 2010, Charlie directed 'Ayn Rand' (qv)'s play, "Night of January 16th", at the Odyssey Theatre to rave reviews! While continuing to work in all avenues of the motion picture business, he is developing and writing his own project called "Spaghetti Park", which he will produce and direct.Charlie is a proud member of "The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences".::Wil Castillo