Cardiff-born Luca Malacrino is heading home from Hollywood to join Coronation Street.
The Grey’s Anatomy star landed a role on the cobbles after being convinced to fly from Los Angeles to the UK to try out for the ITV soap after his mum said she had a “good feeling” about the audition.
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He told Wales Online: “I rang my mum in Cardiff and asked her if she thought taking the next flight out to audition for Coronation Street was a good idea.
“She said, ‘I don’t know why, but I have a really good feeling about this one’. So I booked the next flight out.”
While Luca and Corrie are yet to reveal his alter-ego’s storyline details, he said his character will be “fiery, Italian, stylish, and a lot of fun”, and he is to feature in multiple episodes.
It’s rumoured he’ll play a hairdresser wanting to work with David Platt and Nick Tilsley in their new barber shop venture.
Luca – who appeared in Jim Carrey’s comedy series I’m Dying Up Here last year – is expected to make his Weatherfield debut on February 6.
The Dead Head star is a lifelong Corrie fan, and he cannot wait to get his teeth into a “completely different” role than he is used to playing.
He added: “In Hollywood I’ve played a psychopathic murderer, a ’60s British agent and an ex-con from Brooklyn so it’ll be great to get stuck into a completely different role on Coronation Street.
“Around eight million people watch it per week, which is a pretty brilliant feeling. I can’t wait to show what I can do with this character.”
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This comes after Corrie recruited Hollywood star Helene Maksoud – who has appeared in Batman movie The Dark Knight – to play May Radfield, the wife of conman Duncan Radfield (Nicholas Gleaves).
What’s more, show boss Iain MacLeod recently recruited comic Stephen Bailey, Hollywood actor Adam Fogerty and former EastEnders star Janet Dibley.
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