Geoffrey Giuliano
From Free net encyclopedia
Current revision
Template:Cleanupdate Geoffrey Giuliano (born September 11, 1953 in Rochester, New York) is an American writer and actor. Raised in Albion and Olcott Beach, New York, Giuliano was the youngest of five children. He and his mother, Myrna Oneita Juliana, moved to Tampa, Florida at the age of twelve and he first became interested in acting, Vedic philosophy and fine art seriography as a young man.
Giuliano became enamored of the emerging hippie movement in 1967. He described his experiences with that movement as "The very best of what my generation was about. The drugs I left behind early on and never went back, although LSD, in particular, was an important portal for me. It opened me up in many beautiful ways. Most importantly, pointing me eastward in the direction of disciplined yoga, Vedic philosophy, vegetarianism, a life free of addictions and much more. That was the point in which my adult values were really formed. I thank God everyday for India and everything I have known and seen because of Her. America gave me birth, but India made my bones."
Giuliano attended Hillsborough Community College (HCC)and in the mid 1970s, SUNY Brockport (where he was later named one of the top fifty students of all time) near his birth place of Rochester. In August 1976, he married college sweetheart Brenda Lee Black and together they had four children, Sesa Nichole, Devin Leigh, Avalon Oneita and India Skye. He also has a young son from another relationship, Tulsi Mala Kuptsov, born in Bangkok in mid July 2003.
In the late 1990s, Giuliano founded the umbrella charity, SRI / The Spiritual Realization Institute (and later Sri Radhe International Inc.) which manifested as a free veggie food pantry (Dasa Food For All) in Lockport, New York, as well as an animal sanctuary, Devotional Yoga (Bhakti)center, spiritual retreat and not-for-profit publishing house. In 2000 he also founded a charity in aid of the abused women of Radha Kund, North India, called The Vrndavana Widows & Children's Trust which feeds, clothes and provides acute medical care for the holy residents of this sacred village.
Giuliano has written some 36 well reviewed, bestselling biographies on such luminaries as John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Brian Jones, Pete Townshend and several audio works [100 to date] on subjects as diverse as Frank Sinatra as well as interviews with survivors of the Titanic entitled, "That Fateful Night: True Stories of Titanic Survivors In Their Own Words." Giuliano also boasts two London Sunday Times bestselling biographies, "Dark Horse: The Secret Life of George Harrison" and "Blackbird: The Life And Times Of Paul McCartney." Along the way, he has collaborated closely with such pop luminaries as Cream/Blind Faith drummer Ginger Baker, Pete Townshend, Dr. Timothy Leary, Richie Havens, Ben E. King, John Lennon's sister Julia Baird, 'Legs' Larry Smith, and British BBC TV presenter Gloria Hunniford, among many others. In late 1998, Giuliano became CEO of an imprint of Random House Audio called Tribute Audio, which produced a line of celebrity, non-book based, interview laced, original spoken word CDs all written, produced and narrated by the prolific author for the corporate juggernaut. He worked in that capacity for some five years. In 2003, Giuliano founded his own successful publishing house, SRI Books, as a resource for publishing his more esoteric literary works.
On November 19, 2005, a major motion picture, "Stoned: The Wild & Wicked World of Brian Jones," based on his book, "Paint It Black: The Murder of Brian Jones" premered in London. The movie was directed by Stephen Woolley and co-produced by Nik Powell, the team behind such acclaimed popular films as "Mona Lisa," "Interview with the Vampire" and "The Crying Game."
As a singer songwriter Geoffrey has written for and/or recorded with George Harrison ("Mandalay" lead vocal by 'Legs' Larry Smith), Richie Havens, Ben E. King, Steve Holly, Ginger Baker, Denny Laine ("Food for All"), and 'Legs' Larry Smith [ex-Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band] ("Toilet of His Dreams"). His two CDs, "Chocolate Wings" (2001) and the haunting, Indo fusion work, "God Dwells Within" (2006), were well received by both reviewers and music fans alike. His forthcoming album is entitled "Rockabilly Ragas" (to be released sometime in 2007).
Giuliano has been well known since the early 1980's for his very public renunciation of the fast-food giant McDonald's after portraying their promotional personality, Ronald McDonald, for some two years in Toronto, Canada. Shocked at the hypocrisy he found within the company's mammoth corporate structure, Giuliano testified for the prosecution in a famed 1991 London court case known as McLibel. He has been very public on his views as an ethical lacto vegetarian ever since. In an oft-quoted interview he gave at the time in London, Geoffrey summed up his bad experience playing Ronald north of the border. "There's no question that I was manipulating these children. I was a highly paid, highly trained, highly polished actor. Every show was a performance and I had a mandate to get that message out there, and yeah, it was not too hard - anybody can manipulate a child. I just went home one night, and I said, 'I cannot do this, I can't live with myself if I continue to do this.' Few know that Giuliano also played the Marvelous Magical Burger King for the Burger King Corporation doing shows and other appearances throughout New England. The seasoned author /actor has spoken widely regarding his turbulent term as the McDonald's clown and the shadowy ethical implications of factory farming and animal rights. Giuliano has been an ardent vegetarian abstaining from meat, fish or eggs since 1970.
Giuliano has resided primarily in Southeast Asia since 2000 with his two grandchildren, Kashi and Varsana Jones and his filmmaker daughter, Avalon Giuliano, with whom he has co-authored several books and DVD documentaries ["The Beatles Scrapbook" and "John Lennon: Working Class Hero" - KRB Music]. Their latest tome, "Revolver: A Secret History Of The Beatles," was published by Blake Publishing of London in mid 2006. Although maintaining a large Victorian estate in rural Western New York (Skyfield Manor) for the past twenty years the extended Giuliano family have travelled widely throughout the outer reaches of India, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. In fact, Geoffrey has spent some ten years of his life outside the United States. Giuliano is a thirty five year student of Vedic philosophy from the Gaudiya Vaishnava school of Hinduism (Bhakti, or Devotional Yoga) under the noted Bengali master, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami. Giuliano was also the co-author of a particularly stirring work on ethical vegetarianism with his first wife, Vrnda Devi, entitled "Compassionate Cuisine," published by SRI Books in 2003. In recent years Geoffrey has returned to his early career as a convincing character actor, most recently co-starring in the Hallmark Channel mini-series, "Jules Verne's The Mysterious Island" as comedic pirate Captain Tweezer Lee with Patrick Stewart and former bad boy Brit soccer star Vinnie Jones. In late 2005 he was hired by a large American radio syndicator (KGB)to do his own monthly two hour radio series, Geoffrey Giuliano's Roots Of Rock. He has also worked extensively in the theatre for three decades garnering consistently strong reviews as well as doing literally hundreds of professional voiceovers for such clients as McDonald's, Burger King, Random House, Bantam Doubleday Dell among many other top firms. Giuliano is also an unflinching crusader against the perils of crack cocaine addiction having been personally touched by the issue when three young people close to him became hopelessly addicted to the malevolent drug.