Paulo Costanzo was born on September 21, 1978 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He grew up in Brampton, a suburb of Toronto, of Italian (father) and Ashkenazi Jewish (mother) descent. He attended Mayfield Secondary School for the Arts where he starred in numerous plays and musicals. He then attended one year at Ryerson University for theater, but dropped out when he started to land Toronto based television and film roles. His first major television role was opposite Scott Speedman and Alfred Molina in the Barbra Streisand produced Rescuers: Stories of Courage: Two Couples (1998), in which he played a Jewish teen in hiding from the Nazis in 1939 Belgium. This was significant for him because both of his Jewish grandparents were holocaust survivors. Shortly thereafter, he landed the role of quirky alien Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthil on Nickelodeon’s Animorphs (1998), which ran for two seasons. When he was 21, he attended an international cattle call audition for an unnamed Dreamworks film. A week later he received a call from his agent: after seeing his tape, Todd Phillips wanted Paulo to fly to New York to screen test for Road Trip (2000). After testing for Phillips and Ivan Reitman, he was offered the role of Rubin Carver. This marked the beginning of his professional career in the United States. He played major supporting roles in several films including Josie et les Pussycats (2001) and 40 Days and 40 Nights (2002), and starred opposite Woody Harrelson and Alicia Silverstone in Scorched (2003). Three months after relocating to Los Angeles, he landed the coveted role of Michael Tribbiani on what was to be NBC’s great white hope Friends (1994) spin off, Joey (2004). It was canceled after just two seasons, but Paulo remained unscathed, winning critical praise for his work on the show. He then launched into the indie world. He headlined Douglas Coupland’s Everything’s Gone Green (2006), a festival darling which won numerous awards, he starred opposite Boardwalk Empire (2010)’s Shea Whigham in the cult horror hit, Splinter (2008), which won Six Scream Awards including best picture, and he starred opposite J.K. Simmons, Scott Caan, and Harvey Keitel in A Beginner’s Guide to Endings (2010). It was in 2008 that he won the multifaceted role of Evan R. Lawson on the USA tent pole, Royal Pains (2009). He relocated to New York for the show, which ended after eight seasons. He also directed three episodes of the series. He can be seen in recurring roles on Syfy’s The Expanse (2015), and Steven Zaillian’s HBO drama The Night Of (2016).