About Gary

My name is Gary Riotto and I am 36
years old. I presently live in both New
York City and Los Angeles.

I spent the majority of my younger
years in Park Ridge, New Jersey. After
High School, I attended Rutgers
University's Mason Gross School of the
Arts where I received a BFA in Theatre.

I then moved to NYC and began
directing and acting. Soon there after I
stumbled across an adolescent
program, called STAR Theatre, which
used theatre as an educational tool to
raise awareness around issues related
to HIV Prevention, Pregnancy
Prevention, Communication Skill
Building, STD's, Racism, Violence and
Sexual Orientation.

I had stumbled into what has become
my life's work. I instantly became very
passionate about the program and it's
efforts. Within a few years I became
the Co-artistic Director of the program,
which was a part of Mt. Sinai Hospital's
Adolescent Health Center.

I spent most of my 20's dedicated to
working with adolescents and doing
theatre in New York City.

At 30 I decided to expand my horizons
and set larger goals. I began splitting
my time between NYC and LA, which
gave me the opportunity to do work
with adolescents on the West Coast
and audition as an actor for TV and film.

This expansion proved very productive
and I have been continuing to vacillate
between NY and LA for the last six
years. I have been fortunate to be able
to work as an Adolescent Educator all
over the country, a Director and an
Actor.

My greatest passion is using art to
educate and raise awareness in our
forever challenging, learning and
expanding world.