This actor found fame in a classic Easter movie – and has spent the rest of his life playing it forward.

It was an epic movie on a grand scale which captured audiences. Since then, it has become a staple for Easter. But there is one star in the movie who took the message of helping your fellow man to heart. This Easter actor has been playing it forward and continues to have an impact on the entertainment industry. Eugene Mazzola, who played Pharaoh’s son continues his passion and, to date, has more than 52 acting credits plus a TV series under his belt and even more credits behind the camera.  And at each step, he offered a hand to lift up others.

Born into a family steeped in the film industry, Mazzola’s father started out as an actor in the 1920s, moving behind the camera in the ‘30s.  While his father was at 20^th Century Fox during the depression and WW II, his brothers and sister all worked as background or day players in the studios. The system at the time was the studios brought the employees’ children in to work.  For better or worse, the studios were family run and populated.

Lola Moore, a kids’ agent and a family friend, starting sending me out on interviews. At one and half years old Mazzola was brought in to work on Asphalt Jungle (1949).  As a baby there wasn’t much to do on camera but cry in a crib.  He went on to be hired onto Wait ‘Till the Sun Shines Nellie (1951). Despite his young age, he could memorize dialogue, hit marks and emote. A director’s dream from a three-and-a-half-year-old kid.  It was in Cry of the Hunted (1952) where the casting directors realized the camera really liked the young actor. And like today, he takes direction, a needed and useful skill when in from of the camera.  Star level arrived when when he was cast in The Ten Commandments (1955). 

After the movies success, he did movies and TV.  He signed up with a “super agent” at the time and changed his professional name to Eugene Martin. Even though he had great credits as a child, according to the agent it was less ethnic.  Looking back, that was problematic for many reason.

After serving in Vietnam in 1970, he decided to expand past acting but stay in the industry. While attending college, he ended up as a production accountant on a film directed by Peter Fonda and line produced by his brother, Anthony.

This lead to his role as a production assistant on TV commercial sets.  It wasn’t long before he started scrambling up the ladder – assistant directing, production managing, and ultimately producing.  In 1976 he produced my first feature film. He also met his wife, Zita Mazzola, and together they continued to expand into the industry and mentor, help and guide hundreds of others in the craft.

While working on a film near Seattle, he fell in love with the area. They moved to the area in   1981 with the goal to build a studio compound to serve the Northwest.  They wound up starting Seattle Cine Rental to support the growing NW film industry., which became the Cine Companies. For nine years it was the largest grip and lighting company on the west coast.  That company was bought by Pacific Grip and Lighting and remains the largest G&E company in the Northwest.

Currently, they have a production company, Mazzola Filmworks. The goal is to continue promoting and supporting the film industry and people in the Northwest.

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Mazzola shared “I think every job we take makes a difference, not just to our advancement but to the people you are privileged to work with.  This is especially true in the film business.  I learned from my family the importance of respecting the contribution of every person in the crew and cast, even the background actors.”