ABC/Ricky Middlesworth
Carlo Rota, whose General Hospital alter ego, Jenz Sidwell, kicked off his 2025 by putting down more permanent roots in Port Charles as the new owner of Wyndemere, has enjoyed a prolific career in prime-time and film since he began his acting career. But his road to a life in showbiz was far from a traditional one.
From The Kitchen To The Soundstage
Rota had actually made a name for himself in an entirely different industry before he made the pivot to acting at the age of 30. Born in London, England to Italian parents, he originally followed in the footsteps of his father, Dante Rota, a renowned chef. In fact, he was a well-established restaurateur in Toronto with no aspirations to become an actor whatsoever throughout his 20s.
Rota marvels of his surprise career pivot, “It was sort of ironic in many ways, because as a guy that ran and owned a bunch of restaurants, I used to employ a lot of people, guys and girls who would come in and say, ‘I’d like a job,’ and when I would interview them I would always say to them, ‘You’re not an actor, are you?’ And they’d go, ‘Uh, yeah,’ and then I would stop and say, ‘Well, look, I don’t know if I can [hire you].’ Because I would have such bad experiences with the actors who we would hire, and then, when they got a job [acting], they just wouldn’t show up for work! Obviously, their main goal was to work as actors, and very often, they would downplay that [in the hiring process], and then they would just go, ‘Yeah, I can’t come to work, I’m working as an actor.’ So, actually, the furthest thing from my mind when I was working in the restaurant business was becoming an actor.”
Then, of course, things changed. Explains Rota, “What happened was I reached this critical point. I had just turned 30, and that’s a funny time, I think, in people’s lives. And my experience in the restaurant business — which was great, I loved it — was, for me, quadruple-y chaotic because not only was I in the restaurant business, which, for me, was a chaos business, but I was working thick with my family: My father, who was a chef, my mother, brothers, sisters, and it just became overwhelming, to the point where, I don’t know, I had an early midlife crisis — or, one might call it a, a mini nervous breakdown! I don’t know what it was, but one day I just said, ‘I can’t do this anymore.’ And so after I said that to myself, then I said, ‘Okay, what are you gonna do?’ And I didn’t know what I was going to do! I didn’t have the ability to go, ‘You’re good at this, do that.’ ”
When he found himself at that crossroads, Rota says, “I asked some trusted friends and they also scratched their heads [laughs] — but they all said the same thing. One of the things I did in the restaurant business was always front of house. Basically, I was always the guy you saw at the door. ‘Hi, how are you?’ ‘Table for two?’ Whatever it was. And they all said, ‘You know, you had this ability to be very empathetic. You have a natural empathy for people.’ I was like, ‘That’s great. Let’s turn that into a career. How do I do that?’ ”
Eventually, “Someone suggested that I take an acing class,” Rota recalls. “He said, ‘Take an acting class! You might like it!’ And so I signed up for a class. There was a a guy from Los Angeles, actually, that came up to Toronto — that’s where I was at the time — and taught this big class of about 60 people. He gave me a scene to do, and I did a scene with a scene partner in front of 58 people. I had never done anything like it before. And for me, it was a lightning bolt — a culto del fulmine, as we say in Italian. It was transporting! I just loved it. I was moved by it. It was the most exhilarating thing I’ve ever done. And I said, ‘I have to do this. This is what I want to do!’
“Unfortunately,” he continues with a chuckle, “it’s a little cliché to then go and tell your chef dad, ‘Yeah, I’m leaving the restaurant business to become an actor.’ Particularly when your chef dad is a pretty traditional Italian guy who is like, ‘Yeah, you ought to be an actor. Sure, Robert De Niro, you’re gonna be an actor.’ He goes, ‘Do you have a job?’ I’m like, ‘No, I don’t have a job.’ It was difficult to tell my family; they all thought I’d gone insane. I think I was just an odd person to be starting [an acting career] at that time,” he concedes. “But I was just extremely fortunate in that I actually started working quite quickly. I took other classes, I did a little bit of theater in Toronto, and I auditioned and [booked] a lot of very early stuff with American productions [filming in] Toronto.”
Because Rota was not a native Canadian and spoke with an accent influenced not only by his Italian heritage, but by growing up in a bunch of different locations, ranging from the United Kingdom to Hong Kong, he observes, “I guess because of the difference in my accent, I would always be cast as ‘the other guy,’ the guy who wasn’t from wherever the story [was taking place], the fish out of water. I would be that guy, and I worked and worked and worked.”
Making It Big
One of the shows Rota booked while working in Toronto was La Femme Nikita, which ran in the States on the USA Network. He did multiple seasons in the recurring role of Mick Schtoppel. “The show runner was a guy by the name of Joel Surnow,” Rota says. “Eventually, I decided to come to Los Angeles, so I got my working papers and came down. And when I came down to Los Angeles, I phoned Joel and I said, ‘I’m in Los Angeles,’ and he said, ‘Okay, come and see us.’ So I went to see him and they wrote me onto 24,” which Surnow co-created and executive-produced for Fox. On that series, he ultimately shot 29 episodes over the course of several seasons playing systems analyst Morris O’Brian. “It was a beautiful way to be introduced to Los Angeles,” Rota beams. “24 definitely became the big one [on my list of acting credits]. That was such a popular show and remains popular in people’s eyes.”
Disney/Christine Bartolucci
The Games People Play: Rota kicked off his GH career last summer working opposite Emma Samms as Holly and Jonathan Jackson as Lucky.
