Antonio Sabàto Jr.
Sabàto in 2018
Born	(1972-02-29)February 29, 1972 (age 53) Rome, Italy
Nationality	American
Occupation(s)	Actor, model, politician
Years active	1990–present
Political party	Republican
Spouses	Alicia Tully Jensen ​ ​ (m. 1992; div. 1993)​ Cheryl Nunes ​ ​ (m. 2012; div. 2018)​
Partners	Virginia Madsen (1993–1998) Kristin Rossetti (2000–2007)
Children	3
Parent(s)	Antonio Sabàto Sr. Yvonne Kabouchy

Antonio Sabàto Jr. (born February 29, 1972) is an American model and actor. Born in Italy, he rose to fame in the 1990s as an underwear model forCalvin Klein and playingJagger Cates on the soap operaGeneral Hospital from 1992 to 1995. By the early 2000s, most of his acting credits were guest appearances, reality television, and budget films. Sabàto ran unsuccessfully as theRepublican candidate forU.S. Congress against incumbent Democratic CongresswomanJulia Brownley forCalifornia's 26th district in the 2018 elections.^[1][2]

Sabàto was born inRome, Italy on February 29, 1972, a Leap Day. His father wasAntonio Sabàto Sr., an Italian-born film star. His mother, Yvonne, was born inPrague (then part of Czechoslovakia), and of Jewish ancestry; her own mother was a JewishHolocaust survivor.^{[3][4][5][6][7]} He has one sibling, a sister named Simonne. Sabàto and his family moved to the United States from Italy in 1985 and he became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1996.^[5] He received his high school diploma fromPalisades Charter High School in Los Angeles.^[8] His parents divorced, and his mother remarried, to California-based businessman George F. Kabouchy, in 1997.^[9][10]

Sabàto was featured on the cover of erotic magazinePlaygirl in April 1993.^[11] Represented in Los Angeles by fashion agentOmar Albertto,^[12] Sabàto first gained attention as aCalvin Klein underwear model in 1996. In 1990, he appeared inJanet Jackson's "Love Will Never Do (Without You)" music video along with actorDjimon Hounsou, who is also a former CK underwear model represented byAlbertto. In 2013, Sabàto was named the international celebrity spokesperson forAnastasiaDate, an online mail-order bride website which connects wealthy American older men with Eastern European women.^[13][14]

Moving into acting, from 1992 to 1995 he appeared on thesoap operaGeneral Hospital, thescience fiction seriesEarth 2, and theprime time soap operaMelrose Place. Throughout the late 1990s, he starred in various TV movies anddirect-to-video films, as well as a supporting role in the 1998 feature filmThe Big Hit. In 2003, he played the protagonist's lover Pablo in the movieTestosterone, filmed in Argentina with Sonia Braga,David Sutcliffe, Jennifer Coolidge, Celina Font and Leonardo Brezicki. From 2005 to 2006, Sabàto playedDante Damiano on the daytime soap operaThe Bold and the Beautiful, and in 2008, Sabàto reprised his role asJagger Cates on the second season ofGeneral Hospital: Night Shift.^[15] Sabàto made an appearance onBones as a bouncer from a Jersey Shore club in season 6, episode 3, "The Maggots in the Meathead" in 2010.^[16] In 2013, he played Father Zaragosa in the television seriesThe League.^{[citation needed]} Sabàto is set to direct, produce, and star in an upcoming project calledTrail Blazers, which reportedly is the first in the line of other films he hopes to produce for his upcoming film studio called Trail Blazers Pictures. The film costarsKristy Swanson,Kevin Sorbo,Dean Cain, andScott Baio.^[17]

In 2005, Sabàto appeared onBut Can They Sing?, a celebrity reality singing competition onVH1, coming in 5th place. He competed in the 2008NBC competitionCelebrity Circus, which he won. He stated on the show that both his mother and her father were circus performers.^[18]

In August 2009, Sabàto starred inMy Antonio, a reality show on VH1 in which female contestants competed to win his heart. The show notably featured Sabàto's ex-wife,Tully Jensen, as one of the contestants (she came in 3rd place), and his mother also appeared on the show, providing advice. The show's winner was Brooke Barlow.^[19]

Sabàto and his family appeared onABC'sCelebrity Wife Swap on January 31, 2012. His then-fiancé Cheryl Moana Marie Nunes traded places on the show withWWE wrestlerMick Foley's wife Colette Foley. Sabàto competed onseason 19 ofDancing with the Stars in 2014. He was paired with professional dancerCheryl Burke,^[20] and they finished in 8th place.^[21]

Since 2014, Sabàto has served as the host of a 30-minute longsyndicatedhome remodeling showFix It & Finish It.^[22][23]

In 2016, Sabàto was contracted to be aChippendales dancer for a special engagement in June at theRio All Suite Hotel and Casino inLas Vegas.^[24]

Sabàto announced that he wants to start aHollywood movie studio geared toward conservative content. The new company is calledTrail Blazers Pictures and the studio's first upcoming film,Trail Blazers, is in the works for a release in 2022.^[25]

On April 25, 2024, while in Australia Sabato filmed the Music Video for Australian Singer Songwriter Kristin Venae's Single 'Still Here'. The Music video was released on Valentines day 2025.

Sabàto ran for the26th district Congressional seat in California as aRepublican against incumbent DemocratJulia Brownley. He came in second place in thejungle primary with 22.4% of the vote, advancing to face Brownley in the general election.^[26] He lost the election on November 6, 2018, by 24%.^[2]

Regardingillegal immigration, Sabàto said, "There should be no shortcuts for those who don't want to pay or wait".^[27] He supported Trump's wall on the southern border, saying, "We need a wall."^[28]

Sabàto has made many controversial statements regarding former U.S. PresidentBarack Obama, including saying he has "no guts," accusing him of destroying the U.S. economy, and asserting that Obama should be arrested and sent to theGuantanamo Bay detention camp.^[29] The former Democrat has also implied that Obama is the reason he left theDemocratic Party.^[29]

For several years, Sabàto has maintained that, in his opinion, Obama is not a Christian but aMuslim.^[30] The first instance of such a claim came in 2016, when Sabàto, after making a speech at theRepublican National Convention, toldABC News "I don't believe he follows the God that I love and the Jesus that I love," and "If you follow his story, if you read his book, if you understand about Obama, I mean, that's not a Christian name, is it?"^[31] When pressed for evidence to back up his claims, Sabàto answered that it's "in his heart."^[32]

Two years later, in 2018, he reaffirmed his belief that Obama is a Muslim when appearing onThe View, saying "If he's [Obama's] not a Muslim, we should call him President Barry," and claimed that "What I was saying was, he changed his name to Obama because he followed theIslam religion when he was growing up so, I felt that once you're in that religion, you stay for the rest of your life."^[33][34][35]

Sabàto endorsedDonald Trump for president in 2016.^[36] He spoke at the2016 Republican National Convention in support of the party's presumptive nominee.^[37] Sabàto claimed that after he expressed his support for Trump, he wasblacklisted fromHollywood.^[38] He later compared his struggle to find work inshow business with that of being Jewish duringthe Holocaust and said celebrities mocked him on the social media websiteTwitter.^[39][40]

Sabàto was married toTully Jensen from 1992 until 1993.^[41] He married Cheryl Moana Marie Nunes in 2012.^[42] The two separated in December 2016^[43] and their divorce was finalized in June 2018.^[44] After Sabàto filed for divorce, Nunes alleged that Sabàto wasabusing prescription drugs and had failed to complete even one month of a three-month-longdrug rehabilitation program. Sabàto said that he was addicted to prescriptionsleep aids, notbenzodiazepines as Nunes claimed, but admitted that he had a problem withsubstance abuse in the past, specificallycrystal meth.^[43][45] Sabàto has three children: a son withVirginia Madsen,^[46] a daughter with Kristin Rossetti Biasi,^[46] and a son with Nunes.^[44]

Sabàto is aChristian but has, on several occasions, said that he also identifies as beingJewish.^{[47][48][49][6]}

Sabàto had testosterone pellets injected into his buttocks as a treatment for low levels of testosterone.^[50] Sabàto has several tattoos, including theBatman logo on his lower back and theyin yang symbol surrounded by Chinese characters on his arm.^[51]

In a December 2018tweet, Sabàto stated that he and his family were in the process of moving out ofCalifornia to an undisclosed state, citing his frustration with the state'sprogressive policies as the primary reason. In March 2020, Sabàto moved toFlorida, and now works for a construction company.^[52]

• List of male underwear models

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• "ANTONIO SABATO JR".antoniosabatojr.com. Archived fromthe original on July 28, 2018. RetrievedMarch 2, 2020.
• Antonio Sabàto Jr. atIMDb
• SoapCentral.com: Sabato profile
• "Antonio Sabato Jr. for Congress – Putting YOU First".VoteAntonio.com. Archived fromthe original on November 7, 2018. RetrievedMarch 2, 2020.

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