Raz Degan
Raz Degan (born 25 August 1968) is an Israeli model and actor of cinema, television and theatre, who resides in Italy. In 2009, he co-starred in Barbarossa, an Italian film based on the life of Frederick I Barbarossa. In 2004 he played the role of Darius III in Oliver Stone's film Alexander. He has starred in many Italian television commercials, and beginning in April 2010 hosted the weekly television programme Mistero broadcast by Mediaset's Italia 1.
Career
Degan was born in the Kibbutz Sde Nehemia in Israel. At the age of 21 after three years military service in the Israeli Army, he became a male model and commenced an itinerant lifestyle, travelling around the world; among the places he visited were Thailand, Australia, the United States, France, and Italy. He began his acting career with a cameo role in Robert Altman's 1994 film Pret-a-Porter.
By the mid-1990s, Degan was based in Italy and starred in a series of Italian commercials; he also had roles in several television films and played minor parts in cinematographic films. In 2004, he secured the role of Darius III in Oliver Stone's epic film Alexander, and in 2009 he co-starred in Barbarossa, an Italian film directed by Renzo Martinelli and starring Dutch actor Rutger Hauer in the title role. Deagan played the part of Alberto da Giussano, a legendary Lombardian condottiero who waged war against the Imperial Army of Frederick I Barbarossa.