Geoffrey Giuliano: Difference between revisions

Geoffrey Giuliano (born September 11, 1953 in Rochester, New York) is a American writer of dozens of commercially published, best selling books translated into some sixteen languages over twenty five years. He is also a noted film actor and syndicated radio show host. Raised in Albion and Olcott Beach, New York, Giuliano was the youngest of five children. He and his mother, Myrna Oneita Juliano, moved to Tampa, Florida at the age of twelve where he first became interested in acting, Vedic philosophy and fine art seriography as a young man. Geoffrey became enamored of the emerging hippie movement in 1967 and went through that door taking with him as he puts it, "All the very best of what my generation was about. The drugs I left behind early on and never went back, although LSD, in particular, was an important portal for me. It opened me up in many beautiful ways. Most importantly, pointing me eastward in the direction of disciplined yoga, Vedic philosophy, vegetarianism, a life free of addictions and much more. That was the point in which my adult values were really formed. I thank God everyday for India and everything I have known and seen because of Her. America gave me birth, but India made my bones."

Giuliano attended Hillsborough Community College (HCC) and in the mid 1970s, SUNY Brockport (where he was later named one of the top fifty students of all time) near his hometown of Rochester. In August 1976 he married college sweetheart Brenda Lee Black (later author/animal rights activist, Vrnda Devi) and together they had four children, Sesa Nichole, Devin Leigh, Avalon Oneita and India Skye. He also has a young son from another relationship, Tulsi Mala Kuptsov born in Bangkok in mid July 2003.

In the late 1990's Giuliano founded the umbrella charity, SRI/The Spiritual Realization Institute (and later Sri Radhe International Inc.) which manifested as a free veggie food pantry (Dasa Food For All) in Lockport, New York, as well as an animal sanctuary, Devotional Yoga center, spiritual retreat and not-for-profit publishing house. In 2000 he also founded a charity in aid of the abused women of Radha Kund, North India called The Vrndavana Widows & Children's Trust which feeds, clothes and provides acute medical care for the holy residents of this sacred village.

Giuliano has written some 36 critically acclaimed, scholarly, internationally bestselling, though often controversial, biographies on such luminaries as John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Brian Jones, Pete Townshend and several audio works (100 to date) on subjects as diverse as Frank Sinatra as well as archival interviews with survivors of the Titanic entitled, "That Fateful Night: True Stories of Titanic Survivors In Their Own Words." Giuliano has also written two London Sunday Times bestselling biographies, "Dark Horse: The Secret Life of George Harrison" and "Blackbird: The Life And Times Of Paul McCartney." Along the way, he has collaborated with such pop luminaries as Cream/Blind Faith drummer Ginger Baker, Pete Townshend, Dr. Timothy Leary, Richie Havens, Ben E. King, John Lennon's sister Julia Baird, 'Legs' Larry Smith, and British BBC TV presenter Gloria Hunniford, among many others. In late 1998, Random House Audio asked Giuliano to form a company for them called Tribute Audio, which produced a line of celebrity, interview laced, original spoken word CDs, all written, produced and narrated by the author. He worked in that capacity for some five years. In 2003, Giuliano founded a successful publishing house, SRI Books, as a resource for publishing his more esoteric literary works.

On November 19, 2005, a film, "Stoned: The Wild & Wicked World of Brian Jones," based on his bestselling book for Virgin in the UK, "Paint It Black: The Murder of Brian Jones" premered in London. The movie was directed by Stephen Woolley and co-produced by Nik Powell, the producing team behind such films as "Mona Lisa," "Interview with the Vampire" and "The Crying Game." At the Bangkok Film Festival in February 2006 Woolley and Giuliano fell out over what Giuliano felt was, "A thoroughly botched adaptation of my book as well as obvious ommissions in reference to my credit in the making of this horrific, pretentious and historically inaccurate film. It is a load of self interested garbage. If Woolley spent ten years of his life making this, he wasted the better part of his professional life for nothing!"

As a singer songwriter Giuliano has written for and/or recorded with George Harrison, Richie Havens, Ben E. King, Steve Holly, Ginger Baker, Denny Laine, and 'Legs' Larry Smith [ex-Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band]. His has released two CDs, "Chocolate Wings" (2001) and the haunting Indo fusion work, "God Dwells Within" (2006). Giuliano has been a sterling (and much lauded) advocate for animal rights since the early 1980's for his very public renunciation of the fast-food giant McDonald's after portraying their promotional personality, Ronald McDonald, for some two years in Toronto, Canada. Shocked at the hypocrisy he found within the company's mammoth corporate structure Giuliano testified for the prosecution in a famed 1991 London court case known as McLibel. He has been very public on his views as an ethical lacto vegetarian ever since. In an interview he gave in London some years later, Geoffrey summed up his bad experience playing Ronald north of the border. "There's no question that I was manipulating these children. I was a highly paid, highly trained, highly polished actor. Every show was a performance and I had a mandate to get that message out there, and yeah, it was not too hard - anybody can manipulate a child. I just went home one night, and I said, 'I cannot do this, I can't live with myself if I continue to do this.' Giuliano also played the Marvelous Magical Burger King for the Burger King Corporation doing shows and other appearances throughout New England. The seasoned author /actor has spoken widely regarding his turbulent term as the McDonald's clown and the shadowy ethical implications of factory farming and animal rights. Giuliano has been an ardent vegetarian abstaining from meat, fish or eggs since 1970.

Giuliano has resided primarily in Southeast Asia since 2000 with his two grandchildren, Kashi and Varsana Jones and his filmmaker daughter, Avalon Giuliano, with whom he co-authored several books and DVD documentaries ["The Beatles Scrapbook" and "John Lennon: Working Class Hero" - KRB Music]. Their latest tome, "Revolver: The Secret History Of The Beatles," was published by Blake Publishing of London in mid 2006. Giuliano is a thirty five year student of Vedic philosophy from the Gaudiya Vaishnava school of Hinduism (Bhakti, or Devotional Yoga) under the noted Bengali master, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami. Giuliano was also co-author of a particularly stirring work on ethical vegetarianism with his wife, Vrnda Devi, entitled "Compassionate Cuisine," published by SRI Books in 2003. In recent years Geoffrey has returned to his early career as an in demand character actor, recently co-starring in the Hallmark Channel mini-series, "Jules Verne's The Mysterious Island" as Captain Tweezer Lee with Patrick Stewart and former British actor/soccer star Vinnie Jones. In August 2006 he was cast in a French film entitled "Cargo" which was filmed in Bangkok. In September he signed to co-star in an action adventure film (also in Thailand) entitled "The Devil's Playground." In late 2005 Giuliano was hired by American radio syndicator (KGB) to host a series of two hour radio shows, "Geoffrey Giuliano's Roots Of Rock". He has also worked in the theatre at various times over many years. He has performed voiceover narrations for such clients as McDonald's and Burger King. Giuliano has also worked tirelessly against the perils of crack cocaine addiction having been personally touched by the issue when several young people close to him became addicted.

• www.geoffreygiuliano.com