‘Fans Will Very, Very Excited’ (Exclusive)

The 19-year-old General Hospital star and violinist spoke to TooFab about how his life has changed since he began starring on the soap and what’s to come ahead on the beloved daytime TV series.

“My life completely changed,” he gushed of breaking into Hollywood. “How it all happened was I came out to L.A. to sort of pursue acting at the age of 18. I was 18 when I moved out here. I was just supposed to come out for two months, just to sort of train, see what it was like. General Hospital happened to be my very first in-person audition. And I’ve been here for about eight or nine months now.”

The response from diehard GH fans has been great so far, with Mazza telling TooFab that there’s something “very big coming up” for his character, aptly named Gio.

“That’s what the fans would be very, very excited for. Because the last nine months, I’ve sort of been involved in building my relationships. But now, we’re really going to explore who my character Gio [Palmieri] is,” Mazza teased.

Though he didn’t share too much about what exactly that big moment entails, Mazza did touch on the speculation and fan theories surrounding the identity of his TV parents, which has become a bit of a hot topic in his family text chains.

“What’s really fun is when my family asks what I think. One of my cousins just texted me the other day. He’s like, ‘Is so-and-so your parents?’ And I’m like, ‘What do you think? I want to know what you think first.’ And then I’ll know what I could play into,” he shared.
And it sort of helps me in a way to know what the fan speculation is, to sort of play around with different relationships.”

“There was one person that my mom thought I might be related to. And I was like, ‘Hmm, well, I can play around with that, see what the audience thinks of that. It’s all just to sort of creating a really fun experience for the audience,” he added.

While Mazza’s big acting break came with General Hospital, he’s actually been in the spotlight since he was just a kid, playing violin in stadiums and arenas around the country, so of course, it was a natural choice to incorporate music into the show.

“When I walked into the audition room, the casting director was like, ‘Gio, you play the violin? And I was like, ‘Yeah.’ And I was like, ‘Thank God they know because it sort of sets me apart from the other actors walking in,'” he shared before dishing on his upcoming performance at the Los Angeles Lakers game. “Now, I’m going to be performing for the Lakers on Thursday. I invited the casting director and the executive producer on the show to sort of watch me perform and enjoy the Lakers game. And it’s sort of like this cool full circle moment.”

Naming the Crypto.com arena “the coolest” place to perform, the Chicago-native still counts playing for his hometown crowd as the best feeling.

“It’s always just a very homey vibe. And how I got into it, so it all started in Chicago,” Mazza said before detailing how he got his start with the violin. “I entered into this youth talent search. I wanted to play the fiddle. I go to the all-stars game they’re like, ‘Hey can you play hip-hop?’ next thing you know I’m playing ‘Turn Down For What’ on the violin and it is awesome, everybody loved it. And then I started sort of going onto other teams and it was sort of just this thing, and slowly I started dancing more because I realized it’s hip-hop, I can dance with it.”

He continued, “And then I think I just sort of started pushing myself with classical music, classical training, which then led me to be able to explore what I can do, like dancing with my violin, because my technique is already so good.”

The Lakers performance is a somewhat of a full circle moment for Mazza, who got his start performing during a halftime show for the team and is back again for an encore.

“I think this Lakers performance is probably going to be one of my favorites just because of where I started and where I am now,” Mazza added. “And that journey has just led to a really cool place.”

If all of that isn’t exciting enough, the 19-year-old is gearing up to head to Park City, Utah for the Sundance Film Festival, where his film, SUNFISH, is going to be competing in the U.S. dramatic category.

“What’s so cool about SUNFISH, it is truly one of a kind. I’ve never seen a film like that in my entire life. I watched it at a cast screening that we were all sort of able to go to. And I felt like I was home. And that’s the feeling that we had when we were filming it too,” Mazza explained. “When we were filming it, it was just a bunch of kids. My storyline was just a bunch of kids that were sort of hanging out. And I just had one of the greatest experiences.”

He continued, “Like after filming one day, We would go back to Sierra [Falconer]’s parents’ house. They would cook us some dinner and then we would go back to filming the next day. And we just had the best time ever.”

“I’m excited to see some of the people that I filmed with because we’re still friends to this day. We have a group chat and we talk all the time. What I think is so special though about Sundance is — I’m so honored and excited and grateful to be able to go, but at the end of the day, the quality of any event, whether it be Sundance or like your grandma’s birthday, it is sort of about the people,” he added. “Me and all my cast mates are celebrating this awesome thing, this awesome sort of step in elevating this film’s status, and we get to celebrate together … going to see people that I haven’t seen since filming, which really means so much to me, so it really is just about the experience that people bring to it.”

SUNFISH is out January 26. You can also catch Mazza on General Hospital airing 1:00 p.m. PT weekdays on ABC and during the halftime show at the Los Angeles Lakers’ basketball game Thursday at 7:00 p.m. PT.