Biography

Dominic Paolo Testa was born in Youngstown Ohio to deaf-mute parents, Dominic and Angeline Testa. He is an Italian/American Actor, Singer, Screenwriter, Director, Producer, and owner of award-winning, Steely Dom Films. Beginning at the age of eleven, he was a drummer, singer, and percussionist in various nightclub bands. He performed on stage and in recording studios with artists, Denise LaSalle, Natale Cole, Kenny Rogers, George Duke, Billy Cobham, Grover Washington Jr., Freddie King, Dr. Hook, Dr. John, Manfred Mann's Earth Band, Rush, Eric Carmen, Joe Vitale, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Streetwalkers, Dave Loggins, Lee Greenwood, .38 Special, Blue Oyster Cult, Bobby Goldsboro, Bob Welch, Bob Babbitt, and numerous others. He also performed on the world-famous Grand Ole Opry stage several times and was on the very first nationally televised show. He also toured as a backup singer for the Grammy Award-winning Dottie West and was a freelance Recording Session Singer in Nashville and Chicago, singing songwriter demos and commercial jingles, with a long list of commercial jingles to his credit. He served on the Nashville and Chicago AFTRA Board Of Directors and is an ASCAP and SAG-AFTRA member. Dominic is working on making his comedy feature film, "The Don Of West Hollywood". The short film/demo of the original short screenplay was shot in a 10'X20' storage unit with his Canon 35mm camera, using a remote control and playing all 7-characters. So far, he and his short film have won the Los Angeles Motion Picture Festival "Best Music Video", Gold Award, for his vocal performance of the song, "Here Where I Belong", the Los Angeles Motion Picture Festival Grand Jury Prize "Best Music Video" Gold Award, for his vocal performance of the song, "I'd Be A Fool", the Los Angeles Motion Picture Grand Jury Prize "Best Advertisement" Gold Award, the Los Angeles Motion Picture Festival "Best Sizzle Reel" Gold Award, the Los Angeles Motion Picture Festival "Best Trailer" Bronze Award, the Los Angeles Motion Picture Festival Grand Jury Prize "Best Poster Art" Silver Award, the Los Angeles Motion Picture Festival Grand Jury Prize "Best Actor Award", the Los Angeles Motion Picture Festival Grand Jury Prize "Best Script" Silver Award, the Los Angeles Motion Picture Festival Grand Jury Prize "Best Music Track" Gold Award for the song that he wrote, "I'll Be There", the West Coast Film Festival "Best Comedy" Silver Award, and was "Semi-Finalist" in the $2 Film Festival. He likes to remind everyone not to laugh about the $2 Film Festival win. It's run by NYC college students and proves one thing, they get it, which is an excellent sign for the future success of the movie. His other awards include the So You Think You Can Act Competition Grand Jury Prize "Best Actor Award", the Los Angeles Motion Picture Festival Grand Jury Prize "Best Music Video" Silver Award for his vocal performance of the song, "When Love Takes Hold", the Los Angeles Motion Picture Festival Grand Jury Prize "Best Music Video" for his vocal performance on the song "I Can Let Go Now", the 1st Giff/Genesis International Film festival "Best Actor Award", the Athens International Monthly Art Film Festival "Best Actor Honorable Mention Award", the Big Fridge International Film Festival "Best Actor Award", Hollywood's Monthly Film Festival "Best Short Film" for The Don Of West Hollywood", the Best Film Awards "Best Actor in Comedy", and the Gothamite Monthly Film Awards, "Best Movie Poster" March 2024.

- IMDb mini biography by: Paul Byron

Dominic Paolo Testa was born in Youngstown, Ohio to deaf-mute parents, Dominic and Angeline Testa. He is an Italian/American Actor, Singer, Screenwriter, Director, Producer, and owner of award-winning Steely Dom Films. Beginning at the age of eleven, he was a drummer, singer, and percussionist in various nightclub bands. He performed in concert and recording studios with artists Denise LaSalle, Natale Cole, Kenny Rogers, George Duke, Billy Cobham, Grover Washington Jr., Freddie King, Dr. Hook, Dr. John, Manfred Mann's Earth Band, Rush, Eric Carmen, Joe Vitale, Mother's Finest, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Streetwalkers, Dave Loggins, Lee Greenwood, .38 Special, Blue Oyster Cult, Bobby Goldsboro, Bob Welch, Bob Babbitt, and numerous others. He toured as a backup singer for Grammy Award Winner Dottie West, and performed with her on the world-famous Grand Ole Opry stage, including the premier nationally televised show. In 1982, Dominic moved to Nashville, Tennessee to continue his love of singing and songwriting. Shortly after he arrived, he was offered a recording artist contract with Dick James Music/Records from London, England. Unfortunately, the deal never went down due to a breakdown in negotiations between his supposedly "Best entertainment lawyer in town" and the record label. After the record deal debacle, for the next twelve years, Dominic was a freelance Recording Session Singer in Nashville and Chicago, singing commercial jingles and songwriter demos, with a long list of commercial jingles to his credit, many nationally aired. He is a SAG-AFTRA member (Fi-Core in protest) who served on the Nashville and Chicago AFTRA Board of Directors and is an ASCAP member. Dominic parted ways with the music business because of tight-wad music producers who didn't want to pay union scale to singers on most jobs, and greedy back-stabbing union singers who continually worked Off-The-Card. Looking for a creative outlet, in 1994 Dominic moved to Chicago to try his hand at acting. He began doing extra work in movies, co-starring in industrial films, commercials, theater, and to his amazement, print work for the State of Illinois Drunk Driving campaign, Give Em' The Finger, Cymbalta, and Kemper Mutual Funds. Needing a flexible job to make himself available for auditions and bookings, Dominic drove a taxicab for 2-1/2 years. When he would book a gig, he'd drop the cab, do his gig, and still have a job to come back to after he was done. Having enough of being hit by cars while driving a taxicab around, Dominic decided that his acting resume was good enough to move to Los Angeles. So in 1997, off he went driving the entire Route 66 from Chicago to Los Angeles. It was a miracle that he made it because after he arrived, his car caught on fire. Over the years, Dominic's love of creating continued to follow him as he began to learn the craft of screenwriting. As he developed his skills, his love of comedic writing and acting began to rise to the surface. In 2017 he started the award-winning independent film production company Steely Dom Films, to bring back the art of making outrageous comedy films in the vein of Mel Brooks and Monty Python. He states, "No one is making these kinds of movies anymore". Dominic's main focus is growing his company and working on making his comedy feature film, "The Don Of West Hollywood". The short film/demo of the original short screenplay was shot in a 10'X20' storage unit with his Canon 35mm camera, using a remote control and playing all 7-characters. His advice on shooting in a storage unit is, "Unless you are making a silent film, don't ever do this"! So far, he and the film have won the Los Angeles Motion Picture Festival, "Best Music Video" Gold Award, for his vocal performance of the song "Here Where I Belong", the Los Angeles Motion Picture Festival Grand Jury Prize "Best Music Video" Gold Award, for his vocal performance of the song, "I'd Be A Fool", the Los Angeles Motion Picture Festival Grand Jury Prize "Best Advertisement" Gold Award, the Los Angeles Motion Picture Festival "Best Sizzle Reel" Gold Award, the Los Angeles Motion Picture Festival Grand Jury Prize "Best Trailer" Bronze Award, the Los Angeles Motion Picture Festival Grand Jury Prize "Best Poster Art" Silver Award, the Los Angeles Motion Picture Festival Grand Jury Prize "Best Actor Award", the Los Angeles Motion Picture Festival Grand Jury Prize "Best Script" Silver Award, the Los Angeles Motion Picture Festival Grand Jury Prize "Best Music Track" Gold Award for writing the song, "I'll Be There", the West Coast Film Festival "Best Comedy" Silver Award, and was "Semi-Finalist" in the $2 Film Festival. He likes to remind everyone that the $2 Film Festival is run by NYC college students, which proves one thing, they get it, which is an excellent sign for the future success of the movie. His other awards include the So You Think You Can Act Competition Grand Jury Prize "Best Actor Award", the Los Angeles Motion Picture Grand Jury Prize "Best Music Video" Silver Award for his vocal performance of the song, "When Love Takes Hold", the Los Angeles Motion Picture Festival Grand Jury Prize "Best Music Video" Silver Award for his vocal performance of the song, "I can let go now", the Los Angeles Motion Picture Festival Grand Jury Prize "Best Music Video" Silver Award for his vocal performance of "Here Where I belong", the Los Angeles Motion Picture Festival Grand Jury Prize "Best Music Video" Silver Award for his video, "I Can Let Go Now", the 1st Giff/Genesis International Film Festival "Best Actor Award", the Athens International Monthly Art Film Festival "Best Actor Honorable Mention", the Big Fridge International Film Festival "Best Actor Award", Hollywood's Monthly Film festival "Best Short Film", "The Don Of West Hollywood", the Best Film Awards "Best Actor in Comedy", and the Gothamite Monthly Film Awards, "Best Movie Poster" March 2024, the New York Film and Male Actor Award, "Best Actor in Comedy Film", the Gothamite Monthly Film Awards, "Best Actor of The Month", and the Festival For Trailers Monthly, Best Crime Thriller 2025, which is hilarious because It was submitted in the Comedy Category.

- IMDb mini biography by: Paul Byron