Martin Grove alumnus stars in Boondock Saints II

In the opening scene of the recently-released, decade-in-the-making sequel to the cult classic The Boondock Saints, De Santo, 29, showcases his prowess as the former. Clad all in black and filmed in shadow, his character Crew Cut executes, with a certain degree of brutality, the grisly murder of a Bostonian man of the cloth on the very altar his victim formerly preached from.

That big screen role of villain, De Santo said, is a far cry from his second most recent role as Harrison on Disney's live-action adventure series Aaron Stone, and an even greater departure from his humble beginnings starring alongside Canadian figure skater Elizabeth Manley in a McCain Mr. Juicy commercial.

"Boondock Saints has this huge cult following, with a really excited fan base, so it was fun to get to play the villain. I open up the film by killing a priest, pennies in the eyes and all that," he said of the sequel, Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, which opened in Toronto last Friday. "But I'm also in Disney's Aaron Stone playing a 17-year-old high school student, which is so much fun. It's almost like I'm back in high school, without the homework...I try to find the joy in every character I play, even the villains."

The Boondock Saints sequel sees the lead characters from the original movie, the vigilante MacManus brothers (played by Norman Reedus and Sean Patrick Flanery), flushed out from eight years of hiding in rural Ireland when their beloved priest is killed by De Santo's character. When it appears that the brothers have been framed for the crime, they return to Boston to "mount a violent and bloody crusade to bring justice to those responsible."

The movie premiered to such a good response at the box office that it was granted wider release and is now playing the Queensway Cineplex Odeon and six other GTA theatres.

"The response has been great," De Santo said.

Born and raised in Etobicoke, the Martin Grove Collegiate grad caught the acting bug early. His first role came at age eight - a role that has been immortalized on the wall of his parents' Etobicoke home.

"My parents still have the picture of me skating around with Elizabeth (Manley) up in their house," he said.

Fast forward 21 years, and now De Santo has been living in Los Angeles for four years (although he still keeps a Kingsway condo as his home base), and is relishing his success. From his breakout role in 2004 as Gretchen Wiener's jock boyfriend in Tina Fey's smash hit Mean Girls, to his latest, yet-to-be released project working alongside longtime friend Sean Ashmore (of X-Men fame) on a TV miniseries adaptation of Vincent Lam's Giller Prize-winning Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures, De Santo's career is on the fast track.

And with big name co-stars like Boondock's Peter Fonda, whose character De Santo describes as almost a father figure to his own, he's picking up a load of new tricks, and impressing his family and friends back home in Etobicoke at the same time.

"Working with Peter Fonda was so cool. I think my dad was even more excited about that than I was," he said with a laugh. "We have pictures of my dad meeting him at the big premiere in L.A. in October, and he looks like he's in heaven."