Background and career
Glenn Christopher Scarpelli (born July 6, 1966) is an American actor and singer. He played Alex Handris from 1980 to 1983 on the sitcom One Day at a Time.
Glenn is of Italian descent and was born in the Staten Island borough of New York City. He is the son of long time Archie Comics artist Henry Scarpelli and Claire (Lagana) Scarpelli, who married in 1961 in Staten Island, New York (Marriage License # 000247). Glenn attended private Catholic school St. Joseph Hill Academy from kindergarten to the 8th grade. Glenn was featured in issue No. 330 of Archie, dated July 1984.
In 1977, at the age of 10, Scarpelli made his Broadway debut, appearing in the play Golda with Anne Bancroft. He returned to the stage in 1979 with the role of Richard, Duke of York in the Broadway revival of Richard III starring Al Pacino. Scarpelli's role as Alex Handris (1980–83) on the long-running television situation comedy One Day at a Time is his most prominent. After learning that for the show's 9th season he would be reduced to only appearing in six episodes, he chose to leave the series to appear in the NBC sitcom Jennifer Slept Here. Other television appearances include 3-2-1 Contact, Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories, MacGyver and The Love Boat. He was also a co-host in summer 1983 of the NBC game show/human interest show Fantasy. He released a self-titled pop album in 1983, which included the single "Get a Love On". Scarpelli had a cameo role in the Netflix revival of One Day at a Time during its third season, released in 2019.
Scarpelli came out as gay in adulthood. In 1986 when he was 20 years old, he started dating Gary Scalzo, a 30-year-old talent agent, and the two became partners. In 1987, Scalzo was diagnosed with AIDS. He died at age 36 on July 29, 1992. Scarpelli resides in Sedona, Arizona, where he and his then-partner Jude Belanger established the Sedona Now Network, a community television station, in 2003. Scarpelli and Belanger were married in California in 2008, but filed for divorce in 2012. He remained close friends with One Day at a Time co-stars Mackenzie Phillips and Bonnie Franklin until her death in 2013. In 2021, he began dating television producer John Ricci Jr. whom he met during a benefit for the Hollywood Museum. On April 19, 2023, Scarpelli announced via Instagram that he and Ricci had eloped. They share time between Sedona and Los Angeles, along with their dog, Poco.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
