Gino Carafelli Talks About His Upcoming Children’s Book “Athena Visits The Marina”

Actor and writer Gino Cafarelli has written a children’s book called Athena Visits The Marina which will be released in October by Mascot Books. The book centers on how Athena’s amplified hearing, via hearing aid, introduces her to new water friends, turning the trip into a magical sound adventure. The book is inspired by his daughter, who suffers from hearing loss, and the goal of this book is to bring awareness to kids born with hearing issues and kids who have to wear a hearing aid.

Gino can be seen in Capone, opposite Tom Hardy, which was released on VOD on May 12th. Gino plays “Gino’, Capone’s right hand man and enforcer who was with him for 25 years, and takes care of him when he retreats to Miami with his family to spend his last days. He also has made a cameo in Bad Education opposite Hugh Jackman, which was released on VOD April 25th. Gino was recently seen as ‘Mayor Frank Rizzo’ in The Irishman opposite Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci. He hails from NYC and currently resides there.

We had the opportunity to interview Gino Cafarelli about his acting career and his children’s book.

WTB: What inspired you to write Athena Visits the Marina? 

GC: I spend a lot of time in bookstores with my daughter I saw that there were not that many kids books on hearing loss. 

WTB: I know the book was inspired by your daughters own experiences with hearing loss, how did she respond to your book? 

GC: She’s really excited about it. She sees the illustrations of herself and says “hey, that’s me “ 

WTB: What was it like going from acting to writing a children’s book? Any difficulties or similarities? 

GC: It was definitely a total 180 for sure. I went from a pretty dark scene in “CAPONE” to writing a children’s book lol. It’s definitely a different process writing a kids’ book.

I have this thing now, been practicing it for a few years. You don’t have to know how to do something. Believe you whole heartily can. And it will follow. You’ll get it done. You have to believe you can. Don’t worry if you don’t know how to do it. That’s the mistake people make. They give up because they don’t know how to do something. Just believe. 

WTB: Do you plan on writing anymore children’s books in the future? 

GC: Yes. My company EMG Productions / EMG Books is currently in the process of producing a second book. It’s called “THE PURPLE BUS”. It touches on Appendix Awareness. 

WTB: You have worked opposite of some of the biggest names in Hollywood, do you ever get nervous? 

GC: I’m not sure I would say it’s being nervous, but an exciting jittery feeling that’s for sure. 

WTB: What is preparation process before you do before a scene? 

GC: I try to create some type of pre-scene or backstory of the scene or character. 

WTB: What advice do you have for anyone who wants to pursue acting? 

GC: If it’s something you’re extremely passionate about. Pursue it. If it’s to get fame. Pick a different profession.