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Constable: Suburban child actor now global fitness boss

By Burt Constable

Enjoying acting success at an early age, Joey Gonzalez seemed destined for Hollywood. Instead, he found his calling at a boutique fitness studio in West Hollywood and turned it into a career as CEO of a global company.

Growing up in Arlington Heights and Palatine, Gonzalez didn't follow the athletic trail blazed by his older brother and sister. He wanted to be a performer.

"Oh, from the time I could speak," Gonzalez, now 39, says during last week's visit with his parents at his boyhood home in Palatine. "I loved singing. I loved acting. I loved entertaining."

That spotlight helped him through some dark times. The son of immigrants (his mom, Tammy, was born in Italy, and his father, Julio, a medical doctor, was born in Cuba), Gonzalez remembers being mocked because of his heritage. One of the few classmates of color during his years at St. Viator High School in Arlington Heights was Jarrett Payton, son of legendary Chicago Bears running back Walter Payton. Some kids suggested Gonzalez came to school on a lawn mower. Being gay placed him in another minority group. Instead of letting that get him down, he focused his energy on vocal lessons for his talented tenor voice and on his desire to be an actor.

"When I was 13, I auditioned for a show," Gonzalez says. The Wisdom Bridge Theatre in Chicago was looking for a boy to play a lead role in the show "Falsettoland," an award-winning musical that attracted a host of experienced, professional performers.

"I was at the audition and a kid from 'Les Mis' was there," Gonzalez remembers. "It was really intimidating."

But Gonzalez got the part. "I booked it, and it was crazy," remembers Gonzalez. He played a Jewish boy preparing for his bar mitzvah amid the turmoil of his father's gay lover dying of AIDS - all of which was new to Gonzalez. His acting career blossomed. He landed roles in a McDonald's ad and other commercials. In 1993, he played the young Elliot Ness in "The Untouchables" TV series. That same year, he had a role in "Matinee," a kitschy horror film starring John Goodman and Cathy Moriarty.

"By the time I was 13, I was in the union (the Screen Actors Guild). I was working," Gonzalez says. "I was always tenacious."

He earned acceptance into the prestigious theater program at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. "Things went really well in college," says Gonzalez, who won a theater award, had a top manager and agent, and graduated in 1999. He continued to work, but mostly in smaller roles.

"There was one film that was going to be the big break for me, and then it didn't get funded," says Gonzalez, who grew frustrated. "I'm a results-driven guy."

A devoted patron of Barry's Bootcamp, suburban native Joey Gonzalez became a star instructor at the boutique fitness studio. Now he is CEO of the global company. Courtesy of Barry's Bootcamp

Those results weren't coming fast enough as an actor. So he gave up acting and started a dog-walking business. Then he became a certified massage therapist. Then he sold real estate. And he ate. "I love pizza," he says. "It wasn't a good look for me."

A trip to the hottest fitness club in town changed his body, his mind and his life. "I was terrified of Barry's," Gonzalez says, explaining how he was "very intimidated" to walk into Barry's Bootcamp, the one-stop cardio and strength-training fitness studio run by celebrity trainer Barry Jay. Just as he did with his first acting audition, Gonzalez nailed it. His ability, dedication and enthusiasm brought him to the attention of Jay, who offered him a job in 2004 as an instructor.

By 2006, Gonzalez was the general manager of the studio in West Hollywood and a second facility in nearby Sherman Oaks. He invested in the studio the company launched in 2009 in San Diego and became a partner in the business. He moved to New York City in 2011 to oversee the opening of a studio there. Gonzalez used high-end Woodway treadmills, which since have become a Barry's staple. His husband, restaurateur Jonathan Rollo, helped with the healthy food and beverages offered at the Fuel Bar, which also has become part of the Barry's experience.

The company went global with studios in London and Norway and promoted Gonzalez to CEO in 2015. By the end of the year, Barry's Bootcamp will be in 30 locations in the United States and have another 11 studios across the globe, Gonzalez says.

"At the core of what makes us special is that it works," Gonzalez says. Prices start at $20 for a special beginner's class at the company's Chicago location in Lincoln Park, but many people buy packages of workouts.

"It's social, performing and fitness, all combined into one," Gonzalez says, noting that his performance background proves useful in studios with high-end sound systems and red lighting that "makes people look better than they do in regular light." In addition to the Fuel Bars, the company sells a line of workout clothes. Gonzalez remains a customer, leaving before dawn during his visit in Palatine for an early morning workout in Chicago.

  Always performing as a kid growing up in Arlington Heights and Palatine, Joey Gonzalez smiles as he watches his 20-month-old daughter, Francesca, dance during a visit with his parents in his boyhood home in Palatine. Four-month-old Jake Stone sits on his papa's lap. Bob Chwedyk/bchwedyk@dailyherald.com

Gonzalez and Rollo live in Los Angeles and are parents (Gonzalez is "Papa," and Rollo is "Daddy") to 20-month-old Francesca Gonzollo and 4-month-old Jake Stone Gonzollo, with both kids sharing a last name made from the combination of Gonzalez's and Rollo's. Overcoming the taunts he endured as a child and the frustration he felt as an actor, Gonzalez says those experiences helped him find his true calling.

"It brings strength to your character," Gonzalez says, "if you let it affect you in the right way."

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