What Ever Happened To Natalie Raitano?


Natalie Raitano

Natalie Raitano is a fitness instructor and former actress who is most famously known for her role on the show V.I.P.

Background Info

She was born in Charleroi, Pennsylvania on October 3, 1966 and has two younger siblings and is of Italian descent.

While her mother is active with the Special Olympics, her father owns a paper products company. Raitano followed her mom’s active footsteps and helped with the Special Olympics.

She also studied modern dance, ballet, jazz, and tap at a young age. In 1984, she graduated from Monongahela Valley Catholic High School in Monongahela, Pennsylvania. She went on to major in performing arts and dance at Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pennsylvania.

Career

After college, Raitano moved to Los Angeles to pursue her entertainment industry dreams. To make ends meet, she followed her passion for aerobics and hosted the 1997 ESPN2 show “Hip Hop Body Shop.” The show provided a solid workout while also combining popular hip-hop dance moves.

She was also a part of the musical girl group named Breeze. She even was a touring show girl for a magic show and danced in Pepsi commercials. After years of hard work and dedication, Raitano’s big break came with the show “V.I.P.”

V.I.P.

Natalie Raitano

“V.I.P.” starred Hollywood bombshell Pamela Anderson as Vallery Irons. Irons, a hot dog stand worker, accidently saves a celebrity one day and is mistaken for a bodyguard. She decides to team up with a group of other bodyguards to form Vallery Irons Protection (or V.I.P.). The show, created by J.F. Lawton also featured actors Shaun Baker and Molly Culver. Raitano played the role of Nikki Franco, the granddaughter of a Mafia Don and youngest member of “V.I.P..” The show ran from 1998-2002 with four seasons and 88 episodes total.

Natalie Raitano

Natalie mentions that she totally bombed the audition for V.I.P., however the showrunners and Pamela Anderson really liked her and was a contributing factor for her getting casted for the park.

While working on “V.I.P.,” Raitano was briefly featured in the 2000 TV series “Martial Law.” Starring as Ivana Bock for four episodes, the show focused on a martial arts master who also worked as a Los Angeles cop.

When asked about why the show ended, Natalie said that she isn’t 100% certain, but it was probably the fact that Pamela Anderson was getting tired of doing the show.

I think it might have been Pam. I think she might have been getting sick of doing it. She was with kid rock at the time. They never really told us exactly why it ended, but I’m thinking it could have had something to do with pam might not have been into it, and she would never tell me that because we’re really good friends.

After V.I.P.

After “V.I.P.” ended in 2002, Raitano played Luscious Lola in the 2004 wrestling movie “Slammed.” From there, she went on to star in other movies including “Ganked” and “Killing Down.” She mainly was part of projects filled with action and suspense.

Natalie Raitano Pink

In 2007, Raitano had a starring role in the webseries “Pink.” Three seasons long, the show was about assassin Natalie Cross (played by Raitano) as she looked for love and her next victim. The show won Best Directing for a Dramatic Web Series in 2009.

Her latest role was as the character Page in the movie “Letting Go” by Jake Torem in 2012. The movie followed Joel Slater, a man whose life was beginning to overwhelm him. However, he finds peace in ironically letting go. The movie went on to win the Romantic Comedy Platinum Award at WorldFest Houston in 2011.

After her most recent role, Raitano stepped away from acting. She is back working in the fitness world. She has taught hundreds of workout classes across the country and trained celebrities like Cyndi Lauper.

She has worked as a master trainer for Jillian Micheal’s “Bodyshred” and “Barry’s Boot Camp” for ten years and was also a lead instructor at The Wall Fitness in Los Angeles, California.

What is Natalie Raitano doing now?

Natalie Raitano now

Natalie is back in her hometown of Charleroi, Pennyslvania to take care of her parents recovering from COVID-19.

She work as a fitness instructor and is also shining on social media. Her YouTube channel features workouts for other women over 50, HIIT workouts, and core/full body work.

Natalie says that fitness has always been an integral part of her life.

I am a very big believer that no matter what you do, fitness has to be a part of it. Just like brushing your teeth. So I’ve always done fitness. I taught it before I did with an actress, and I trained all the time with a personal trainer the entire time I was on the show. And then I went and reinvented myself as a fitness expert because I really think it is such an essential part of life. I still do. But being a little older now as a woman, your body can’t do like my mind can do that marathon that I did last year. But my body as a woman in your 50s, especially mid 50s, your body does it has a whole other idea of what their plans are for you. I go, no, but I still want to throw tires around. And my body’s like, yeah, but you really can’t.

Natalie Raitano now

Natalie also revealed in an interview that she had a kidney removed because it was cancerous.

It was found as a fluke. I was having these horrible stomach pains and somebody had convinced me it was my appendix. But when they did the CAT-scan on me, they found a tumor in my other kidney and it was cancer’s tumor, but it hadn’t spread. They found it just dumb luck early still. It’s like barely a stage one. It’s like, well, we’ll just take the kidney out and you’ll be okay.

Regardless of where she is located, Raitano will always be a multi-talented force in the entertainment and fitness industries.

Mariska Lee

Mariska is a recovering attorney who gave up her professional job to discover new perspectives of life while traveling in a 2009 Ford Transit. She has been living the van life for 3 years and has not looked back since.

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