Dane DiLiegro: From College Basketball to the Silver Screen

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His size stood out on the basketball court, and it does the same in show business.


Dane DiLiegro was born in Lexington, Massachusetts, and didn’t care much about sports as a child. That changed when he attended Lexington High School, where he played football and basketball.

Dane at UNH (photo courtesy of the Boston Herald)

Indeed, his size at 6’11”, 250 pounds had coaches drooling. Still, he was a raw talent. Focusing on basketball, he had to make up for lost development time. He kept at it and made the varsity team as a junior.

Still needing to sharpen his cage skills, DiLiego enrolled in Worcester Academy’s postgraduate program. There, he averaged 11 points, 10 rebounds, and 4 blocks per game, which got him noticed.

Next, he went to the University of New Hampshire, where he played in nearly 120 games for the Wildcats. He had a reasonable stat line, averaging seven points and eight rebounds over four seasons (2007-2011).

He didn’t make the NBA, so he went to Europe to play, in his case, Italy.

After basketball, he turned to show business. In 2019, he worked on Free Guy starring Ryan Reynolds. It was enough to whet his whistle and make him want to stick with the craft.

DiLiegro has worked steadily since then and will soon appear in the new horror movie River, where he plays “The Man”, not just any man, but a central figure in this scary film.

About Matthew Paris

I grew up an avid Houston sports fan. After graduating from Texas Tech University in Theater and English Literature I worked as a marketing rep and coach for I9 Sports, coaching baseball, flag football, soccer, and basketball. I’m currently with Austin Sports Academy as a marketing coordinator, baseball and football coach, and coordinator of middle school and high school open play nights. I’ve written three short films for Looknow Productions and have also written articles on film marketing, producing, and directing. I really enjoy writing about sports and being an active contributor to The Sports Column.



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