The Untold Truth Of Leah Remini’s Husband – Angelo Pagan

Angelo Pagan is an American dancer, musician, and actor, whose claim to fame is being married to actress Leah Remini whose best known work was the popular TV sitcom, “The King of Queens,” and who attracted controversy through her book and documentary about why she left the religion of Scientology.

Early Life and Education

Angelo Pagan was born on 16 May 1968, in Puerto Rico, and after a few years moved to The Bronx, New York City, NY, USA. His father of Austrian-Jewish descent, a military veteran who served during the Korean War, raised him and his siblings, namely Sandra, Sonny, Coco, Mark, and Edward alone, as their mother died when he was just six years old.

Education

He matriculated from a local high school in New York, and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree from the City College of San Francisco in California.

Career

Due to his good looks, Angelo was offered many commercials while he was still studying in college.  He purposely went to California not only to study, but also to pursue his acting dreams.

Music Career

He started his career in music, performing with the band “Salsa Caliente.” In 1988, he was offered a contract with Nasty Mix Records, and then he opened his own record label, CC Music Factory. By 1995, he was again part of a band, “Conjunto La Amistad” with Johnny Polanco, then after three years he joined “Orquesta La Palabra.”

In 2001 he released his first solo album under Morrowland Records, entitled “No Tengas Miedo.” In response to his loyal fans’ and family’s persistence, he recorded a self-titled album in 2014, with Spanish and English tracks which are mostly salsa, big band, and a bit of pop.

Acting Career

After appearing in commercials and while pursuing his music career, he was able to debut on television with a minor role in “Midnight Caller” in 1989. A series of small roles in movies on television followed, including “Kiss Shot” (1989) with Whoopi Goldberg and Dennis Franz; “Sleep, Baby, Sleep” (1995); and “Virus” (1995).

Finally in 1998, Angelo was given his debut role on the big screen in “Dance with Me”, with Vanessa Williams, Kris Kristofferson and Chayanne.

After the movie was shown, he was busy with minor roles on television series in 1999 including “Dharma & Greg,” an American comedy aired on ABC; “Martial Law,” an American-Canadian comedy series aired on CBS; and “Los Beltran,” a comedy series in the Spanish language aired on Telemundo, a North American-based Spanish network.

In 2001 he was in the much-hyped movie “Swordfish,” an action thriller with John Travolta, Halle Berry and Hugh Jackman, directed by Dominic Sena. This movie started his many guest appearances in drama series on television, including “Almost a Woman” (2002), “Without Trace” (2005), and “Sister’s Keeper” (2007).

He also had recurring roles in popular shows such as “24” (2002) with Kiefer Sutherland, “Without a Trace” (2005) with Anthony LaPaglia, “Hawthorne” (2011) with Jada Pinkett-Smith, and “The King of Queens” (1999-2006) with Kevin James and Leah Remini.

He was last seen in the movie, “Stan the Man,” released in January of 2020 before the Covid19 pandemic global quarantine happened. His latest project, “Welcome to Paradise,” is still under post-production status.

Documentary/Reality TV

His wife had a series of four documentaries/reality TV shows that he was a part of, in front of and behind the camera – “Inside Out: Leah Remini” (2003), ”Inside Out: The Baby Special” (2004), ”Leah Remini: It’s All Relative” (2014-2015), and “20/20: Troublemaker”  (2015).

These series mostly covered their relationship as a couple, as parents, and with their time inside and out of the religion of Scientology.

Personal Life

Angelo married American actress and author, Leah Remini, on 19 July 2003 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Las Vegas. The couple met at “El Floridita,” a Cuban nightclub in Hollywood, and it was love at first sight. He already had three sons, namely Angelo Jr., Nicolas, and Alex from previous relationships, before he had a daughter with Leah born in 2004, and named her Sophia Bella Pagan.

The family is currently living in Los Angeles, California.

Who is Leah Remini?

Leah Marie Remini was born on 15 June 1970, in Brooklyn, New York City to parents American-Italian George Remini, an entrepreneur, and Austrian-Jewish Vicki Marshall, a teacher.

She has an older sister, Nicole, and a younger brother, Michael, and they were raised along with her half sisters, namely Shannon, Stephanie, Elizabeth, and Christine in Bensonhurst, which is popularly regarded as Brooklyn’s Little Italy. Her parents divorced when she was still very young.

She was raised in a Catholic household, but when she was nine years old her mother entered the Church of Scientology, and brought everyone in the family along to. She grew up living and breathing the ideals and philosophies of the Scientology Church. She became a staunch defender against all those who criticized her church.

Her acting career started with a minor role in the television series “Head of Class” (1988), to becoming part of a series of short-lived comedy sitcoms, such as “Living Dolls,” a spin-off of the popular sitcom, “Who’s the Boss” (1989), and “Man In The Family” (1991).

Leah continued to appear in comedy series, with recurring roles including “Saved by the Bell” (1991),” Cheers” (1991-93), and “Evening Shade” (1993). She became a series regular in “Fired Up,” which lasted for two seasons from 1997 to 1998.

She then accepted a role in the comedy sitcom “The King of Queens” with Kevin James, which became her ticket to fame. It lasted from December of 2006 until May of 2017, spanning nine seasons with 207 episodes.

Leah also tried other avenues of entertainment; in 2010 she co-hosted a talk show entitled “The Talk” with other TV personalities including Sharon Osbourne, Sara Gilbert, Marissa Jaret Winokur and Sheryl Underwood, but only stayed in the show for one season for 135 episodes. Her love for dancing led her to participate as a celebrity contestant in the 17th season (2013) of “Dancing with the Stars,” a weekly dance competition; she was eliminated on the 8th week.

She came back on the show as a guest co-host in season 19 (2014) and season 21 (2015), and a guest judge in season 28 (2019).

Leah became controversial when she left the Church of Scientology in 2013 along with her mother. She became vocal about her life as a Scientologist, exposing many questionable activities of her former church. It became huge news, as she was the biggest star to have left Scientology. In an interview with Vanity Fair she said that it is her hope that ‘…we shed light on information that makes the world aware of what is really going on, and encourage others to speak up so the abuses can be ended forever.’ She wrote the book “Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology” in 2015. She once again embraced the Catholic religion to help in moving on with her life.

Angelo and Leah decided to produce a reality TV series about her, entitled “Leah Remini: It’s All Relative,” which included Leah’s family including her mother, stepfather and siblings. It premiered in July of 2014, and lasted for two seasons.

She continued with TV guest appearances in various shows, and even reunited with Kevin James in “Kevin Can Wait,” a comedy sitcom in 2018. At first she appeared as a guest in the season finale, and became a series regular in season two.

Her latest project was a documentary series, “Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath,” with Mike Rinder, a former Senior Executive in the Church of Scientology. It premiered in 2016 and lasted for three seasons. The show won an Emmy for Outstanding Informational Series or Special for its first season.

Interesting Facts and Rumors

  • To counter Angelo’s wife’s accusations about the questionable practices of her former church, the church established several websites to post degrading stories and videos about the actress and her family.
  • He was once referred to by his wife as a serial cheater, but she never elaborated on it, and their marriage seems to be going strong, if both of their Instagram posts are to be believed. He would often post beautiful things about his wife.
  • Angelo co-owns and co-manages a restaurant, “Vivian’s Millennium Café,” along with his wife’s stepfather, George Marshall.
  • He and Leah are close friends with Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez, and continue to keep in touch and party together, even if the other couple are no longer together.

Appearance

Angelo is 5ft 10ins (1.78m) tall and weighs around 144lbs (65kgs). He is of Latino-descent, with a physically fit body, and has salt and pepper hair,and brown eyes.

Net Worth

Authoritative sources estimated Angelo’s net worth to be over $5 million, and his wife’s reputedly over $23 million as of June 2020.

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