Dane DiLiegro

Dane Robert DiLiegro ( ; born August 6, 1988) is an American actor and former basketball player. DiLiegro played professional basketball for eight seasons for teams in Italy and Israel. DiLiegro has appeared in productions such as Only Murders in the Building, Running Point, and American Horror Stories, and starred as the Predator in the film Prey.

Early life and education DiLiegro was born in Lexington, Massachusetts, on August 6, 1988, to Cheryl DiLiegro (née Moll), an artist and calligrapher, and Frank DiLiegro, an early employee at Nike.

As a four-year starter for the New Hampshire Wildcats from 2007 to 2011, DiLiegro found his place on the team through defense, rebounding, and outworking his opponents. He graduated from UNH in May 2011 with the second-highest number of rebounds in program history.

Acting

In 2019, DiLiegro was invited to work as a stand-in on Free Guy, which was filming in his native Boston. While on the set, stunt coordinator Chris O'Hara suggested to DiLiegro to look into acting. He followed it by playing Master Chief in an Xbox commercial. In 2021, he portrayed the titular character Ba'al in the fifth episode of American Horror Stories. He starred as the main antagonist in the 2022 Doja Cat music video for "Get Into It (Yuh)". DiLiegro appeared in the Tom DeLonge-directed Monsters of California.

Dane DiLiegro and Dan Trachtenberg discuss a scene while shooting Prey. He stars in the Predator film Prey as the Predator; He performed all the acting, stunts and motion capture of the creature. Prior to filming, he lost 25 pounds and spent months training parkour, martial arts and strengthening his neck due to the new design of the Predator, which sat the 15 pound animatronic head on top of his head, forcing him to shoot every scene essentially blind.

In 2022, Comic Book Resources named DiLiegro among the top ten monster actors of all time.

DiLiegro appeared in the 2023 Marvel film Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. In 2024, DiLiegro starred in the Blumhouse film Imaginary as the final antagonist, Chauncey Bear. DiLiegro also appeared in the Lucasfilm production, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew.

DiLiegro appears in the series Running Point, as a recurring character Badrag Knauss, a Slovenian player who, although massive in stature and at times quite blunt, often surprises the team with his thoughtfulness. The series premiered in 2025 and is penned by Mindy Kaling, Ike Barinholtz, and David Stassen, for Netflix. He has a role in season five of Only Murders in the Building.

Personal life DiLiegro resides in Los Angeles. He holds American and Italian citizenships, and is Jewish.

Starting in 2016, in his off time, DiLiegro served as an apprentice under famed Tuscan butcher Dario Cecchini for multiple years; they maintained a close friendship after. As of 2019, DiLiegro hosts a culinary travel series on YouTube called Adventure Monday.

In August 2022, DiLiegro officiated the wedding of his friend, Kelly Olynyk.

Filmography Film

Television

Music video

Commercial Year Title Role Director Notes2020 Lucid Odyssey Master Chief Taika Waititi Xbox 2023 No Sweat Basketball Player Max Gutierrez Draft Kings