”Omigosh! I never realized how tough it was for someone to make it here in Hollywood,” a frustrated Fifi Larouche mutters to herself as she gets rejected from one audition after another. Will Fifi preserve against the long odds and continue to pursue her lifelong dream of being a rich and famous Hollywood actress? Will she give up her dream and heed the advice of her domineering college professor father to quit wasting her time in “La La land” and return to her hometown of Des Moines, Iowa, to work as a banker? That’s for the reader to find out. Fifi is Marcus Dino’s first novel, depicting life’s ups and downs for an eager young Hollywood newcomer.
"Omigosh I feel like I'm from Outer Space...I might as well be since an alien has a better chance of landing a TV or film role than I do.....As a matter of fact a few weeks ago I auditioned for a sci fi role as an evil gold digging, man eating 4 headed blonde from the far distant planet Zeptunius which orbits Polaris the North Star...Of course I got turned down.... I'm gonna file a discrimination suit at the local Civil Rights Office that represents disadvantaged redheads...I'm tired of getting turned down at all these auditions because I'm a redhead..."
Who is the writer who puts thoughts into the head of the eccentric struggling actress/waitress pounding the pavements of Hollywood who calls herself 'Fifi Larouche,' heroine of 'Fifi Anything Goes in the Double Os' and 'Diary of a Mad Gen Yer?'
Marcus Dino grew up a lover of fiction, a lover of fanstasy, a lover of film. He grew up reading the classics of Arther C Clarke, Ray Bradbury, Issac Asimov, Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, Charles Dickens, Harper Lee, Mario Puzo, William Peter Blatty, and Alfred Hitchcock, who, in addition to directing his classic Horror and Suspense films, published memerizing anthologies of horror and suspense
Marcus Dino grew up watching classic film and television from Hollywood's Golden Age, great films such as 'Key Largo,' 'Giant,' 'A Place in the Sun,''The Grapes of Wrath,' 'Psycho,''Treasure of Sierra Madre,' '2001 A Space Odyssey,' 'Gone with the Wind,' and 'The Godfather.' He grew up watching great TV shows like 'Andy Griffith,' 'Hawaii 5-0,' 'The Twilight Zone.' 'Star Trek,' and 'Sanford and Son,' Like anyone else he was captivated by great motion picture performances by Marlon Brando, Humphrey Bogart, Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean, Boris Karloff, Montgomery Clift, Sidney Poitier, Audrey Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Steve McQueen, great comedic performances by Danny Kaye, Woody Allen, and of course The Marx Brothers, and great television performances by Andy Griffith, Jackie Gleason, William Shatner, Alan Alda, Red Foxx, and Lucille Ball.
It was his love for both reading and Hollywood entertainment that inspired him to write stories about an All American girl from the Midwest who is determined come Hell or Highwater to become the greatest actress Hollywood has ever seen and all the trials and tribulations she ges through trying to make it to the top. Many of Fifi Larouche's and other character's quirks and eccentricities from 'Fifi' and 'Diary' Marcus got from characters in books he read or movies and shows he watched on television while growing up.
Marcus Dino has also had a varied professional life outside of writing, starting out as an electrical engineer working for several large Aerospace companies to his current position as a math teacher where he teaches at a Los Angeles middle school. He says teaching helps him understand what Fifi needs to go through as an actress as the two professions require similar personality traits.
Marcus Dino has Masters Degrees in both Electrical Enginnering and Education and is also a graduate of Chapman University. He currently lives in Arcadia California.
