Mancuso won the attention of prolific American TV producer Stephen J. Cannell who cast him in his first TV-movie stateside, "Dr. Scorpion" (ABC, 1978), and the successful two-hour pilot "Stingray" (NBC, 1985). The latter led to a series in which Mancuso played an enigmatic loner who drove a '65 Corvette and helped folks in distress. His more recent TV credits include "Wild Palms" (ABC, 1993), as an outrageous visual artist who has a fateful run-in with Angie Dickinson. Mancuso's most notable film work was a Genie Award winning performance in "Ticket to Heaven" (1981), as a young teacher unwittingly indoctrinated into a religious cult. His subsequent credits include the Brandon Lee vehicle "Rapid Fire" and "Under Siege" (both 1992), starring Steven Seagal.