Joseph Michael Manganiello ( MANG-gə-NEL-oh; Italian: [maŋɡaˈnjɛllo], Neapolitan: [maŋɡaˈnjellə]; born December 28, 1976) is an American actor. His professional film career began when he played Flash Thompson in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man. His breakout role was as werewolf Alcide Herveaux in five seasons of the HBO series True Blood.