The son of a production manager, Cerusico started his career as a child actor in 1948, playing a role of weight in Alessandro Blasetti's Heart and Soul.

[1] He studied acting first at the Accademia Sharoff [it] and later with Alessandro Fersen, and had his breakout on stage in the 1960s, playing the title role in Meo Patacca.

Producer Sheldon Leonard held a casting call for an English-speaking actor to play the kid brother of the female Italian guest star.

[3] Leonard realized Cerusico wasn't fluent in English but he thought the young man possessed "Jean Paul Belmondo's jaunty virility and the swaggering charm of Maurice Chevalier."

"[3] While living in Los Angeles during filming of My Friend Tony, Enzo and Tiziana learned English by reading Ernest Hemingway's short stories and watching Walter Cronkite's evening newscasts.