He went on to attend the Manhattan-based High School of Performing Arts, made famous by the movie and television series Fame.

One of DeLorenzo's first acting roles was on stage in the Broadway revival of West Side Story, appearing as one of the members of the Sharks street gang.

[18] DeLorenzo won a Drama-Logue Award for Best Actor in a play at the Mark Taper Forum titled Stand Up Tragedy with a performance portraying five different roles (1989).

[19][20] For his performance on the stage, he was tapped by the producers of the ABC sitcom Head of the Class to star as Alex Torres, alongside Howard Hesseman joining the last two seasons of the series (1989–1991).

[21] In 1994, DeLorenzo played the role of Detective Eddie Torres, the brooding cop with a heart in Dick Wolf's urban police drama TV series New York Undercover.

[24] DeLorenzo went on to star in the Showtime drama Resurrection Blvd., playing embittered boxing champion Carlos Santiago.

[26] DeLorenzo has appeared in numerous movies including Rob Reiner's drama A Few Good Men (1992) as Pfc.

[32] He played José Sarria, a political LGBT activist in the Academy Award-winner Dustin Lance Black's When We Rise (2017), directed by Gus Van Sant.

He partnered with an R&B girl group called Teen Dream, under the moniker "Valentino" and released the single "Get Busy" (1987).