Al Pacino

Al Pacino Biography

Alfredo James Pacino, known as Al Pacino, is a well-known actor and director of film and theater in the United States. He is recognized as one of the best actors in the history of cinema, for all his career and number of awards received at the end of the twentieth century. He was born on April 25, 1940, in New York, and is the son of Rose Gerardi and Salvatore Pacino, both of Italian ascendance.

His school days were at Fiorello H. La Guardia high school in New York, where he showed interest in baseball and acting, so much so that he decided to drop out of school, although he kept studying English. Because of that decision, he had an argument with his mother and left home when he was 17. He worked as a waiter, doorman, messenger and other various jobs, to pay for his acting and theater studies.

He was part of Herbert Berghof Studio (HB studio) for 4 years and finally was admitted to the actors studio, where he studied the acting method and was a student of Lee Strasberg.

Theater

In 1967, he spent time at the Charles theater in Boston, where he worked on the play of Clifford Odets ¡Awake and Sing! And the work of Jean-Claude Van Itallie: America, hurray. A year later, he starred in the play the Indian wants the Bronx, directed by Israel Horovitz, where he played a vagabond named Murph and made a total of 177 presentations. While working on that play, Al Pacino won an Obie award for best actor. The excellent performance in the tables by the actor, made Martin Bregman offered to be his manager. The play the Indian wants the Bronx, allowed Al Pacino to travel for the first time to Italy and perform at the festival of two worlds in Spoleto.

On February 25, 1969, he debuted on Broadway with the play directed by Don Petersen: Does a tiger wear a necktie? Where he continued to show his great talent, so much that on April 20th he won the Tony Award for best actor of distribution in a play. Throughout the 1970s, he continued making successful presentations, which meant another tony award, this time for best leading actor in a play, in the play the basic training of Pavlo Hummel and interpreting Ricardo III.

In the 1980s, he continued to make successful plays, notably David Mamet’s American Buffalo, for which he received a drama desk award nomination. In the 90s, Al Pacino worked on the re-release of the plays Hughie by Eugene O’neill, Salomé by Oscar Wilde and Orphans by Lyle Kessler. After this, Al Pacino would leave the theater to work in cine.

Al Pacino returned to the theater in 2010, in the play “The merchant of Venice” where he played the role of Shylock. The play was also taken to Broadway at the Broadhurst theater. The performance in the play earned him a Tony Award nomination as the best leading actor in a play. Around 2012, he was part of the Broadway revival of the play “Glengarry Glen Ross” in its thirtieth anniversary, staying until January 20, 2013.

Cine

His first appearance in the world of cinema was in 1969, in the movie “Me, Natalie”. In 1970, he signed a contract with Creative Management Associates (CMA).

In 1971, Al Pacino was part of the movie “The panic in needle park” playing the role of a heroin addict. His excellent performance caught the attention Francis Ford Coppola who chose him to represent Michael Corleone in the movie “The Godfather” released in 1972. The good performance in “The Godfather” earned Al Pacino a nomination for the awards of the academy in the category best-supporting actor.

A year later, in 1973, he was the protagonist of the movie “Serpico”, a story based on the corruption that was handled by the New York police. In that same year, he co-starred in the movie “Scarecrow” for which he was awarded the Palme d’or at the Cannes film festival. A year later, he starred again in the film “The godfather Part II” with which Al Pacino had his third Oscar nomination.

In 1975, he continued to reap successes, this time with the premiere of the film “Dog day afternoon” directed by Sidney Lumet. For this film, he was nominated again for the Oscar awards in the category of best actor. Two years later, he participated in the movie “Bobby Deerfield” where he played the role of a racing driver; for his excellent role, he was nominated for the golden globe as the best dramatic actor.

In the early 80s, the actor went through a time of crisis as the films “Cruising” and “Author! Author! ” were big failures and strongly criticized by film experts.

In 1983, with the premiere of the movie “Scarface” where he played the Cuban drug trafficker Tony Montana, Al Pacino was recognized again, and his career took a new momentum. In addition, he was nominated for the Golden Globe awards for the interpretation of that role. By 1985, he worked on the personal project called “The local stigmatic” in which he starred in the play “Off-Broadway” by the English writer Heathcote Williams, which was a 50-minute film version. The film never premiered in cinema but was part of the Pacino box set: an actor’s vision, launched in 2007.

Six years later, in 1989, Al Pacino returned to the cinema, after 4 years of absence; on that occasion, he was part of the film “Sea of love” where he played the role of a detective. In 1990, he again played the role of Michael Corleone, in the godfather Part III, a film that had some difficulties since the script was rewritten and some actors resigned before filming. He also starred in the film “Frankie and Johnny” in 1991. In that film, he played a chef fresh out of jail.

He won the Oscar award for best actor in 1993, a prize he won thanks to his performance as lieutenant colonel retired from the united states army, Frank Slade, in the movie “Scent of a woman” released in 1992. By 1994, he was the protagonist of the crime drama “Carlito’s way” where he played the role of a gangster who had just got out of prison and seeks rehabilitation with society. A year later, he was part of the film “Heat” where he played lieutenant Vincent Hanna.

In 1996, he was the protagonist of the movie “Looking for Richard” which was based on a docudrama with selected scenes of richard III by William Shakespeare. Around 1997, Al Pacino represented Satan in the supernatural thriller of the movie “The devil’s advocate.” in that same year, he played the role of a mobster in the movie “Donnie Brasco”. Two years later, he worked on the films Any given Sunday and “The inside.” In 2000, Al Pacino premiered the adaptation of the work “Chinese coffee” which took three years to complete and was financed by him. This movie was also included in an actor’s vision. Three years later, he served as a supporting actor in the film “Gigli” which was a failure since it was not well-received by the public. After that, he played the lawyer Roy Cohn in the HBO miniseries “Angels in America” that performance earned him the Golden Globe award for the third time in 2004.

In 2004, he also played Shylock in the film adaptation of “The merchant of Venice.” at that time, the career of Al Pacino was so prestigious, that in 2006 the American Film Institute honored him with the thirty-fifth AFI life achievement award. In November of that same year, the Philosophical University Society of Trinity College of Dublin honored Pacino with the honorary sponsorship of the society.

In 2010, the actor was part of the HBO channel series “You do not know Jack” where he played Dr. Jack Kevorkian and which performance earned Al Pacino his second Emmy Award as best actor and his fourth Golden Globe. Around May 2011, he announced that he would be awarded the Gloria award to the filmmaker at the Venice international film festival of 2011, for the movie “Wilde Salomé.” in that film, Al Pacino played Herod Antipas.

In 2013, he starred in the HBO biopic “Phil Spector” which was based on the murder trial of music producer Phil Spector.