Giancarlo Giannini

Giancarlo Giannini (; born 1 August 1942) is an Italian actor and voice actor. He won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor for his performance in '' Love and Anarchy'' (1973) and received an Academy Award nomination for '' Seven Beauties'' (1975). He is also a four-time recipient of the David di Donatello Award for Best Actor.

Giannini began his career on stage, starring in Franco Zeffirelli's productions of ''Romeo and Juliet'' and ''A Midsummer Night's Dream''. After appearing predominantly on television throughout the early 1960s, he had his first lead role in a film in '' Rita the Mosquito'' (1965), the first of many collaborations with filmmaker Lina Wertmüller. He rose to international stardom through Wertmüller's '' The Seduction of Mimi'' (1972), ''Love and Anarchy'' (1973), ''Swept Away'' (1974), culminating in his Oscar-nominated turn in ''Seven Beauties'' (1975).

His other films include ''The Innocent'' (1976), ''Lili Marleen'' (1980), ''New York Stories'' (1990), ''A Walk in the Clouds'' (1995), ''Hannibal'' (2001), ''Man on Fire'' (2004), and the James Bond films '' Casino Royale'' (2006) and ''Quantum of Solace'' (2008). He is also a dubbing artist, contributing voice work to the Italian-language versions of dozens of films since the 1960s. He has been the official Italian dubber of Al Pacino since 1975, and has also dubbed Jack Nicholson, Michael Douglas, and Helmut Berger.

Early life

Giannini was born in La Spezia and he spent most of his childhood in the settlement of Pitelli. In 1952, Giannini and his family moved to Naples where he received a diploma in electronic engineering at the Alessandro Volta Technological State Technical Institute. During his teen years, he moved to Rome and studied at the Accademia Nazionale di Arte Drammatica Silvio D'Amico.

Acting career

Stage

Giannini made his stage debut at the age of 18, opposite Lilla Brignone in ''In memoria di una signora amica'', directed by Giuseppe Patroni Griffi. His breakthrough came when he was cast by Franco Zeffirelli in a production of ''Romeo and Juliet'' which played at The Old Vic.

Film and television

Giannini made his film debut in a small part in '' I criminali della metropoli'' in 1965. He appeared in supporting roles in '' Anzio'' and ''The Secret of Santa Vittoria'', and starred in the original version of '' Swept Away''. In 1967, he was a special guest on an episode of Mina's TV show "Sabato Sera". He had his breakthrough in 1970. In 1971, he appeared in '' E le stelle stanno a guardare'', a television adaptation of A. J. Cronin's novel '' The Stars Look Down''.

Giannini won a Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor for his performance in '' Love and Anarchy'' (1973). He had big box office hits with '' How Funny Can Sex Be?'' (1973) and '' The Sensual Man'' (1974). In 1976, he starred in '' Seven Beauties'', for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Giannini is known for his starring roles in films directed by Lina Wertmüller. In addition to ''Seven Beauties'' and '' Swept Away'', he also appeared in '' The Seduction of Mimi'', '' Love and Anarchy'', ''A Night Full of Rain'', and ''Francesca e Nunziata''.

Giannini has also achieved some international success. His fluency in English has brought him a number of featured roles in Hollywood productions, most notably as Inspector Pazzi in ''Hannibal''. He also appeared in '' Man on Fire''. Giannini played Alberto Aragón in ''A Walk in the Clouds'' in 1995, and Emperor Shaddam IV in the 2000 ''Dune'' miniseries. In 2002, he starred in the horror film ''Darkness''. He later portrayed French agent René Mathis in the James Bond films '' Casino Royale'' (2006) and ''Quantum of Solace'' (2008).

In 2009, Giannini received a star on the Italian Walk of Fame in Toronto, Canada. On March 6, 2023, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Voice acting

Giannini has had a successful career as a voice actor and dubber. He helped with the foundation of the C.V.D. along with Renato Turi, Corrado Gaipa, Valeria Valeri, Oreste Lionello, Wanda Tettoni and other dubbers.

Giannini is the official Italian voice dubber of Al Pacino. Both he and Ferruccio Amendola were the primary dubbers of Pacino until Amendola's death in 2001 when Giannini became the main voice dubber. He also dubbed Jack Nicholson's voice as Jack Torrance in the Italian release of '' The Shining'' and the Joker in ''Batman'' and Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko in ''Wall Street'' and the 2010 sequel as well as dubbing other actors such as Dustin Hoffman, Gérard Depardieu, Ryan O'Neal, Jeremy Irons, Mel Gibson, Tim Allen, Leonard Whiting and Ian McKellen in some of their work.

In Giannini's animated roles, he voiced Carl Fredricksen (voiced by Ed Asner) in the Italian dub of the Pixar film '' Up''. He also provided the Italian voice of Raul Menendez in the ''Call of Duty'' game franchise. Outside of dubbing, he provided a voice role in the 2001 Italian animated film '' Momo'' in which he voiced the main antagonist.

Other ventures

Aside from acting, Giannini took up inventing as a hobby. Some of the gadgets he designed were used in the 1992 film '' Toys'' starring Robin Williams. Giannini also collaborated with Gabriella Greison on his memoir ''Sono ancora un bambino'' which was published by Longanesi in 2014. A year later, he received the Premio Cesare Pavese.

In 2012 he collaborated with Italian singer Eros Ramazzotti in "Io sono te", from his album ''Noi''.

Personal life

From 1967 until 1975, Giannini was married to actress Livia Giampalmo and they had two children. Their eldest son was Lorenzo, who died in 1987 from an aneurysm shortly before his 20th birthday. Their second-born son is actor Adriano Giannini, who played his father's role in the 2002 remake of ''Swept Away''.

Since 1983, he has been married to Eurilla del Bono and they have two sons, Emanuele and Francesco who are musicians.

Filmography

Cinema

Television

Voice work

Dubbing

Films (Animation, Italian dub)

Films (Live action, Italian dub)

Television (Live action, Italian dub)

Video games (Italian dub)

Documentaries (Italian dub)

Awards and nominations

;

Academy Awards

David di Donatello

Nastro d'Argento

Film festivals

Other awards

Honours

* Grand Officer (2nd Class), Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (2003)
* Knight Grand Cross (1st Class), Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (2007)

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Giannini, Giancarlo
1942 births
Living people
Actors from La Spezia
Male actors from Liguria
Italian male television actors
Italian male film actors
Italian male voice actors
Italian male stage actors
Italian male screenwriters
Italian film directors
Accademia Nazionale di Arte Drammatica Silvio D'Amico alumni
Commanders of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor winners
David di Donatello winners
Nastro d'Argento winners
Ciak d'oro winners
20th-century Italian male actors
21st-century Italian male actors
20th-century Italian male writers
21st-century Italian male writers
20th-century Italian screenwriters
20th-century Italian inventors