Lou Taylor Pucci (born July 27, 1985) is an American actor who first appeared on film in Rebecca Miller's '' Personal Velocity: Three Portraits'' in 2002. Pucci had his breakthrough leading role in '' Thumbsucker'' (2005), for which he won a Special Jury Prize at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

and the

Silver Bear for Best Actor The Silver Bear for Best Actor () was an award presented at the Berlin International Film Festival from 1956 to 2020. It was given to an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance and was chosen by the International Jury from the films i ...

at the Berlin Film Festival. Pucci then starred in '' The Chumscrubber'' (2005), '' Fast Food Nation'' (2006), '' The Go-Getter'' (2007), '' Explicit Ills'' (2008), and '' Carriers'' (2009). Pucci had starring roles in the 2013 '' Evil Dead'' remake, as well as '' The Story of Luke'' (2013) and '' Spring'' (2014).

Early life and education

Pucci was born in Seaside Heights,

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

. His mother, Linda Farver, is a former model and beauty queen (Miss Union County), and his father, Louis Pucci, worked as a guitarist for the bands The Watch and Leap of Faith. He has two brothers and one sister Penelope. At the age of two, he moved to Keansburg, New Jersey. He is a graduate of Christian Brothers Academy in Lincroft, New Jersey.

Career

He first acted at the age of ten in a hometown production of '' Oliver!''. Two years later he acted as an understudy on Broadway playing Freidrich in ''

The Sound of Music ''The Sound of Music'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, '' The Story of the Trapp Family Singers''. ...

''. He can be seen in Arie Posin's '' The Chumscrubber'', the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

miniseries '' Empire Falls'', and starring as the lead in

Mike Mills Michael Edward Mills (born December 17, 1958) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, and composer who was a founding member of the alternative rock band R.E.M. Though known primarily as the bass guitarist and backing vocalist of R.E.M., hi ...

' film '' Thumbsucker'', for which he received the Special Jury Prize for Acting at the 2005

and the Silver Bear Award for Best Actor at the 2005 Berlin Film Festival. He also played "St. Jimmy" in

Green Day Green Day is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Rodeo, California, in 1987 by lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong and bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, with drummer Tré Cool joining in 1990. In 1994, their majo ...

's " Jesus of Suburbia" music video (with ''Thumbsucker'' co-star Kelli Garner). In 2009, Pucci had three films that screened at the

: '' Brief Interviews with Hideous Men'', directed by

John Krasinski John Burke Krasinski (; born October 20, 1979) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his role as Jim Halpert on the NBC sitcom ''The Office'' (2005–2013), where he was also a producer and occasional director. He directed, co-w ...

; '' The Informers'', with

Billy Bob Thornton Billy Bob Thornton (born August 4, 1955) is an American actor, filmmaker, singer and songwriter. He received international attention after writing, directing and starring in the independent film, independent Drama (film and television), drama f ...

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, Kim Basinger and Mickey Rourke, based on

Bret Easton Ellis Bret Easton Ellis (born March 7, 1964) is an American author and screenwriter. Ellis was one of the literary Brat Pack (literary), Brat Pack and is a self-proclaimed satirist whose trademark technique as a writer is the expression of extreme acts ...

' collection of short stories of the same name; and '' The Answer Man'' (formerly ''Arlen Faber'' and ''The Dream of the Romans'') with Jeff Daniels and Lauren Graham. Pucci was also a juror for the short film competition. Pucci had roles in multiple indie films for the latter part of the decade, and had a leading role playing an

autistic Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction, a preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing di ...

man in '' The Story of Luke'' (2013), alongside Seth Green. He also had a starring role in the '' Evil Dead'' (2013) remake, based on Sam Raimi's 1981 original and played one of the leading roles in the thriller '' Spring''. In November 2014, Pucci starred as Teddy Courtney in a '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit''-'' Chicago P.D.'' crossover. He also portrayed Ben in the horror film ''

Ava's Possessions ''Ava's Possessions'' is a 2015 American Supernatural horror film, supernatural comedy horror film written and directed by Jordan Galland. Louisa Krause stars as the titular Ava, a young woman that must learn how to put her life together after a d ...

.'' In 2016, he starred alongside

Michael Shannon Michael Corbett Shannon (born August 7, 1974) is an American actor. Shannon received two Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor nominations, for '' Revolutionary Road'' (2008), and '' Nocturnal Animals'' (2016). He received Screen Actors Guil ...

in the western thriller '' Poor Boy'', which premiered at the

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Enterprises. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. The festival ...

in April 2016. In 2018, Pucci guest-starred in the first 3 episodes of Lifetime's thriller series '' You'' as Benji. In 2019 he guest-starred as Nock Nock in the FX comedy series ''

You're the Worst ''You're the Worst'' is an American comedy-drama television series created by Stephen Falk. Originally broadcast by FX (TV channel), FX, the series moved to its sister channel FXX beginning with the second season. The series follows Jimmy (Chris ...

'', then went on to play a recurring role in '' American Horror Story: 1984''.

Filmography

Film

Television

Music videos

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pucci, Lou Taylor 1985 births American male film actors Christian Brothers Academy (New Jersey) alumni Living people People from Keansburg, New Jersey People from Seaside Heights, New Jersey Sundance Film Festival award winners Silver Bear for Best Actor winners 21st-century American male actors