Al Pacino facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Al Pacino
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Pacino in 2016
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Alfredo James Pacino
April 25, 1940 New York City, U.S.
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| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1967–present |
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Works
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Full list |
| Partner(s) | Lyndall Hobbs (1989–1996) Beverly D'Angelo (1997–2003) Lucila Polak (2008–2018) |
| Children | 4, including Julie Pacino |
| Awards | Full list |
Alfredo James Pacino (born April 25, 1940) is a famous American actor. He is known for his powerful and intense acting style on both stage and screen. Many people consider him one of the greatest actors of all time. His career has lasted for more than fifty years.
Pacino has won many of the most important awards for acting. These include an Academy Award (also called an Oscar), two Tony Awards for theater, and two Primetime Emmy Awards for television. Winning all three makes him one of the few actors to achieve the "Triple Crown of Acting." He has also received many other honors, like the Kennedy Center Honors in 2016.
He is a method actor, which means he tries to deeply understand and feel the emotions of his characters. He studied at the famous Actors Studio in New York City. Pacino finally won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in the movie Scent of a Woman (1992).
Some of his other famous films include The Godfather (1972), Serpico (1973), Scarface (1983), Heat (1995), Donnie Brasco (1997), and The Irishman (2019). He has also directed several films.
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Early Life and Education
Alfredo James Pacino was born in Manhattan, New York City, on April 25, 1940. His parents, Rose and Salvatore Pacino, were of Sicilian Italian heritage. After his parents separated when he was two, he and his mother moved to the South Bronx to live with her parents.
As a teenager, his friends called him "Sonny." He dreamed of being a baseball player, but he was also nicknamed "The Actor." He attended the High School of Performing Arts in New York. To pay for his acting studies, Pacino worked several jobs, including as a messenger, busboy, and janitor.
Pacino acted in small plays in New York's theater scene. He joined the HB Studio, where he met his mentor, acting teacher Charlie Laughton. Later, Pacino was accepted into the prestigious Actors Studio. There, he studied "method acting" under the famous coach Lee Strasberg. Strasberg later acted with Pacino in The Godfather Part II.
Pacino has said the Actors Studio was a major turning point in his life. It helped him focus completely on acting. Since 1994, he has been the joint president of the Actors Studio, along with other actors.
In 2025, Pacino became the first movie star to meet with Pope Leo XIV.
Acting Career
Starting on Stage
In 1967, Pacino began his professional acting career in the theater. He performed in plays in Boston and New York City. For his role in the 1968 play The Indian Wants the Bronx, he won an Obie Award. This performance caught the attention of manager Martin Bregman, who helped guide his career for many years.
In 1969, Pacino performed on Broadway for the first time in the play Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?. He won a Tony Award for his role, which is the highest honor in American theater. He won a second Tony Award in 1977 for The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel. After his success on stage, he began acting in movies. His first major film role was in The Panic in Needle Park (1971).
Becoming a Movie Star
Pacino's big break came when director Francis Ford Coppola cast him as Michael Corleone in the classic crime film The Godfather (1972). Studio executives wanted a more famous actor, but Coppola insisted on Pacino. The role earned him his first Academy Award nomination and made him a star.
Throughout the 1970s, Pacino starred in many successful films. He earned Best Actor Oscar nominations for playing a police officer in Serpico (1973), for reprising his role in The Godfather Part II (1974), and for playing a bank robber in Dog Day Afternoon (1975).
His career slowed down in the early 1980s. However, his role as Tony Montana in Scarface (1983) became one of his most iconic performances. Though the film was controversial at first, it is now considered a classic.
An Established Actor
After a four-year break from movies, Pacino returned in the late 1980s. In 1990, he received an Oscar nomination for playing the gangster Big Boy Caprice in Dick Tracy. That same year, he played Michael Corleone for the third time in The Godfather Part III.
In 1992, Pacino had an amazing year. He was nominated for two Oscars: Best Supporting Actor for Glengarry Glen Ross and Best Actor for Scent of a Woman. He won the Best Actor award for playing a blind, retired Army officer. He was the first male actor to get two nominations in the same year and win for the lead role.
He continued to star in popular films through the 1990s. He worked with Robert De Niro in the crime drama Heat (1995). He also played a gangster in Donnie Brasco (1997) and a TV producer in The Insider (1999).
Later Work and Television
In the 2000s, Pacino began working more in television. He starred in the HBO miniseries Angels in America (2003). For his performance, he won a Golden Globe Award and a Primetime Emmy Award. He won these awards again for playing Dr. Jack Kevorkian in the HBO movie You Don't Know Jack (2010).
He also continued to appear in major films. He played a casino owner in Ocean's Thirteen (2007) and starred alongside Robert De Niro again in Righteous Kill (2008). In 2010, he returned to Broadway to play Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, earning another Tony Award nomination.
In 2019, Pacino had two major roles. He acted with Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt in Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. He also played union boss Jimmy Hoffa in Martin Scorsese's The Irishman. His work in The Irishman earned him his ninth Oscar nomination.
From 2020 to 2023, he starred in the Amazon Prime Video series Hunters. In 2021, he played Aldo Gucci in the film House of Gucci.
Personal Life
Al Pacino has never been married but has four children. His oldest daughter, Julie Marie, was born in 1989. He also has twins, a son named Anton James and a daughter named Olivia Rose, who were born in 2001 with actress Beverly D'Angelo. In 2023, at the age of 83, he had his fourth child, a son named Roman.
Over the years, he has been in relationships with several actresses, including Diane Keaton, his co-star from The Godfather films.
Awards and Recognition
Al Pacino has received many awards for his work in film, television, and theater.
- Academy Awards: 9 nominations, 1 win.
- Golden Globe Awards: 19 nominations, 4 wins.
- Primetime Emmy Awards: 3 nominations, 2 wins.
- Tony Awards: 3 nominations, 2 wins.
In 2007, the American Film Institute gave him a Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2016, he received the Kennedy Center Honors, one of America's highest awards for artists.
Images for kids
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Pacino as Frank Serpico in 1973
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Pacino with Felicity Dean in 1999
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Pacino at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival
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Pacino (left) and Robert De Niro during the 25th Critics' Choice Awards in January 2020
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See also
- List of Italian-American actors
- List of actors with Academy Award nominations
- List of actors with more than one Academy Award nomination in the acting categories
- List of Primetime Emmy Award winners
- List of Golden Globe winners
