Giancarlo Giannini facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Giancarlo Giannini OMRI
Giannini in 2009
Born	(1942-08-01) 1 August 1942 (age 82) La Spezia, Kingdom of Italy
Alma mater	Accademia Nazionale di Arte Drammatica Silvio D'Amico
Occupation	Actor voice actor film director screenwriter
Years active	1961–present
Spouse(s)	Livia Giampalmo ​ ​ (m. 1967; div. 1975)​ Eurilla del Bono ​ (m. 1983)​
Children	4, including Adriano Giannini

Giancarlo Giannini (Italian pronunciation: [dʒaŋˈkarlo dʒanˈniːni]; 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 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 on the set of the film The Sensual Man, c. 1973

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 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 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 in The Pizza Triangle (1970)

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

Giannini at the 49th Venice International Film Festival (1992)

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)