Paul Giamatti facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Paul Giamatti
Giamatti in 2024
Born	Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti (1967-06-06) June 6, 1967 (age 58) New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.
Alma mater	Yale University (BA, MFA)
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1989–present
Spouse(s)	Elizabeth Cohen ​ ​ (m. 1997, divorced)​
Children	1
Parent(s)	Bart Giamatti (father)
Relatives	Marcus Giamatti (brother)
Awards	Full list

Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti (born June 6, 1967) is a famous American actor. He has won many awards for his acting. These include a Primetime Emmy Award and three Golden Globes. He has also been nominated for two Academy Awards (Oscars).

Paul Giamatti studied acting at the Yale School of Drama. He started his career in theatre plays. Later, he moved on to act in movies and TV shows. Some of his well-known roles are in American Splendor, Sideways, and Cinderella Man. He also played the main character in the TV miniseries John Adams. More recently, he starred in the TV series Billions and the movie The Holdovers.

Paul Giamatti: An Actor's Journey

Early Life and Education

Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti was born on June 6, 1967. He grew up in New Haven, Connecticut. He was the youngest of three children. His father, A. Bartlett Giamatti, was a professor at Yale University. He later became the president of Yale and then the commissioner of Major League Baseball. Paul's mother, Toni Marilyn Giamatti, was a homemaker and an English teacher. She also used to act.

Paul's family has roots from Italy on his father's side. His brother, Marcus Giamatti, is also an actor. His sister, Elena, designs jewelry.

Paul went to The Foote School and then graduated from Choate Rosemary Hall in 1985. He then went to Yale University. There, he was very active in student theatre. He worked with other actors like Ron Livingston and Edward Norton. He earned a bachelor's degree in English in 1989. After that, he got a master's degree from the Yale School of Drama. In 2023, Yale gave him an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree.

Starting His Acting Career

Paul Giamatti began his film career with a small, uncredited role in I, Madman (1989). He first appeared on TV in the film She'll Take Romance (1990). He had small parts in movies like Singles (1992) and Mighty Aphrodite (1995).

In 1995, he made his Broadway debut in the play Arcadia. He played Ezra Chater. Later that year, he acted in another play called Racing Demon.

In 1997, Paul got a bigger role in the movie Private Parts. He played Kenny "Pig Vomit" Rushton. He also had a small but memorable role in the romantic comedy My Best Friend's Wedding (1997). He continued to appear in many supporting roles. These included The Truman Show (1998) and Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan (1998). In 1999, he played Bob Zmuda in the movie Man on the Moon. He kept working steadily in the early 2000s. He appeared in films like Big Momma's House (2000) and Planet of the Apes (2001).

Becoming a Well-Known Actor

In 2003, Paul Giamatti started to get a lot of praise for his lead role in American Splendor. In 2004, he became widely recognized for the movie Sideways. In this film, he played a sad writer on vacation in wine country. This role earned him a Golden Globe nomination.

After Sideways, Giamatti appeared in Cinderella Man (2005). For his role in this movie, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He also won a Screen Actors Guild Award. In 2006, he starred in Lady in the Water and The Illusionist.

Giamatti in 2024

In 2008, Paul Giamatti won an Emmy Award for his role as John Adams in the HBO miniseries John Adams. He also won his first Golden Globe Award for this role. Critics praised his performance.

He won his second Golden Globe in 2010 for his role in the film Barney's Version. He also starred in the comedy-drama Win Win (2011). In 2012, he became the voice for Liberty Mutual insurance commercials. He also narrated an episode of the PBS show Nature.

In 2013, Giamatti returned to his old university, Yale University. He played the main role in Shakespeare's play Hamlet. He also had supporting roles in movies like Turbo (2013), Saving Mr. Banks (2013), and the award-winning 12 Years a Slave (2013). He also appeared in the TV series Downton Abbey (2013).

In 2014, Giamatti played the villain The Rhino in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. He also played psychologist Eugene Landy in the movie Love & Mercy (2014). In 2015, he played Jerry Heller in Straight Outta Compton.

Recent Roles and Projects

From 2016 to 2023, Paul Giamatti played a main character in the Showtime series Billions. He played Chuck Rhoades, a U.S. Attorney. He also started appearing in commercials for Prism TV and Verizon. He has also lent his voice to animated shows like BoJack Horseman, Rick and Morty, and Big Mouth.

In 2018, he starred in the film Private Life with Kathryn Hahn. The movie received good reviews. He also acted in I Think We're Alone Now and The Catcher Was a Spy. In 2021, he appeared in the action movie Gunpowder Milkshake and the adventure film Jungle Cruise.

He worked again with director Alexander Payne in the movie The Holdovers (2023). In this film, he played a grumpy teacher. His performance was highly praised. For this role, Giamatti was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. He won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and a Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actor.

In 2024, it was announced that Giamatti would star in a TV series based on the Hostel film series.

The "Wax Paul Now" Campaign

Paul Giamatti is the focus of a fun online campaign called "Wax Paul Now." This campaign wants the actor to get a wax statue of himself at Madame Tussauds. The campaign became very popular when Giamatti talked about it on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

Madame Tussauds New York said they would make a wax statue if a petition got 500,000 signatures. This was supposed to happen before the premiere of Billions Season 3 in March 2018. The petition did not get enough signatures in time, so the campaign is still going on. A short film about the campaign was shown at the Virginia Film Festival in 2019.

Personal Life

Paul Giamatti lives in Brooklyn, New York. He was married to Elizabeth Cohen. They have a son named Samuel. Paul Giamatti has said that he is an atheist. However, he is fine with his son being raised as Jewish.

Filmography

Movies

TV Shows

Theatre Performances

Video Games

Audiobooks

Awards and Achievements

Paul Giamatti has won many awards throughout his acting career. His big role in American Splendor (2003) won him the National Board of Review Award for Breakthrough Actor.

The next year, he was nominated for several awards for his role in Sideways (2004). These included the Critics' Choice and Golden Globe for Best Actor. He won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead for this film.

Giamatti then won the Critics' Choice and SAG Award for his role in Cinderella Man (2005). He was also nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe for this performance.

He won two more Screen Actors Guild Awards for his TV roles. These were for John Adams (2008) and Too Big to Fail (2011). For John Adams, he also won an Emmy and a Golden Globe. He has received Emmy nominations in all three acting categories (lead, supporting, and guest) and for different types of shows (comedy, drama, and miniseries).

As part of the cast, Giamatti was nominated for awards for 12 Years a Slave (2013) and Straight Outta Compton (2015). His role in the TV series Billions (2016–2023) also earned him a nomination.

Giamatti won two Golden Globe Awards for Best Actor for his roles in Barney's Version (2010) and The Holdovers (2023). For The Holdovers, he also won the Critics' Choice award. He was nominated for an Oscar, a BAFTA, and a SAG Award for this film. He is one of the few actors to be nominated for Oscars in both lead and supporting acting categories.

See also

In Spanish: Paul Giamatti para niños