Paul Giamatti

Infobox actor

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imagesize =
caption =
birthdate = birth date and age|1967|6|6
birthname = nowrap|Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti
birthplace = New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.
spouse = Elizabeth Cohen (1997–)
yearsactive = 1990 – present
emmyawards = Outstanding Lead Actor - Miniseries or a Movie
2008 "John Adams"
sagawards = Outstanding Cast in a Motion Picture
2004 "Sideways"
Outstanding Supporitng Actor - Motion Picture
2005 "Cinderella Man"
awards = NYFCC Award for Best Actor
2004 "Sideways"

Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti (born June 6, 1967) is an Academy Award-nominated and Emmy Award-winning American actor. He began acting in films during the 1990s, appearing in several supporting performances, and came to fame in the early 2000s after his roles in the well-received films "American Splendor", "Sideways", "Cinderella Man", and "John Adams".

Background

Giamatti was born in New Haven, Connecticut. His father, A. Bartlett Giamatti, was a Yale University professor who later became president of the university and commissioner of Major League Baseball. His mother, Toni Smith, was a homemaker and English teacher who taught at Hopkins School and had also previously acted.cite news|last=Pringle|first=Gill|coauthors=|title=Paul Giamatti: Mr Potato face|pages=|publisher=The Independent|date=2007-11-27|url=http://arts.independent.co.uk/film/features/article3199367.ece|accessdate=2007-11-27] He is descended from Massachusetts Governor Thomas Dudley. Giamatti's mother was Irish American, [Interview previously available at http://www.sundayherald.com/57083] while his paternal grandfather, Valentine Giamatti, was an Italian American, of parentage from Telese; his paternal grandmother was Mary Claybaugh Walton, whose ancestors lived in New England.cite book|last=Reston|first=James|authorlink=|coauthors=|title=Collision at Home Plate: The Lives of Pete Rose and Bart Giamatti|publisher=U of Nebraska Press|date=1997|location=Nebraska|pages=15-16|month=|url=http://books.google.ca/books?vid=ISBN0803289642&id=znjlwbfZOTcC&pg=RA1-PA16&lpg=RA1-PA16&ots=_8zqp4MZuD&dq=%22Bartlett+Giamatti%22+ITALIAN&sig=iGZHVZTGXmCp8qRjBnZbD5GjzyE|id=ISBN0803289642] He has a brother, Marcus, who is also an actor.

He attended The Foote School, then the elite boarding school Choate Rosemary Hall. He attended Yale University, where he was active in the undergraduate theater scene and worked alongside actors Ron Livingston and Edward Norton, who were also Yale students. He graduated from Yale in 1989 with a bachelor's degree in English. He went on to earn a Master's degree in Fine Arts from the Yale School of Drama. He performed in numerous theatrical productions (including Broadway) before appearing in some small television and film roles in the early 1990s. In Giamatti's junior year at Yale he was "tapped" to enter Yale's elite and clandestine Skull and Bones secret society. [ [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0316079/bio Paul Giamatti - Biography ] ]

Career

Giamatti's first high profile role was in the film adaptation of Howard Stern's "Private Parts" as Kenny "Pig Vomit" Rushton, Stern's antagonistic program director at WNBC. Stern praised Giamatti's performance often on his radio program, calling for him to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. That did not happen, but Giamatti's career received a boost and when he was eventually nominated for an Academy Award he claimed he would have thanked Stern in his acceptance speech, had he won. He appeared in a number of supporting roles in big-budget movies such as "The Truman Show", "Saving Private Ryan", and "The Negotiator" (all 1998). In 1999, he played Bob Zmuda (and Tony Clifton) in the Andy Kaufman biopic, "Man on the Moon". Giamatti continued to be featured in major studio releases such as "Big Momma's House" (2000) with Martin Lawrence, the "Planet of the Apes" remake (2001), and in "Big Fat Liar" (2002) opposite Frankie Muniz and Amanda Bynes.

In 2006, he was the lead in M. Night Shyamalan's supernatural thriller "Lady in the Water", followed by the animated film "The Ant Bully", and Neil Burger's drama "The Illusionist" co-starring Edward Norton. He is the voice behind the audiobook of the novel "A Scanner Darkly" by Philip K. Dick, released in the summer of 2006.

Most recently, he played Mr. Hertz in the action movie "Shoot 'Em Up" and Santa Claus in the comedy "Fred Claus" (which also stars Kevin Spacey and Vince Vaughn). Giamatti will also play noted science fiction author Philip K. Dick in the semi-biopic "The Owl in Daylight", which he is producing through his production company, Touchy Feely Productions.

He also played a role in the 1996 video game "Ripper", where he portrayed the character of Dr. Bud Cable. He is working on "Pretty Birds" which is a fictionalized retelling about the drama behind the invention of a rocketbelt. [ [http://www.craveonline.com/filmtv/articles/04648582/4/paul_giamattis_good_times.html Paul Giamatti's Good Times] ] He was allegedly going to play Elvis Presley's manager, Colonel Parker, in the now-defunct film Bubba Nosferatu.

Giamatti has commented on the fact that he often plays Jewish characters, but is almost never cast in Italian American roles.cite news|last=Gross|first=Terry|coauthors=|title=Actor Paul Giamatti|pages=|publisher=NPR|date=2004-02-13|url=http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1674650|accessdate=2007-05-31]

Giamatti has starred in three films ("Private Parts", "American Splendor" and "Man on the Moon") that feature real-life figures who actually appeared on "Late Night with David Letterman" during the film and a fourth, "StoryTelling", which starred Conan O'Brien, who hosted "Late Night" after Letterman moved to his own show on CBS.

The Brooklyn Academy of Music asked Giamatti, its "2007 BAM Cinema Club Chair", to pick films for an eight-movie series called "Paul Giamatti Selects" and shown at the Academy in August and September 2007. His selections indicated a taste for paranoia and "the darkest of dark comedy", according to a writer for "The New York Times". Giamatti chose: "Frenzy", "Dr. Strangelove", "Brewster McCloud", "The Big Clock", "The Seventh Victim", "Dawn of the Dead" (1978 version), "Seconds", and "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1978 version). ["The Week Ahead" feature, "Film" item by Mike Hale, "Arts & Leisure" section (Section 2), The New York Times, July 29, 2007, p 4] [http://www.bam.org/film/series.aspx?id=145] Web page titled "Paul Giamatti Selects" at the Brooklyn Academy of Music Web site, accessed July 28, 2007]

Awards

Giamatti's most acclaimed performances were in lead roles in "American Splendor" (2003) and "Sideways" (2004). He was nominated for a Golden Globe and won an Independent Spirit Award for the latter. Giamatti received his first nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2005 for his role in "Cinderella Man". He was also nominated for a Golden Globe and won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture for the film. However, George Clooney won both the Golden Globe and the Academy Award for "Syriana". (Upon winning the Golden Globe, Clooney commented in his acceptance speech that he had expected Giamatti to win the award that evening.)Fact|date=February 2008 Giamatti has also been nominated for and won several critics' awards. He received his first Emmy Award for "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie" in 2008 for his title performance in the HBO miniseries "John Adams".

He has been nominated for 38 separate awards between 2001 and 2008, and has won 25 of them. All of his nominations except one were for "American Splendor", "Sideways", "Cinderella Man", or "John Adams"; the exception was a Blockbuster Entertainment Award nomination for "Big Momma's House". [According to the Internet Movie Database]

Personal life

A resident of the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E00E6DF1331F93AA15754C0A9619C8B63 "Film"] , "The New York Times", July 29, 2007. Accessed November 29, 2007. "Beginning Wednesday it presents "PAUL GIAMATTI SELECTS," an eight-movie series, stretching over six weeks, chosen by Mr. Giamatti, the actor's actor and Brooklyn Heights resident."] Giamatti has been married to Elizabeth Giamatti since 1997 and they have a son, Samuel, born in 2001. Giamatti is an atheist. In a 2006 interview with totalfilm.com, he answers the question: Do you get the big star treatment at home now?"No, no. My wife treats me worse now. She has no tolerance for that sort of behaviour! She’s Jewish and my son will probably be raised Jewish. I’m an atheist, so I’m waiting for my time to step in and tell him how things really are but I’ll do that when he’s a teenager. I figure he’ll be ripe for atheism when he’s a teenager." He has proclaimed that he is still a New Haven boy, and upon his death would like to be interred in New Haven's Grove Street Cemetery, among signers of the Declaration of Independence but more importantly near his father.

Filmography

* "She'll Take Romance" (1990) (TV)... Heckler #2
* "Past Midnight" (1992)... Larry Canipe
* "Singles" (1992)... Kissing Man
* "NYPD Blue" (1994)... Man In Sleeping Bag (episode "You Bet Your Life")
* "Mighty Aphrodite" (1995)... Extras Guild Researcher
* "New York News" (1995)... Dr. Wargner (episode "Past Imperfect")
* "Sabrina" (1995)... Scott
* "Ripper" (1996)... Dr. Bud Cable (video game)
* "Before and After" (1996)... Courtroom Audience (uncredited)
* "The Show" (1996)... Jeffrey Roffman (pilot episode)
* "Breathing Room" (1996)... George
* "Arresting Gena" (1997)... Detective Wilson
* "Donnie Brasco" (1997)... FBI Technician
* "Private Parts" (1997)... Kenny "Pig Vomit" Rushton
* "My Best Friend's Wedding" (1997)... Richard the Bellman
* "Deconstructing Harry" (1997)... Professor Abbot
* "A Further Gesture" (1997)... Hotel Clerk
* "" (1998)... Harry Tjarks (episode "Pit Bull Sessions")
* "Tourist Trap" (1998) (TV)... Jeremiah Piper
* "The Truman Show" (1998)... Control Room Director
* "Dr. Dolittle" (1998)... Blaine (uncredited)
* "Saving Private Ryan" (1998)... Staff Sergeant Hill
* "The Negotiator" (1998)... Rudy Timmons
* "Safe Men" (1998)... Veal Chop
* "Winchell" (1998) (TV)... Herman Klurfeld
* "Cradle Will Rock" (1999)... Carlo
* "Man on the Moon" (1999)... Bob Zmuda/Tony Clifton
* "If These Walls Could Talk 2" (2000) (TV)... Ted Hedley (segment "1961")
* "Big Momma's House" (2000)... John
* "Duets" (2000)... Todd Woods
* "King of the Hill" (2001)... Mr. McKay (episode "It's Not Easy Being Green")
* "Storytelling" (2001)... Toby Oxman (segment "Non-Fiction")
* "Planet of the Apes" (2001)... Limbo
* "Big Fat Liar" (2002)... Marty Wolf
* "Thunderpants" (2002)... Johnson J. Johnson
* "American Splendor" (2003)... Harvey Pekar
* "Confidence" (2003)... Gordo
* "The Pentagon Papers" (2003) (TV)... Anthony Russo
* "Paycheck " (2003)... Shorty
* "Sideways" (2004)... Miles Raymond
* "Saturday Night Live" (2005)... Host (episode 30.10)
* "Robots " (2005)... Tim the Gate Guard (voice)
* "The Fan and the Flower" (2005)... Narrator
* "Cinderella Man" (2005)... Joe Gould
* "The Hawk Is Dying" (2005)... George Gattling
* "Asterix and the Vikings" (English dubbing: voice of Asterix, 2006)
* "The Illusionist" (2006)... Chief Inspector Uhl
* "Lady in the Water" (2006)... Cleveland Heep
* "The Ant Bully" (2006)... Stan Beals (voice)
* "The Amazing Screw-On Head" (TV) (2006)... Screw-On Head (voice)
* "The Nanny Diaries" (2007)... Mr. X
* "Shoot 'em Up" (2007)... Karl Hertz
* "Fred Claus" (2007)... Santa Claus
* "John Adams" (2008)... John Adams

References

External links

*imdb|0316079