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Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti (born June 6, 1967) is an Academy Award-nominated 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, and Cinderella Man, as well as the title role in the 2008 HBO miniseries John Adams. Prior to becoming one of the more unlikely leading men in Hollywood, actor Paul Giamatti made a career out of playing comic foils and repressed loners constantly on the verge of exploding with rage. Giamatti first grabbed the public’s attention with his vitriolic performance as Kenny Howard Stern’s nemesis in “Private Parts” (1997), before quickly developing into the go-to guy for a director looking for an everyman-type actor who could convincingly project simmering intensity. His sour yet endearing performance as bitter comic book writer Harvey Pekar in the offbeat bioflick, “American Splendor” (2003) did much to put him on the mainstream moviegoer’s radar. But it with his highly-lauded performance in the surprise hit “Sideways” (2004), that Giamatti vaulted to the A-list as a kind of unlikely leading man – a leap up that made the comfortable character actor a bit unsettled. Nonetheless, Giamatti became one of those rare actors capable of excelling in both leading and supporting roles, allowing him the freedom to oscillate between big budget fare and small indie films, while developing a reputation as being one of the most versatile performers of his time. 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. Giamatti's mother was Irish American, while his paternal grandfather, Valentine Giamatti, was an Italian American, of parentage from Telese, and his paternal grandmother was Mary Claybaugh Walton, whose ancestors lived in New England. He has a brother, Marcus, who is also an actor. Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti was born June 6, 1967. He graduated from Choate Rosemary Hall prep school, majored in English at Yale, and obtained his Master's Degree in Fine Arts, with his major in drama from the Yale University School of Drama. Paul is the youngest of three children. His older brother, Marcus Giamatti, is also an actor. His sister, Elena, designs jewelry. His father, A. Bartlett Giamatti, was a professor of Renaissance Literature at Yale University, and went on to become the university's youngest president. (In 1986, Bart Giamatti was appointed president of baseball's National League. He became Commissioner of Baseball on April 1, 1989 and served for five months until his untimely death on September 1, 1989. He was commissioner at the time Pete Rose was banned from the game.) Paul's mother, the former Toni Smith, was an actress before she married Dr. Giamatti. Paul's father has written six books. Giamatti 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. 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 (one of the ten "biggest (financial) losers" of 2006), 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. Giamatti has commented on the fact that he often plays Jewish characters, but is almost never cast in Italian American roles. 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 (film), The Seventh Victim, Dawn of the Dead (1978 version), Seconds (film), and Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978 version). Giamatti's most acclaimed performances were in lead roles in American Splendor (2003) and Sideways (2004). He was nominated for a Golden Globe 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.) Giamatti has also been nominated for and won several critics' awards. Though “Lady in the Water” was both a critical and financial disaster, Giamatti did receive kudos for his affecting and wounded performance. In the much more critically lauded period drama “The Illusionist” (2006), Giamatti played the shrewd Chief Inspector Uhl, a law-and-order man charged by the Crown Prince of Vienna (Rufus Sewell) to expose a gifted illusionist (Edward Norton) after the prince’s fiancée (Jessica Biel) starts working on stage with him. After voicing the bug exterminator in “The Ant Bully” (2006), Giamatti returned to the low budget indie world to play an emotionally stunted man who finds a connection with a red-tailed hawk in “The Hawk is Dying” (2007). He continued to be productive through 2007, playing the leader of a team of shadowy assassins trying to kill a baby protected by the hardboiled Mr. Smith (Clive Owen) in the ridiculously hyper-violent “Shoot ‘Em Up.” In “The Nanny Diaries,” Giamatti portrayed the domineering Mr. X, who, along with his snooty wife (Laura Linney), hires a working-class nanny (Scarlett Johansson) and forces her to cater to the family’s ever upper class need. The actor has been nominated for 35 separate awards between 2001 and 2006, and has won 22 of them. All of his nominations except one were for American Splendor, Sideways, or Cinderella Man; the exception was a Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Big Momma's House. A resident of the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, Giamatti has been married to Elizabeth Cohen since 1997 and they have a son, Samuel, born in 2001. Son of A. Bartlett Giamatti, late president of Yale University, major league baseball commissioner and nemesis of Pete Rose. He is the younger brother of Marcus Giamatti. In the 1998 remake of Doctor Dolittle (1998), Paul portrayed a human in charge of a talking orangutan, in the 2001 remake of Planet of the Apes (2001), he portrays a talking orangutan in charge of humans. His father was of Italian and English descent. His mother is of Irish descent. He's the voice talent for Tiger Woods headcover in a series of Nike Golf commercials. His life ambition is to star in a crime caper with Robert Duvall and John Hurt. He plans on contacting the two stars with his idea should Sideways (2004) win Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Often plays roles based on real people - Private Parts (1997), Man on the Moon (1999), American Splendor (2003), Cinderella Man (2005) and "John Adams" (2008). Graduated from Choate Rosemary Hall. Graduated from Yale University with a degree in English. Graduated from the Yale University School of Drama with a master's degree in drama. In Sideways (2004) his character, Miles, looks at a picture of himself as a younger man standing with a man in sunglasses. This is a photo of Paul Giamatti with his father, A. Bartlett Giamatti. Has appeared in three remakes, Sabrina (1995), Doctor Dolittle (1998), and Planet of the Apes (2001). Was listed as a potential nominee on the both the 2003 and 2007 Razzie Award nominating ballots. He was listed as a suggestion in the Worst Supporting Actor category on the 2003 ballot for his performance in the film Big Fat Liar (2002) and in the Worst (Leading) Actor category for his performance in the film Lady in the Water (2006). He failed to receive either nomination. Despite his character of Miles in Sideways (2004) and his passion for pinot, Giamatti himself admits that he has very little knowledge of wines and is not much of a fan of them. During the shooting of the upcoming The Hawk Is Dying (2006), which is mainly about his character and a Red-Tailed Hawk, he became a raptor-enthusiast. Father died in 1989. Has one child, a boy named Samuel, born in 2001. Ex-brother-in-law of Kathryn Meisle. Is a Boston Red Sox fan Has starred in three films (Private Parts (1997), American Splendor (2003) and Man on the Moon (1999) that feature characters who appear on "Late Show with David Letterman" (1993) and a fourth, Storytelling (2001), that starred Conan O'Brien, who hosted "Late Night" after Letterman moved to his own show on CBS. Is a big fan of science-fiction. Lived in Seattle, WA, for a brief period after college. Russell Crowe stated in an interview that working with Giamatti was one of his favorite experiences in show business. In his senior year at Yale University he was elected to the Skull and Bones secret society. 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 (1972), Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), Brewster McCloud (1970), The Big Clock (1948), The Seventh Victim (1943), Dawn of the Dead (1978), Seconds (1966), and Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978). |
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