Table of Contents
Al Pacino
Full Name
Alfredo James “Al” Pacino is his full name.1)
Birth
Al Pacino was born in New York City on April 25, 1940. (East Harlem).2)
Parents
Salvatore Pacino and Rose, a Sicilian-American couple, divorced when he was two years old.3)
Moving To Bronx
His mother relocated to The Bronx to live with her parents, Kate and James Gerardi, who had immigrated from Corleone, Sicily.4)
Father
His father, from San Fratello in Messina Province, relocated to Covina, California, and worked as an insurance salesman and in a restaurant.5)
Baseball Player And Actor
During his adolescence, “Sonny”, as he was known to his pals, aspired to be a baseball player and was also known as “The Actor”.6)
Education
Pacino attended Herman Ridder Junior High School but skipped out of numerous subjects in high school, save English.7)
Early Poor Jobs
To fund his acting training, he worked at low-wage occupations such as courier, busboy, janitor, and postal clerk. He used to work in the mail office at Commentary magazine.8)
Smoking And Drinking
He began smoking and drinking at the age of nine, and began casual cannabis usage at the age of thirteen, but he never tried serious narcotics.9)
Lost Friends
At the ages of 19 and 30, his two closest friends perished as a result of drug misuse.10)
Aggresive Youngster
Growing up in The Bronx, he got into a few fights and was a bit of a nuisance at school.11)
Denied By Actors Studio
He appeared in basement plays in New York's theatrical underworld as a youngster but was denied by the Actors Studio.12)
Charlie Laughton
Pacino then enrolled at the Herbert Berghof Studio (HB Studio), where he met acting instructor Charlie Laughton.13)
Bad Beginning Before Acting
During this time, he was frequently unemployed and homeless, sleeping on the street, in theaters, or at friends' houses.14)
Mother's Death
His mother died in 1962, at the age of 43.15)
Grandpa
Pacino's grandpa James Gerardi, one of his most significant persons, died the next year.16)
Actors Studio
Pacino successfully auditioned for the Actors Studio after four years at HB Studio.17)
Method Acting
Pacino studied “method acting” under Lee Strasberg, who co-starred with Pacino in The Godfather Part II and in… And Justice for All.18)
Strasberg and Studio
Later interviews revealed that Al had spoken about Strasberg and the Studio's influence on his career.19)
Co-President
Pacino is presently co-president of the Actors Studio, alongside Ellen Burstyn and Harvey Keitel.20)
Debut
Pacino, a method actor and former student of the HB Studio and the Actors Studio in New York City, where he was taught by Charlie Laughton and Lee Strasberg, made his feature film debut with a minor role in Me, Natalie (1969) and received positive reviews for his lead role as a heroin addict in The Panic in Needle Park (1971).21)
Godfather
For his breakout performance as Michael Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather, he received international fame and recognition (1972).22)
First Oscar Nominations
He got his first Oscar nomination for the role, which he would repeat in the similarly popular sequels The Godfather Part II (1974) and The Godfather Part III (1990).23)
Corleone
Pacino's portrayal as Don Corleone is currently acknowledged as one of the best in film history.24)
Further Nominations
Serpico (1973) earned Pacino his first Best Actor Oscar nomination; he was later nominated for The Godfather Part II, Dog Day Afternoon (1975), And Justice for All (1979).25)
Oscar
He received the prize in 1993 for his role as a blind Lieutenant Colonel in Scent of a Woman (1992).26)
Next Rewards
Al Pacino was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his roles in The Godfather, Dick Tracy (1990), and Glengarry Glen Ross (1992).27)
Known Roles
Tony Montana in Scarface (1983), Carlito Brigante in Carlito's Way (1993), Lieutenant Vincent Hanna in Heat (1995), Benjamin Ruggiero in Donnie Brasco (1997), Lowell Bergman in The Insider (1999), and Detective Will Dormer in Insomnia are among his other significant performances (2002).28)
TV Roles
Al Pacino has appeared in various HBO projects, notably the miniseries Angels in America (2003) and the biography You Don't Know Jack (2010), both of which earned him a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie.29)
Shakespeare Fan
Al Pacino, a lifetime Shakespeare lover, directed and acted in Looking for Richard (1996), a documentary film about the play Richard III, a part he had previously played on stage in 1970s.30)