Portrait · Jorge Gomez / U.S. Embassy in Argentina / CC BY 2.0

Al Pacino

Actor

Born 1940

Al Pacino is an American actor and director born Alfredo James Pacino in New York City. He grew up first in East Harlem and then in the South Bronx, raised by his mother and maternal grandparents. He attended the High School of Performing Arts and studied acting with Charles Laughton at the Herbert Berghof Studio and Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio. His Broadway work brought Tony Awards for Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie? and The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel. The Panic in Needle Park gave him his first leading film role and helped launch a decade of major screen performances. As Michael Corleone in The Godfather, he follows a younger son into the violence and responsibility of his family’s criminal empire. Serpico placed him at the centre of a true story about a New York police officer confronting corruption within his own force. He reunited with Sidney Lumet for Dog Day Afternoon and with Francis Ford Coppola for the sequels to The Godfather. Scarface gave him another defining criminal character, Tony Montana. Scent of a Woman brought him the Academy Award for Best Actor. His later collaborations included Michael Mann’s Heat and The Insider, Mike Newell’s Donnie Brasco and Christopher Nolan’s Insomnia. Looking for Richard combined a performance of Shakespeare’s Richard III with an investigation of how actors interpret and communicate the play. On television, his portrayals of Roy Cohn in Angels in America and Dr Jack Kevorkian in You Don’t Know Jack won Emmy Awards. He later played Jimmy Hoffa in The Irishman and Aldo Gucci in House of Gucci, alongside further television work in Paterno and Hunters. His continuing stage career includes Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, Shelly Levene in Glengarry Glen Ross and Mickey Ross in China Doll. His career has been recognised with the National Medal of Arts. He also received Kennedy Center Honors. His memoir Sonny Boy traces his upbringing, acting work and relationship with the craft. Recent work includes Gus Van Sant’s hostage thriller Dead Man’s Wire. Tribeca’s festival lineup also includes him in Killing Castro and Julian Schnabel’s In the Hand of Dante.

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