Famous Actors Al Pacino

Birth Name: Alfredo James Pacino
Birthdate: April 25, 1940
Birthplace: New York, NY
Occupations: Actor, Director, Producer
Quote: "I am more alive in the theater than anywhere else, but what I take into the theater I get from the streets." - Hollywood Reporter, 1984

Claim to Fame: Played Michael Corleone in the gangster saga The Godfather (1972)

Significant Other(s):
Beverly D'Angelo, actress; born 1954; together since 1997
Penelope Ann Miller, actress; born 1964
Lyndall Hobbs, newscaster; born 1953
Jan Tarrant, acting teacher
Diane Keaton, actress; born 1946
Marthe Keller, actress; born 1945
Jill Clayburgh, actress; born 1944

Family:
Father: Salvatore Pacino, insurance salesman
Mother: Rose Pacino; died 1962
Daughter: Julie Marie; born 1989; mother, Jan Tarrant
Children: twins; born January 2001; mother, Beverly D'Angelo

Famous Actors Al Pacino Biography
Arguably the most exciting actor of his generation, Al Pacino dropped out of The School of Performing Arts at the age of 17 to pursue a career on the boards in earnest. Pacino traded the South Bronx of his childhood for the bohemian life of Greenwich Village in the late 1950s and 60s. Pacino entertained family and friends from an early age with on-target mimicry, such as Ray Milland looking for the hidden bottle in "The Lost Weekend. Pacino formally studied at HB Studio and apprenticed at such avant-garde off-off-Broadway venues as Elaine Stewart's Cafe LaMama and Julian Beck and Judith Malina's Living Theatre before training at the Actors Studio under Lee Strasberg and acquiring the "Method" acting intensity that propelled him to stardom. Pacino first made his mark with an OBIE-winning performance as Murph, one of two men terrorizing an Indian (John Cazale) in Israel Horovitz's The Indian Wants the Bronx (1968). The following year Pacino won his first Tony Award playing Bickham, a drug-addled psychotic, in Don Petersen's Does the Tiger Wear a Necktie?

After making his feature debut in Me, Natalie (1969), Pacino portrayed his first leading role (another drug addict) in Panic in Needle Park (1971). Pacino's terrific performance in this quirky picture that helped director Francis Ford Coppola persuade an extremely skeptical Paramount to accept him as Michael Corleone in The Godfather (1972). In retrospect, could anyone else have played what is tantamount to the greatest role of modern American cinema?

Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro may have earned Oscars for their work as Vito Corleone in the original and its equally compelling sequel, The Godfather, Part II (1974), but it was Pacino's Michael that dominated the two movies. Pacino's Michael matured from a cherubic war hero to the steely-eyed man who coolly ordered executions, including that of his own brother Fredo (Cazale). He was the right actor at the right time to play the lonely tyrant, and his finely calibrated, dark volatility perfectly embodied the alienation and moral tumult of the decade.

Filmography
Insomnia (2002)
Simone (2002)
Chinese Coffee (2000)
The Insider (1999)
Any Given Sunday (1999)
Donnie Brasco (1997)
The Devil's Advocate (1997)
Pitch (1997)
Looking for Richard (1996)
City Hall (1996)
Heat (1995)
Two Bits (1994)
Jonas in the Desert (1994)
Carlito's Way (1993)
Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
Scent of a Woman (1992)
Frankie and Johnny (1991)
Madonna: Truth or Dare (1991)
Dick Tracy (1990)
The Godfather Part III (1990)
Sea of Love (1989)
Revolution (1985)
Scarface (1983)
Author! Author! (1982)
The Godfather 1902-1959: The Complete Epic (1981)
Cruising (1980)
And Justice for All (1979)
Bobby Deerfield (1977)
The Godfather Saga (1977)
America at the Movies (1976)
Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
The Godfather Part II (1974)
Scarecrow (1973)
Serpico (1973)
The Godfather (1972)
The Panic in Needle Park (1971)
Me, Natalie (1969)

Awards:
1968: Obie: Best Actor, The Indian Wants the Bronx
1969: Tony: Best Supporting Actor in a Play, Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?
1969: Drama Desk: Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?
1969: Theater World: Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?
1972: National Board of Review: Best Supporting Actor, The Godfather
1972: National Society of Film Critics: Best Actor, The Godfather
1973: National Board of Review: Best Supporting Actor, Serpico
1973: Golden Globe: Best Actor in a Motion Picture (Drama), Serpico
1974: BAFTA: Best Actor, The Godfather - Part II
1975: Los Angeles Film Critics: Best Actor, Dog Day Afternoon
1975: BAFTA: Best Actor, Dog Day Afternoon
1977: Tony: Best Actor in a Play, The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel
1992: Golden Globe: Best Actor in a Motion Picture (Drama), Scent of a Woman
1992: Oscar: Best Actor, Scent of a Woman
1996: Independent Feature Project: Gotham Award, Lifetime Achievement
1996: Directors Guild of America: Documentary Direction, Looking for Richard
1997: Boston Society of Film Critics: Best Actor, Donnie Brasco
2000: Film Society of Lincoln Center: Career Achievement Award
2000:Hollywood Foreign Press Association: Cecil B. DeMille Award

Factoids:
His performance in Panic in Needle Park helped director Francis Ford Coppola persuade Paramount Studios to accept Pacino as Michael Corleone (1971)

Education:
High School for the Performing Arts, New York; left before graduating
HB Studio, New York; studied with Charles Laughton
Actors Studio, New York