Description
MICHELE PLACIDO BIOGRAPHY :
Michele Placido (born 19 May 1946) is an Italian actor and director. He is best known for the role of Corrado Cattani in the TV series La piovra.
Life and career
Placido was born at Ascoli Satriano, into a poor family from Rionero in Vulture, Basilicata; he is a descendant of the known brigand Carmine Crocco. Placido had a number of jobs since his youth. He studied acting at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome, and with Silvio D’Amico at the Academy of Dramatic Arts. He made his debut as an actor in the play Midsummer Night’s Dream in 1969. Two years later he started film work under directors such as Luigi Comencini, Mario Monicelli, Salvatore Samperi, Damiano Damiani, Pasquale Squitieri, Francesco Rosi, Walerian Borowczyk, Marco Bellocchio, Paolo Cavara and Carlo Lizzani. His first success came with the role of soldier Paolo Passeri in Marcia trionfale (1976, directed by Bellocchio), for which he won a David di Donatello. Two years later he won the Silver Bear for Best Actor award at the 29th Berlin International Film Festival for his role of the homosexual worker in ironical melodrama Ernesto (1978, by Samperi). He appeared in several TV movies in the 1970s, but 1983 marked the beginning of his greatest television popularity when he played the lead as a police inspector investigating the Mafia in Damiano Damiani’s TV series La piovra. He went on to play the same part in the subsequent three series, until his character’s assassination. Afterwards he would appear as a law enforcement official in a number of other films and TV productions dealing with organized crime, including a semi-biographical movie about Giovanni Falcone, where he acted as the titular judge. In 2008, in a reversal of roles, he portrayed longtime Mafia boss Bernardo Provenzano in the TV movie L’ultimo padrino. A recognizable role to US audiences is that of an Italian businessman in the 1988 comedy Big Business. Until a divorce in 1994, he was married to actress Simonetta Stefanelli. Their daughter Violante Placido is also an actress. In 2012 he married actress Federica Vincenti (born 8 November 1983) after over 10 years of dating. The couple divorced in December 2017.
Life and career
Placido was born at Ascoli Satriano, into a poor family from Rionero in Vulture, Basilicata; he is a descendant of the known brigand Carmine Crocco. Placido had a number of jobs since his youth. He studied acting at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome, and with Silvio D’Amico at the Academy of Dramatic Arts. He made his debut as an actor in the play Midsummer Night’s Dream in 1969. Two years later he started film work under directors such as Luigi Comencini, Mario Monicelli, Salvatore Samperi, Damiano Damiani, Pasquale Squitieri, Francesco Rosi, Walerian Borowczyk, Marco Bellocchio, Paolo Cavara and Carlo Lizzani. His first success came with the role of soldier Paolo Passeri in Marcia trionfale (1976, directed by Bellocchio), for which he won a David di Donatello. Two years later he won the Silver Bear for Best Actor award at the 29th Berlin International Film Festival for his role of the homosexual worker in ironical melodrama Ernesto (1978, by Samperi). He appeared in several TV movies in the 1970s, but 1983 marked the beginning of his greatest television popularity when he played the lead as a police inspector investigating the Mafia in Damiano Damiani’s TV series La piovra. He went on to play the same part in the subsequent three series, until his character’s assassination. Afterwards he would appear as a law enforcement official in a number of other films and TV productions dealing with organized crime, including a semi-biographical movie about Giovanni Falcone, where he acted as the titular judge. In 2008, in a reversal of roles, he portrayed longtime Mafia boss Bernardo Provenzano in the TV movie L’ultimo padrino. A recognizable role to US audiences is that of an Italian businessman in the 1988 comedy Big Business. Until a divorce in 1994, he was married to actress Simonetta Stefanelli. Their daughter Violante Placido is also an actress. In 2012 he married actress Federica Vincenti (born 8 November 1983) after over 10 years of dating. The couple divorced in December 2017.
MARCO RISI BIOGRAPHY :
Marco Risi (born 4 June 1951) is an Italian film director, screenwriter, film producer and cinematographer. Born in Milan, he is son of director Dino Risi. After graduating from Liceo Scientifico, Risi joined the faculty of philosophy, but abandoned his studies after two years. He began his career as an assistant of his uncle, Nelo Risi, for A Season in Hell (1971) and thereafter for directors such as Duccio Tessari, Steno, Alberto Sordi. He also collaborated with some scripts for films directed by his father. He made his directorial debut in 1977, with the RAI television documentary Appunti su Hollywood. After three quite successful comedy films, since 1987 Risi’s cinema focused into more complex social and political issues, such as the military service seen as a traumatic experience (Soldati – 365 all’alba), the juvenile delinquency in and out of prison (Mery per sempre and Ragazzi fuori), the crash of Itavia Flight 870 (Il muro di Gomma), the gang rape phenomenon (Il branco) and the murder of journalist Giancarlo Siani (Fort Apache Napoli). In 1989 Risi’s Mery per sempre won the Special Grand Prize of the Jury at the Montréal World Film Festival. For his 1990 film Ragazzi fuori Risi won the David di Donatello Award for Best Director and a Silver Osella for Best Cinematography at the 47th Venice International Film Festival. In 1991 Risi started, together with Maurizio Tedesco, a film production company, “Sorpasso Film”. In 1998 he won the Nastro d’Argento for Best Producer for Ferzan Özpetek’s Hamam.
