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Paul Giamatti

Birthday: Jun 6, 1967

Place of Birth: New Haven, Connecticut, USA

Bio: The balding, likeable, nervous-looking character actor Paul Giamatti is the son of the author, Yale president, and major league baseball commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti. After earning his M.F.A. in Drama from Yale, the younger Giamatti got started on his acting career with small film parts and TV guest spots. He quickly became a recognizable face but his name was not yet well-known in Hollywood, while on-stage he appeared in lead roles for Broadway productions of The Three Sisters and The Iceman Cometh. Giamatti's film breakthrough came in 1997 with the role of media executive Kenny (aka "Pig Vomit") in the Howard Stern movie Private Parts. In his next few films, he played small yet funny parts like the inept mob henchman in Safe Men, the slave-peddling ape in Planet of the Apes, and the bellboy in My Best Friend's Wedding. He then got starring roles in the HBO movies Winchell (opposite fellow character actor Stanley Tucci) and If These Walls Could Talk 2. Giamatti seemed to get good parts in both independent films (Storytelling, Confidence) and in major studio blockbusters (Big Momma's House, Big Fat Liar). After playing the real-life eccentric Bob Zmuda in Milos Forman's Man on the Moon, he got his first major starring role in 2003 as the leading real-life eccentric Harvey Pekar in American Splendor, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. The same year he starred in the FX original movie The Pentagon Papers with James Spader.Many thought Giamatti was more than deserving of an Academy Award nomination for his role in American Splendor, but when the nods were announced his name was absent. Nonetheless, he received even more raves for his next film. As the wine-loving love-lorn lead in Sideways, Giamatti wowed critics and increased his popularity with audiences exponentially. However, despite the overwhelming accolades and multiple Oscar nominations for the film, Giamatti was again ignored by the Academy.Next up, Giamatti returned to supporting work with a role in director Ron Howard's acclaimed 2005 biopic of boxer Jim Braddock, Cinderella Man. Playing the concerned, passionate manager to Russell Crowe's headstrong underdog, Giamatti finally received some belated Academy attention, even if he lost the 2005 Best Supporting Actor prize to popular favorite George Clooney. No matter, since Giamatti was already at work on his next leading man project in M. Night Shyamalan's Lady in the Water. Of course his role as the befuddled apartment complex supervisor attempting to protect a mysterious woman who emerges from the swimming pool in Shyamalan's eagerly-anticipated fairy-tale thriller still only seemed like the beginning of an incredibly productive period that continued to capitalize on Giamatti's post-Sideways success, and with an exhausting six films featuring the actor scheduled for release in 2006 alone, the actor previously content essaying supporting roles found himself increasingly gravitating towards the status of leading man. Still, it wasn't all big budget blockbusters for the screen's most well-known wine connisseur, and with a prominant role as an obsessive falconer in writer/director Julian Goldberger's 2006 adaptation of author Harry Crews 1973 novel The Hawk is Dying, Giamatti delivered the distinct message that his career was still very much about the creativity afforded to actors and not necessarily the financial payoff. An additional role in the romantic fantasy adventure The Illusionist that same year found Giamatti taking a trip back to turn-of-the-century Vienna to play a conflicted police inspector whose outward obligations to the aristocracy belie his growing suspicions that they may be covering up an especially confounding murder. With a voice that was equally as recognizable as his distinctive face, Giamatti began lending his vocal chords to a variety of animated projects including Robots, The Ant Bully, The Haunted World of El Superbeasto and the curiously titled Amazing Screw-on Head as well. Unrelenting in the coming years, Giamatti would continue to take on a wide range of memorable character roles in interesting films like Shoot Em Up, John Adams, Cold Souls, The Last Station, The Hangover Part II, The Ides of March and Rock of Ages. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

Filmography

Year	Title	Credit
2015	The Little Prince	Actor
2014	The Amazing Spider-Man 2	The Rhino
2013	Saving Mr. Banks	Ralph
2013	John Dies at the End	Arnie Blondestone
2013	The Congress	Actor
2013	Parkland	Actor
2013	Romeo and Juliet	Friar Laurence
2013	Turbo: An IMAX Experience	Actor
2013	Almost Christmas	Actor
2013	Twelve Years a Slave	Freeman
2013	Turbo	Actor
2012	Love, Marilyn	Actor
2012	Cosmopolis	Benno Levin
2012	Rock of Ages: Extended Edition	Actor
2012	Rock of Ages	Paul Gill
2011	Win Win	Mike Flaherty
2011	Too Big to Fail	Ben Bernanke
2011	Barney's Version	Barney Panofsky
2011	Bubba Nosferatu and the Curse of the She-Vampires	Actor
2011	The Ides of March	Tom Duffy
2011	Ironclad	King John
2011	The Hangover Part II	Kingsley
2010	The Goon	Producer
2009	The Haunted World of El Superbeasto	Dr. Satan
2009	The Last Station	Vladimir Chertkov
2009	Cold Souls	Paul Giamatti
2009	Duplicity	Richard 'Dick' Garsik
2008	Pretty Bird	Rick
2007	Trumbo	Actor
2007	The Nanny Diaries	Mr. X
2007	Fred Claus	Nick (Santa) Claus
2007	Shoot 'Em Up	Hertz
2006	The Amazing Screw-On Head	Screw-On Head
2006	The Ant Bully	Stan Beals
2006	The Illusionist	Chief Inspector Uhl
2006	Lady in the Water	Cleveland Heep
2005	The Hawk Is Dying	George Gattling
2005	Cinderella Man	Joe Gould
2005	Robots	Director
2004	Sideways	Miles Raymond
2003	American Splendor	Harvey Pekar
2003	Paycheck	Shorty
2003	Confidence	Gordo
2003	The Pentagon Papers	Anthony Russo
2002	Thunderpants	Johnson J. Johnson
2002	Big Fat Liar	Marty Wolf
2001	Storytelling	Toby Oxman
2001	Planet of the Apes	Limbo
2000	Duets	Todd Woods
2000	If These Walls Could Talk 2	Ted
2000	Big Momma's House	John
1999	Cradle Will Rock	Carlo
1999	Man on the Moon	Bob Zmuda
1998	Safe Men	Veal Chop
1998	Winchell	Herman Klurfeld
1998	Saving Private Ryan	Sergeant Hill
1998	Tourist Trap	Actor
1998	The Negotiator	Rudy
1998	The Truman Show	Control Room Director
1997	My Best Friend's Wedding	Richard
1997	Donnie Brasco	FBI Worker
1997	Deconstructing Harry	Actor
1997	Private Parts	Kenny
1995	Mighty Aphrodite	Extras Guild Researcher
1995	Sabrina	Scott
1992	Singles	Kissing Man
1992	Past Midnight	Larry Canipe