Stefano Rulli

Highest Rated: 94% The Best of Youth (2002)

Lowest Rated: 53% Crime Novel (2005)

Birthday: Oct 3, 1949

Birthplace: Rome, Italy

Five-time David di Donatello Award-winner Stefano Rulli has earned acclaim for his cleverly crafted crime capers as well as his documentary films. As a young man, Rulli began his career as a film critic, writing for a string of Italian movie magazines. He switched from criticism to production in 1975, when he collaborated with fellow first-time filmmaker Sandro Petraglia on the documentary "Fit to Be Untied" ("Matti da slegare"), which won acclaim at the Berlin International Film Festival. The two have since become constant collaborators. Beginning with the documentary TV series "The Cinema Machine" ("La machina cinema"), the pair tackled television. Rulli spent much of the 1980s and the first half of the 1990s penning a string of Italian TV miniseries, many of which Petraglia worked on. In 1991, the pair won their first David di Donatello Award for co-writing "Il portaborse," a drama about a corrupt young minister. They'd go on to share this honor three more times, winning for the family saga "The Best of Youth," the Mafia drama "Romanzo criminale," and the family-centered dramedy "My Brother is an Only Child." Rulli also earned a Donatello for directing the 2004 deeply personal documentary "Un silenzio particolare," which co-starred his wife, Italian journalist Clara Sereni. The doc also won the Best Documentary award at the 2005 Vancouver International Film Festival. Rulli continues to prove most prolific as a screenwriter, having already penned more than 40 produced screenplays.