Al Pacino, Actor



Alfredo James Pacino was born on April 25, 1940 in New York. His parents, Rose and Salvatore, divorced when he was very young and he went with his mother to live with his Sicilian-born grandparents. The young Al spent time acting out scenes and mimicking character’s voices from his favourite films. Whilst at school, he took part in several plays, which was the only part of his education he was enthusiastic about. He dropped out of school at seventeen and worked in a series of menial jobs to finance his study of acting.

His career began on the stage and in 1966 was accepted to study at The Actor’s Studio under Lee Strasberg. In 1968, he appeared in a play by Israel Horovitz called ‘The Indian Wants the Bronx’ and won an Obie award. His movie debut was the following year in ‘Me, Natalie’. When he was cast in ‘The Godfather’ in 1972, he was still relatively unknown, though the film changed that and he received the first of many Oscar nominations.

Many critically acclaimed roles followed, including ‘Serpico’ in 1973 and ‘Scarface’ in 1983 and he finally claimed his Best Actor Oscar in 1992 for ‘Scent of a Woman’. He is one of only a handful of actors who have won a Tony award, an Emmy, and an Oscar.

He has never been married, but has a daughter from his relationship with acting coach Jan Tarrant and a son and daughter- twins-with actress Beverley D’Angelo. He has also had relationships with actresses Jill Clayburgh and Diane Keaton.

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