Roberto Benigni

Roberto Benigni

Roberto Remigio Benigni (Italian pronunciation: [roˈbɛrto beˈniɲɲi]; born 27 October 1952) is an Italian actor, comedian, screenwriter and director. He gained International fame for writing, directing and starring in the film Life Is Beautiful (1997), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor at the 71st Oscars Ceremony (the film also won Best Foreign Language Film). Benigni made his acting debut in 1977's Berlinguer, I Love You, which he also wrote, and was directed by Giuseppe Bertolucci. Benigni's directorial debut was the 1983 anthology film Tu mi turbi, which was also the acting debut of his wife, Nicoletta Braschi. In 1986, Benigni made his first English-language film, Down by Law, written and directed by Jim Jarmusch, with whom Benigni would make two more films: Night on Earth (1991) and Coffee and Cigarettes (2003). In 1988, Benigni was acclaimed for the film The Little Devil, which he directed, wrote and starred in. Costarring American actor Walter Matthau and Braschi, the film was shot in alternating takes in both Italian and English. Benigni continued to have success and acclaim as a director with Johnny Stecchino (1991) and The Monster, and portrayed Inspector Clouseau's son in Son of the Pink Panther (1993), an American-Italian co-production filmed in English, directed by Blake Edwards.

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