Paul Giamatti

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Paul Giamatti
Paul Giamatti 2010 TIFF.jpg
Giamatti at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival
Born
Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti

(1967-06-06) June 6, 1967 (age 54)
New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.
Alma materYale University (BA, MFA)
OccupationActor, producer
Years active1989–present
Spouse(s)
Elizabeth Cohen
​
(m. 1997)​
Children1
Parent(s)A. Bartlett Giamatti (father)
RelativesMarcus Giamatti (brother)

Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti (/ˌdʒiːəˈmɑːti/; born June 6, 1967) is an American actor and producer. He first garnered attention for his breakout role in Private Parts (1997) as Kenny "Pig Vomit" Rushton, which led to his playing more supporting roles such as Sergeant William Hill in Saving Private Ryan (1998), Bob Zmuda in Man on the Moon (1999), John Maxwell in Big Momma's House (2000), and Marty Wolf in Big Fat Liar (2002).

He won acclaim for his leading roles as Harvey Pekar in American Splendor (2003), Miles Raymond in Sideways (2004), Mike Flaherty in Win Win (2011), and Richard in Private Life (2018), while continuing to play supporting roles such as Joe Gould in Cinderella Man (2005), which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, Chief Inspector Uhl in The Illusionist (2006), Karl Hertz in Shoot 'Em Up (2007), Nicholas "Nick" Claus in Fred Claus (2007), Tom Duffy in The Ides of March (2011), Theophilus Freeman in 12 Years a Slave (2013), Ralph in Saving Mr. Banks (2013), Eugene Landy in Love & Mercy (2014), Dr. Lawrence Hayes in San Andreas (2015) and Jerry Heller in Straight Outta Compton (2015).

He played the titular character in the HBO miniseries John Adams (2008), which earned him a Golden Globe Award, a Primetime Emmy Award and Screen Actors Guild Award. He stars as U.S. Attorney Chuck Rhoades Jr. in the Showtime television series Billions (2016–present).

Early life[]

Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti was born June 6, 1967, in New Haven, Connecticut, the youngest of three children. His father, Angelo Bartlett Giamatti, was a Yale University professor who later became president of the university and commissioner of Major League Baseball. His mother, Toni Marilyn Giamatti (née Smith), was a homemaker and English teacher who taught at Hopkins School and had also previously acted.[1][2] His paternal grandfather's family were Italian emigrants from Telese Terme; the family surname was originally spelled "Giammattei" (Italian pronunciation: [dʒammatˈtɛi]) before immigrating to the United States.[3] Giamatti's other ancestries are German, Dutch, English, French, Irish, and Scottish.[4] His paternal grandmother had deep roots in New England, dating back to the colonial era.[5] Giamatti's brother, Marcus, is also an actor, and his sister, Elena, is a jewelry designer.

Giamatti was first educated at The Foote School and later graduated from Choate Rosemary Hall in 1985. He attended Yale, where he was active in the undergraduate theater scene and working with fellow actors and Yale students Ron Livingston and Edward Norton. He graduated in 1989 with a bachelor's degree in English, and went on to earn a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Yale School of Drama, where he studied with Earle R. Gister. He performed in numerous theatrical productions, including Broadway and a stint from 1989 to 1992 with Seattle's Annex Theater,[6] before appearing in some small television and film roles in the early 1990s.

Career[]

In 1997, Giamatti landed in his first high-profile role as Kenny "Pig Vomit" Rushton in the film adaptation of Howard Stern's Private Parts. Stern praised Giamatti's performance often on his radio program, calling for him to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. In 1998, Giamatti appeared in a number of supporting roles in the big-budget films, The Truman Show, Saving Private Ryan and The Negotiator. In 1999, he played Bob Zmuda and Tony Clifton in Miloš Forman's Andy Kaufman biopic, Man on the Moon. Giamatti continued working steadily during the early 2000s by appearing in major studio releases including Big Momma's House, Planet of the Apes and Big Fat Liar.

In 2003, Giamatti began to earn critical acclaim after his lead role in the film American Splendor. In 2004, Giamatti gained mainstream recognition and fame with the independent romantic comedy Sideways. His portrayal of a depressed writer vacationing in the Santa Barbara wine country garnered him a Golden Globe nomination and an Independent Spirit Award and he was named Best Actor in a Leading Role by several significant film critics groups (New York, Chicago, Toronto, San Francisco, Online Film Critics). Following the commercial success of Sideways, Giamatti appeared in Cinderella Man, for which he earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He was nominated for a Golden Globe and won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture. In 2006, Giamatti was the lead in M. Night Shyamalan's Lady in the Water, a supernatural thriller, followed by the animated film The Ant Bully, and Neil Burger's drama The Illusionist co-starring Edward Norton.

Giamatti had his first major role in an action movie in the 2007 film Shoot 'Em Up, while also starring in The Nanny Diaries and Fred Claus. In 2008, Giamatti received an Emmy Award[7] for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for his title performance in the 2008 HBO miniseries John Adams, as well as his first Golden Globe Award[8] for Best Actor - Miniseries or Television Film, and also earned a Screen Actors Guild award. That same year, he starred in the independent film Pretty Bird, which is a fictionalized retelling about the drama behind the invention of a rocketbelt.[9]

Giamatti received his second Golden Globe[10] win for Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy for his role in the 2010 film, Barney's Version. Giamatti starred as the lead in the comedy-drama film Win Win, which earned positive reviews from critics.[11] The same year he had small roles in Ironclad, The Hangover Part II and The Ides of March.

In 2012, Giamatti became the voiceover actor for Liberty Mutual insurance commercials.[12] He was the narrator for the PBS Nature episode An Original DUCKumentary.[13] Giamatti produced and starred in John Dies at the End, which is based on the book of the same name. He also had roles in the films Rock of Ages and Cosmopolis.

In 2013, Giamatti returned to his alma mater, Yale University, to perform the title role in Shakespeare's Hamlet, for which he won rave reviews in a sold-out, modern dress stage production of the play at the Yale Repertory Theatre, in New Haven.[14] He also had supporting roles in several films, including the animated Turbo and The Congress, as well as Parkland, Saving Mr. Banks, and the critically acclaimed 12 Years a Slave.[15][16] In addition, Giamatti played the role of New Yorker Harold Levinson, the brother of Cora, the Countess of Grantham (Elizabeth McGovern), in the 2013 Christmas special of the period drama, ITV Studios/Carnival Films television series, Downton Abbey.[17]

In 2014, Giamatti played villain The Rhino in The Amazing Spider-Man 2.[18] Also in 2014, Giamatti portrayed psychologist Eugene Landy in the Brian Wilson biopic Love & Mercy. In 2015, Giamatti portrayed N.W.A manager Jerry Heller in the biographical drama Straight Outta Compton. He also played a scientist in the disaster film San Andreas.[citation needed]

In 2016, Giamatti began appearing in commercials for Prism TV, the IPTV service owned by CenturyLink; the spots are the first-ever on-camera TV commercial appearances for Giamatti.[19]

Giamatti plays a lead role in the Showtime series Billions, portraying the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. The show, debuting in 2016, is loosely based on a real event.[20]

Wax Paul Now campaign[]

Giamatti is the subject of the viral "Wax Paul Now" campaign, which pushes for the actor to get a Madame Tussauds wax statue in his likeness, most likely at the New York location.[21] The movement first achieved national prominence when Giamatti appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and discussed the campaign with host Stephen Colbert.[22] After this and subsequent articles in Forbes,[21] Buzzfeed,[23] and The A.V. Club[22] among others, Madame Tussauds New York announced that they would host a party in Giamatti's honor to coincide with the premiere of Billions Season 3 on March 25, 2018, at which the founders of the Wax Paul Now movement would speak.[24] Tussauds announced that if a Change.org petition garnered 500,000 signatures in the nine days leading up to the party, they would agree to create the wax statue of Giamatti.[24] As the petition was unable to garner enough signatures in time, the Wax Paul Now campaign is still ongoing.[25] A short film chronicling the campaign premiered at the Virginia Film Festival in October 2019.[26]

Personal life[]

Giamatti resides in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York[27] and was married to Elizabeth Cohen from 1997 to an undisclosed date in the 2000s. "My wife is Jewish. And I'm fine with my son being raised as a Jew".[28]

Giamatti is an atheist, although for him "religion features more now in my life than it did when I was a kid".[29]

Filmography[]

Film[]

Year Title Role Director Notes
1989 I, Madman Detective who answers phone call Tibor Takács Uncredited
1991 Past Midnight Larry Canipe Jan Eliasberg
1992 Singles Kissing Man Cameron Crowe
1995 Mighty Aphrodite Extras Guild Researcher Woody Allen
1995 Sabrina Scott Sydney Pollack
1996 Breathing Room George Jon Sherman
1996 Before and After Member of the Jury Barbet Schroeder Uncredited
1997 Arresting Gena Detective Wilson Hannah Weyer
1997 Donnie Brasco FBI Technician Mike Newell
1997 Private Parts Kenny "Pig Vomit" Rushton Betty Thomas
1997 My Best Friend's Wedding Richard the Bellman P.J. Hogan
1997 Deconstructing Harry Professor Abbot Woody Allen
1997 A Further Gesture Hotel Clerk Robert Dornhelm
1998 The Truman Show Control Room Director Peter Weir
1998 Dr. Dolittle Blaine Hammersmith Betty Thomas Uncredited
1998 Saving Private Ryan Sergeant William Hill Steven Spielberg
1998 The Negotiator Rudy Timmons F. Gary Gray
1998 Safe Men Veal Chop John Hamburg
1999 Cradle Will Rock Carlo Tim Robbins
1999 Man on the Moon Bob Zmuda Miloš Forman
2000 Big Momma's House John Maxwell Raja Gosnell
2000 Duets Todd Woods Bruce Paltrow
2001 Storytelling Toby Oxman Todd Solondz Segment: "Non-Fiction"
2001 Planet of the Apes Limbo Tim Burton
2002 Big Fat Liar Marty Wolf Shawn Levy
2002 Thunderpants Johnson J. Johnson Pete Hewitt
2003 American Splendor Harvey Pekar Shari Springer Berman
Robert Pulcini
2003 Paycheck Shorty John Woo
2003 Confidence Gordo James Foley
2004 Sideways Miles Raymond Alexander Payne
2005 Robots Tim the Gate Guard Chris Wedge Voice
2005 The Fan and the Flower Narrator Bill Plympton Voice
Short film
2005 Cinderella Man Joe Gould Ron Howard
2006 Asterix and the Vikings Asterix Stefan Fjeldmark
Jesper Møller		 English dub
2006 The Hawk Is Dying George Gattling Julian Goldberger
2006 The Illusionist Chief Inspector Uhl Neil Burger
2006 Lady in the Water Cleveland Heep M. Night Shyamalan
2006 The Ant Bully Stan Beals John A. Davis Voice
2007 The Nanny Diaries Mr. X Shari Springer Berman
Robert Pulcini
2007 Shoot 'Em Up Karl Hertz Michael Davis
2007 Too Loud a Solitude Hanta Genevieve Anderson Voice
2007 Fred Claus Nicholas "Nick" Claus David Dobkin
2008 Pretty Bird Rick Paul Schneider Also producer
2009 Duplicity Richard "Dick" Garsik Tony Gilroy
2009 Cold Souls Paul Sophie Barthes
2009 The Haunted World of El Superbeasto Dr. Satan/Steve Wachowski Rob Zombie Voice
2009 The Last Station Vladimir Chertkov Michael Hoffman
2010 Barney's Version Barney Panofsky Richard J. Lewis
2011 Win Win Mike Flaherty Tom McCarthy
2011 Ironclad King John Jonathan English
2011 The Hangover Part II Kingsley / Detective Peters Todd Phillips
2011 The Ides of March Tom Duffy George Clooney
2012 Rock of Ages Paul Gill Adam Shankman
2012 Cosmopolis Benno Levin David Cronenberg
2012 John Dies at the End Arnie Blondestone Don Coscarelli Also producer
2013 Turbo Chet David Soren Voice
2013 The Congress Dr. Baker Ari Folman
2013 Romeo & Juliet Friar Laurence Carlo Carlei
2013 Parkland Abraham Zapruder Peter Landesman
2013 12 Years a Slave Theophilus Freeman Steve McQueen
2013 All Is Bright Dennis Phil Morrison Also producer
2013 Saving Mr. Banks Ralph John Lee Hancock
2014 Ernest & Celestine Rat Judge Stéphane Aubier
Vincent Patar
Benjamin Renner		 English dub
2014 River of Fundament Ptah-Nem-Hotep Matthew Barney
2014 The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Aleksei Sytsevich / Rhino Marc Webb
2014 Madame Bovary Monsieur Homais Sophie Barthes
2015 Giant Sloth Gordon Boonewell Michael Konyves Voice
Short film
2015 Love & Mercy Dr. Eugene Landy Bill Pohlad
2015 The Little Prince The Academy Teacher Mark Osborne Voice
2015 San Andreas Dr. Lawrence Hayes Brad Peyton
2015 Straight Outta Compton Jerry Heller F. Gary Gray
2016 Ratchet & Clank Chairman Drek Kevin Munroe Voice
2016 April and the Extraordinary World Pizoni Christian Desmares
Franck Ekinci		 English dub
2016 The Phenom Dr. Mobley Noah Buschel
2016 Morgan Dr. Alan Shapiro Luke Scott
2018 I Think We're Alone Now Patrick Reed Morano
2018 Private Life Richard Tamara Jenkins
2018 The Catcher Was a Spy Samuel Goudsmit Ben Lewin
2018 White Fang Beauty Smith Alexandre Espigares English voice dub
2021 Gunpowder Milkshake Nathan Navot Papushado
2021 Jungle Cruise Nilo Jaume Collet-Serra
TBA A Mouthful of Air Dr. Sylvester Amy Koppelman Post-production

Television[]

Year Title Role Notes
1990 She'll Take Romance Heckler #2 Television film
1994 NYPD Blue Man in Sleeping Bag Episode: "You Bet Your Life"
1995 New York News Dr. Wargner Episode: "Past Imperfect"
1996 The Show Jeffrey Roffman Episode: "Pilot"
1998 Homicide: Life on the Street Harry Tjarks Episode: "Pit Bull Sessions"
1998 Tourist Trap Jeremiah Piper Television film
1998 Winchell Herman Kurfeld Television film
1999 American Experience Narrator Voice
Episode: "New York: Part V - Cosmopolis"
2000 If These Walls Could Talk 2 Ted Hedley Television film
2001 King of the Hill Mr. McKay Voice
Episode: "It's Not Easy Being Green"
2003 The Pentagon Papers Anthony Russo Television film
2005 Saturday Night Live Himself (host) Episode: "Paul Giamatti/Ludacris featuring Sum-41"
2006 The Amazing Screw-On Head Screw-On Head Voice
Pilot
2008 John Adams John Adams 7 episodes
2010 30 Rock Ritchie Episode: "When It Rains, It Pours"
2011 Prohibition Himself Documentary
2011 Too Big to Fail Ben Bernanke Television film
2013 Downton Abbey Harold Levinson Episode: "The London Season"
2014 The Roosevelts: An Intimate History Theodore Roosevelt Voice
Documentary
2014 Hoke Hoke Mosely Pilot; also executive producer
2015 Breakthrough[30] Himself Documentary; also director
Episode: "More Than Human"
2014–2015 Inside Amy Schumer God / Juror #10 2 episodes
2016–present Billions Chuck Rhoades 60 episodes
2016–2017 Outsiders N/A Executive producer
2017 BoJack Horseman Himself as BoJack Voice
Episode: "The Old Sugarman Place"
2017 At Home with Amy Sedaris Mr. Ogilvy Episode: "TGIF"
2018 Nature Narrator Voice
Episode: "Sex, Lies and Butterflies"
2018–2019 Lodge 49 L. Marvin Metz 4 episodes; also executive producer
2020 Rick and Morty Story Lord Voice
Episode: "Never Ricking Morty"
2020 Big Mouth Andrew's Shit Voice
Episode: "Poop Madness"
2021 The Sons of Sam: A Descent Into Darkness Maury Terry Voice
4 episodes

Theatre[]

Year Title Role Notes
1995 Arcadia Ezra Chater Lincoln Center Theater
1995 Racing Demon The Rev. Donald "Streaky" Bacon Lincoln Center Theater
1996 The Blues are Running Pyle/Boo/Johnny Manhattan Theatre Club
1997 The Three Sisters Andrei Prozorov The Roundabout Theatre Company
1999 The Iceman Cometh James Cameron Brooks Atkinson Theatre
2002 The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui Ted Ragg/Prosector/Ignatius Dullfeet National Actors Theatre
2013 Hamlet Prince Hamlet Yale Repertory Theatre

Video games[]

Year Title Role Notes
1996 Ripper Doctor Bud Cable
2016 Ratchet & Clank Chairman Drek Voice

Audio books[]

Year Title
2006 A Scanner Darkly
2016 Skeleton Crew
2019

Awards and nominations[]

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Paul Giamatti

References[]

  1. ^ Pringle, Gill (November 27, 2007). "Paul Giamatti: Mr Potato face". The Independent. UK. Archived from the original on November 28, 2007. Retrieved November 27, 2007.
  2. ^ "–Ai. Bartlett Giamatti Marries Ton! Smith". The New York Times. June 19, 1960. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
  3. ^ LaGumina, Salvatore J.; et al. (2000). The Italian American Experience: An Encyclopedia. New York: Garland. pp. 263–264. Angelo Giamattei.
  4. ^ "Paul Giamatti". IMDb. Retrieved July 31, 2017.
  5. ^ Reston, James (1997). Collision at Home Plate: The Lives of Pete Rose and Bart Giamatti. Nebraska: U of Nebraska Press. pp. 15–16. ISBN 0-8032-8964-2.
  6. ^ Wiecking, Steve. Seattle Met magazine. "Worried Man". July 2009 edition. Seattlemet.com Archived November 10, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ "Paul Giamatti Emmy Award Winner". Emmys.com. Retrieved August 3, 2014.
  8. ^ ""John Adams," "30 Rock" big winners at Golden Globes". Reuters. January 12, 2009. Retrieved July 23, 2017.
  9. ^ craveonline (September 7, 2007). "Paul Giamatti's Good Times". Craveonline.com. Archived from the original on April 19, 2012. Retrieved August 3, 2014.
  10. ^ BWW News Desk. "Paul Giamatti Wins Golden Globe for BARNEY'S VERSION". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved July 23, 2017.
  11. ^ "Win Win". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved March 12, 2011.
  12. ^ "Liberty Mutual Press Release". Libertymutualgroup.com. Retrieved January 25, 2014.
  13. ^ "Watch An Original DUCKumentary Online | Full Episode | Nature". PBS. Retrieved January 25, 2014.
  14. ^ "Marshall Fine: Onstage: Paul Giamatti in Hamlet". Huffingtonpost.com. April 10, 2013. Retrieved January 25, 2014.
  15. ^ Kit, Borys (February 23, 2012). "Paul Giamatti, Samuel L. Jackson Join DreamWorks Animation's 'Turbo' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved February 24, 2012.
  16. ^ "ScreenRant". screenrant.com. Retrieved July 26, 2012.
  17. ^ ITV Archived January 4, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
  18. ^ Kit, Borys (January 28, 2013). "Paul Giamatti in Talks to Play The Rhino in 'Spider-Man 2' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on January 28, 2013. Retrieved January 28, 2013.
  19. ^ Gianatasio, David (March 1, 2016). "Ad of the Day: Paul Giamatti Battles a Family of Movie Buffs in His First Ads Ever". www.adweek.com. Adweek. Retrieved May 8, 2016.
  20. ^ Orden, Erica. "Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara's Office Gets Hollywood Treatment in Showtime Series". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved April 11, 2016.
  21. ^ Jump up to: a b King, Darryn. "New Yorkers Want A Paul Giamatti Wax Figure At Madame Tussauds". Forbes. Retrieved January 1, 2019.
  22. ^ Jump up to: a b "Stephen Colbert and Paul Giamatti Bring the Saga". The A.V. Club.
  23. ^ Wax For Paul (July 26, 2017). "People Are Demanding Paul Giamatti Get The Wax Figure He Deserves". Buzzfeed.com. Retrieved January 1, 2019.
  24. ^ Jump up to: a b "Gallery of Giamatti and Billion Viewing Party". www.madametussauds.com. Retrieved January 1, 2019.
  25. ^ King, Darryn (March 26, 2018). "Night of a Thousand Paul Giamattis". Vulture.
  26. ^ https://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2019/11/its-time-to-wax-paul-now
  27. ^ Hale, Mike. "Film", The New York Times. July 29, 2007. Retrieved November 29, 2007.
  28. ^ Lipworth, Elaine (May 20, 2011). "Paul Giamatti: My family values". Retrieved July 31, 2017 – via The Guardian.
  29. ^ Lipworth, Elaine (May 20, 2011). "Paul Giamatti: My family values". Retrieved July 31, 2017 – via The Guardian. In this interview he declares that in due time he will tell his son about atheism, because "There is a great tradition of Jewish atheism, there are no better atheists in the world than Jews".
  30. ^ Jon Weisman. "Paul Giamatti on Nat Geo's 'Breakthrough': Actor Embraces Inner Geek - Variety". Variety.

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