Date of birth 25 April, 1940. Birth place New York, USA . Birth name Alfredo James Pacino Height 5' 6 " (168 cm)
Al Pacino is an Oscar wining American actor who has played many Iconic characters and is still competing in the Hollywood industry.
Alfredo James Pacino is an American born actor who has been stunning his way through for the past four decades in the American film industry. Pacino has won many awards for his daring performances in movies like ‘Godfather I & II’, ‘Scarface’ and ‘Scent of a woman’. Pacino was ranked No. 04 in Empire magazine's The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Timelist, and also was top of the list in the Channel 4 poll in UK. Pacino was born in 1940 to Italian American parents in New York. Later he went to live with his maternal grandparents who originated from Corleone, Sicily.
Pacino is one of the few actors in his time who believed in method acting. He was influenced into this style of acting by his guru Lee Strasberg, who starred with him in ‘Godfather II’. Pacino started his acting career by doing many stage plays which to this date he continues. He started wining awards for his stage performances and appeared in screen for the first time ever in an episode of the 1968 popular TV series N.Y.P.D. The following year he did his first ever movie, ‘Me, Natalie’, which was not popularly recognized by critics but set a target on Al Pacino for movie makers.
It was in the 70s that the film Industry started to recognize Pacino, where he was given some very controversial but still entertaining roles to play. In 1971 Pacino plays the role of a drug addict in the movie ‘The Panic in Needle park’. His performance in this brought his attention to popular film director Francis Ford Coppola. Coppola chose Pacino for the role of Michael Corleone in the 1972 film ‘Godfather I’, where he was to act alongside Marlon Brando. Pacino won an Academy award for best supporting actor for his role as Michael Corleone. In 1973 he plays a heroic role in ‘Serpico’, for which his performance was listed in AFI’s top hundred heroic roles of all time. During the 70s Pacino was nominated four times for Academy awards for the roles he played in ‘Serpico’, ‘Godfather II’, ‘Dog day Afternoon’ and ‘…. And Justice for all’.
After a bit of a break he gave himself during late 70s and early 80s, Pacino was called in by Brain De Palma to work on ‘Scarface’. Pacino plays the role of a Cuban drug lord/gangster who comes into America to earn his ground. He stars with Michelle Pfeiffer and Steven Bauer and was nominated for a Golden Gold Award for his performance. Throughout the 80s Pacino did many movies and was also taking his Stage acting very seriously and continuously appeared in many. It was not until 1990 that he was nominated again for an Oscar for his role in ‘Dick Tracy’. He worked with Coppola again in ‘Godfather III’, on his most famous character Michael Corleone, after which he played the role of a blind retired Colonel in the 1992 film ‘Scent of a Woman’. His performance earned him the Oscar that he had been waiting for. His performance in ‘Glengarry Glen Ross’ got him nominated for best supporting actor in the same year, which made him the first ever actor to nominated for two Oscars in the same year.
In 1995, Pacino starred with his fellow film icon Robert De Niro in Michael Mann’s ‘Heat’. The film was reviewed as a great hit and was a long awaited treat to the audience to see both Pacino and De Niro on the same screen for the first time ever. (they both appeared in ‘Godfather II’, but not in the same screen) Their next appearance together on screen is predicted to be released in 2008. Another very stunning role that Pacino was applauded for was playing Satan in ‘The Devil’s Advocate’. Pacino could be considered as a heir to Marlon Brando’s throne along with De Niro.
