Al Pacino

 Al Pacino was born in New York on April 25th, 1940. He was the only child of Salvatore and Rose Pacino, who divorced when Al was just two years old. After that he lived with his mother and grandparents in the Bronx. At school, he enjoyed appearing in school plays but did not consider acting as a profession until, at age 14, he saw Chekov's "The Seagull" performed at the Elsmere Theatre in the South Bronx. This led to him enrolling at the prestigious High School of the Performing Arts but, flunking everything but English, he eventually, at 17, dropped out.He drifted through a variety of odd jobs but saved his money and eventually had enough to enroll at the Herbert Berghof Studio. There he trained under legendary acting genius Charles Laughton. Pacino's mother died a premature death in 1962. He was terribly hurt by this and buried his sorrow in hard work to improve his acting skills. Sometimes hard work pays off, and in this case, it did. Pacino landed a spot in the prestigious Actors Studio in 1966.

He appeared opposite James Earl Jones in "The Peace Creeps". His work earned him the Off-Broadway community's Obie for Best Actor for the '67-'68 season.1969 was the breakthrough year for Al Pacino, he finally appeared on Broadway, winning a Tony award for his role as a psychotic junkie in "Does The Tiger Wear A Necktie?". The young actor felt ready for a try at a film career.It was his ability to convincingly portray addiction that brought him into movies. He played a junkie in his first film, 1969's ME, NATALIE and again in 1971's THE PANIC IN NEEDLE PARK. Then Pacino was able to take his career to the next level. His performance in the latter film brought him to the attention of Francis Ford Coppola who cast him as Michael Corleone in THE GODFATHER. This was not a popular choice, as most of the production team wanted Jack Nicholson to play that part. At first Pacino was not comfortable with the situation, he thought that he was going to be fired. But he is very good as Marlon Brando's initially reluctant heir, charged with the task of legitimising an ugly business. So good, in fact, that he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor.

Pacino would continue to perform at the highest possible level. He was excellent as the incorruptible cop in Sidney Lumet's gritty SERPICO, Oscar nominated for Best Actor. Then he repeated as Corleone in the masterful THE GODFATHER, PART II. The film won four Academy Awards. Pacino was nominated once again for Best Actor and lost again, this time to Art Carney. Then there was 1975's DOG DAY AFTERNOON, again with Lumet as director. He played a bi-sexual, horribly botching a bank robbery he'd hoped would pay for his lover's sex-change operation. Another Oscar nomination, but still no cigar. Watch Pacino's films from the first half of the 70's and be impressed. Pacino was offered the lead in KRAMER VS KRAMER but turned it down, and it went to Dustin Hoffman. Pacino was offered to play the part of Luke Skywalker in STAR WARS, but turned it down and it went to Mark Hamill. What did Pacino do instead?

Following this incredible spate of success, Pacino returned to his first love - the stage. He won his second Tony for "The Basic Training Of Pavlo Hummel", then brushed up his Shakespeare with "Mark Anthony", "Hamlet" and "Othello". Over the years he would return to Shakespeare many times, becoming one of the most perfected Shakespearean actors in America. He performed in "Richard III" to great acclaim and played the powerful role of King Herod in Oscar Wilde's "Salome". When Pacino returned to work in Hollywood he chose intense and controversial parts, which defenitely did not guarantee box office success. Coppola wanted Pacino to work with him again in APOCALYPSE NOW, but Pacino declined. Instead he turned in another Oscar nominated performance as the struggling attorney in Norman Jewison's AND JUSTICE FOR ALL. In 1983, he was a blistering Tony Montana in Brian De Palma's, SCARFACE. The public liked the film, and especially Pacino's energetic performance. It might be the best performance of his career, which is saying a lot. However, the critics did not appreciate the superabundance of foul language and detailed violence. 

The biggest failure of his career was REVULOTION. After that movie Pacino would return to stage work for four years and returned with the superb thriller SEA OF LOVE co-starring Ellen Barkin. He was offered the lead in PRETTY WOMAN but turned it down and instead he played in another romantic drama; FRANKIE AND JOHNNY, opposite Michelle Pfeiffer. Then, finally, came the Oscar, for his performance as the romantic and blind Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade in SCENT OF A WOMAN. He would be nominated for the eighth time the very next year, as a real-estate salesman in Mamet's GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS. More excellence followed. Pacino would establish himself as the greatest gangster film actor of our time alongside Robert De Niro with his tremendous perfrormance as a gangster with a soft heart in De Palma's CARLITO'S WAY. Al Pacino and Robert De Niro then co-starred in Michael Mann's HEAT, although they shared very little screen time. His greatest performance of the decade was opposite Johnny Depp in Mike Newell's DONNIE BRASCO. 
In 1997 he was honored with a star on Hollywood's Walk Of Fame. Pacino is one of the greatest emotional athletes of all time, but this hard process has influenced his private life. He has never married, although he lives with actress Beverly D'Angelo, with whom he has two kids. He has had shorter affairs with Penolpe Ann Miller and Diane Keaton. Pacino demands approximately $10 million per picture.

This biography was written by Erik Stahlberg.