Roberto Benigni - Celebrity

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NAME:	Roberto Benigni
PROFILE:	Name: Roberto Benigni Height: 5' 5'' Sex: M Nationality: Italian Birth Date: October 27, 1952 Birth Place: Misericordia, Arezzo, Tuscany, Italy Profession: Actor, writer, director, producer Education: Seminary in Florence, Italy (with plans to become a priest; dropped out when a flood damaged the school) Accounting school in Prato, Italia Husband/Wife: Nicoletta Braschi (actress; Italian; b. August 10 , 1960; married in December 1991) Father: Luigi Benigni (carpenter; was prisoner in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp for two years 1943-1945; Benigni used his memories as basis for Life Is Beautiful) Mother: Isolina Benigni (fabric inspector; b. 1918) Sister: Anna Benigni (teacher; born in 1948), Albertina Benigni (flower shop owner; born in 1947), Bruna Benigni (textile worker; born in 1945) Claim to fame: Earned international acclaim for his comedy-drama La Vita e Bella/Life Is Beautiful; co-wrote, directed and starred; film received seven Oscar nominations (1998) Contact: Click here
GOSSIP:	Benigni, honored with Best Director Oscar for LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL, famously said in 1999, “I feel like diving into this ocean of generosity … I would like to be Jupiter and kidnap everybody and lie down in the firmament making love to everybody.” Italy chose Benigni's PINOCCHIO on Tuesday as its candidate for best foreign language film at next year's Academy Awards. (November 13, 2002) The first actor to win a Worst Actor Razzie for a non-English speaking role. With Benigni in the title role, the classic 19th-century fairy tale PINOCCHIO hits a record number of screens across Italy on Friday and anticipation and national pride have reached fever pitch. (October 8, 2002) Benigni has now put his puckish, high-energy stamp on a figure dear to Italians – Pinocchio; while boldness has been his trademark -- the Holocaust story LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL employed whimsy and comic touches -- Benigni apparently decided to play it safe with PINOCCHIO. (October 5, 2002) Benigni's retelling of the classic fairy tale PINOCCHIO will open Oct. 11 in Italy on a record 860 screens, nearly 30 percent of the country's 3,000 screens. Inspired by Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Peter Sellers, Benigni first gained fame in his native country with his own must-see TV series, sustaining his vast following with several hilarious movie appearances. LA VITA È BELLA. (1997) marks the sixth time one person has received an Oscar nomination for both Best Actor and Best Director. Guido's wife, Dora, in LA VITA È BELLA. (1997) is played by his real-life wife, Nicoletta Braschi. Playing as the Roman taxi driver in NIGHT ON EARTH has an 8-ball as a gearstick knob. In DOWN BY LAW. (1986), Benigni played a character who killed a man using an 8-ball. After his movie LA VITA E' BELLA received seven Academy Award nominations, he met the italian president Oscar L. Scalfaro and, after shaking his hand, said Now I have the Oscar in my hand! On the day the L'Ulivo party won the elections, Benigni jumped on the stage and kissed Veltroni, one of the party components. His father was a prisoner in a Nazi labor camp for two years. Used his father's stories as the basis for his film LA VITA E' BELLA (1997). Dropped out when flood damaged school. MORE ROBERTO BENIGNI TRIVIA
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