Al Pacino
Alfredo James "Al" Pacino (/pəˈtʃiːnoʊ/; born April 25, 1940) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is well known for playing mobsters, especially Michael Corleone in The Godfather films and Tony Montana in Scarface, and often appeared on the other side of the law—as a police officer, a detective and a lawyer. Pacino won the Academy Award for Best Actor at the 65th Academy Awards for his performance as Frank Slade in Scent of a Woman. Prior to his win he had received seven Oscar nominations, including one that same year. He made his feature film debut in 1969 in the film Me, Natalie in a minor supporting role, before playing the lead role in the 1971 drama The Panic in Needle Park. Pacino’s major breakthrough came in 1972 with the role of Michael Corleone in The Godfather, which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. His other Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actor were for Dick Tracy and Glengarry Glen Ross. Oscar nominations for Best Actor include The Godfather Part II, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon and ...And Justice for All. In addition to a career in film, he has enjoyed a successful career on stage, winning Tony Awards for Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie? (1969) and The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel (1977). A longtime fan of Shakespeare, he made his directorial debut with Looking for Richard, a quasi-documentary on the play Richard III. Pacino has received numerous lifetime achievement awards, including one from the American Film Institute. He is a method actor, taught mainly by Lee Strasberg and Charlie Laughton at the Actors Studio in New York.