Al Pacino

Born: April 25th, 1940
Where: New York, New York

The onetime usher at New York's Carnegie Hall is probably best known for the role of Michael Corleone in The Godfather series.

He was twice Oscar nominated for the part - but eventually landed an Academy Award for best actor for The Scent of a Woman.

Other Oscar-nominated roles include Glengarry Glenn Ross, Dick Tracy, ..And Justice for All, Dog Day Afternoon and Serpico.

However, he also turned down films including Kramer v Kramer, Apocalypse Now, Star Wars and Pretty Woman.

Italian New Yorker Alfredo Jacob Pacino attended The School of Performing Arts in New York City but dropped out at the age of 17.

His off-off-Broadway debut was Hello Out There, which was directed by his best friend Charlie Laughton with whom he remains close: he is currently a consultant for Pacino's Chal (for Charlie and Al) Productions.

Pacino's theatre career blossomed throughout the 60s and he finally made it to off-Broadway in 1968 in The Indian Wants The Bronx, written by Israel Horovitz.

His Broadway debut, Does A Tiger Wear A Necktie?, in 1969 was a huge hit and the same year he made his feature debut in Me, Natalie.

Just one year after his first leading role (in Panic in Needle Park), Pacino earned his first Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his role as Michael Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather.

This marked the true beginning of an enormously successful and high profile career which would endure at such a level for at least the next 30 years.

Only two years later the rising star earned his first Best Actor Oscar nomination for Serpico, directed by Sidney Lumet, but he still kept his feet in theatreland with a role as Richard III in Boston.

In 1974 Pacino became Michael Corleone again in The Godfather Part II, which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. Another Best Actor nomination came his way the following year for Lumet's Dog Day Afternoon.

By 1977 Pacino's private life came under public scrutiny and his heavy drinking habit created a media feeding ground.

Two years later he came across his fourth Best Actor Oscar nomination as a crusading lawyer in ...And Justice For All, and went onto Broadway as Richard III.

Warren Beatty's Dick Tracy was his next vehicle for an Oscar nomination, which was followed by his third and final stint as Michael Corleone in the third instalment of The Godfather.

In 1992 he finally reached the pinnacle of his career. He won a Best Actor Academy Award for his role as a blind veteran hitting the town in Scent Of A Woman.

Carlito's Way followed and Michael Mann's Heat paired Pacino's high-strung police detective opposite De Niro's professional thief, marking their first appearance on screen together.

Former NYC deputy mayor Ken Lipper scripted City Hall, which cast childhood friend Pacino as a compassionate mayor embroiled in a corruption scandal.

The 1990s proved fruitful with Mike Newell's Donnie Brascoe, The Devil's Advocate and Mann's rabble-rouser The Insider with Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday closing the decade.

Pacino's next major role was as the sleep-deprived Detective Will Dormer in the crime thriller feature Insomnia.

This was followed by Hollywood send-up Simone and The Recruit in which he played a manipulative CIA instructor who complicates the life of rising young agent Colin Farrell.

After an appearance in mega-flop Gigli, with the erstwhile collaboration known as "Bennifer" (Ben Affleck and J.Lo), his most recent role is Shylock in the 2004 remake of William Shakespeare's The Merchant Of Venice.