Giancarlo Giannini

Born: August 1 1942
Where: La Spezia, Italy

Giannini was nominated for a best actor Oscar for the 1975 war drama Seven Beauties.

He is best known for a series of starring roles, mostly for director Lina Wertmuller including Love and Anarchy, The Seduction of Mimi and Seven Beauties.

He also starred in the original Swept Away - his son Adriano starred opposite Madonna in the critically-derided remake.

He first studied acting at the Academia Nazionale in Rome, and made his screen debut in a small part in Fango sulla metropoli in1965.

As well as the Wertmuller series of movies, he attracted attention in Luchino Visconti's The Innocent in 1976.

He also starred with Candice Bergen in Wertmuller's first English language feature, A Night Full of Rain in 1978.

Appearances in subsequent English language films have been less successful, including the American dramas Fever Pitch and Saving Grace.

In 1995, he fared better with the Keanu Reeves romantic drama A Walk In The Clouds and also appeared in the thriller The Disappearance.

He starred alongside Mira Sorvino and Jeremy Northam in the sci-fi thriller Mimic and played a police officer in Hannibal.

(he has played a cop for both director Ridley Scott (Hannibal) and his brother Tony Scott (Man on Fire).

Recent work includes the Spanish chiller Darkness and Man on Fire opposite Denzel Washington.