Biography: Paul Giamatti

Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor with a diverse roster of finely etched, critically acclaimed performances.

Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor with a diverse roster of finely etched, critically acclaimed performances.

Giamatti won his first Golden Globe Award as well as Emmy and Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards® for Best Actor for his portrayal of President John Adams in HBO’s seven-part Emmy Award-winning 2008 miniseries John Adams, directed by Tom Hooper.  He won his second Golden Globe Award for the portrayal of Barney Panofsky in Richard J. LewisBarney’s Version, based on the best-selling novel, alongside Dustin Hoffman, Rosamund Pike and Minnie Driver.  He recently received a SAG Award® as well as Golden Globe and Emmy Award nominations for his portrayal of Ben Bernanke in Curtis Hanson’s HBO film Too Big to Fail, opposite William Hurt and Billy Crudup.  His other critically acclaimed HBO movies include Winchell, opposite Stanley Tucci, and Jane Anderson’s If These Walls Could Talk 2.

Giamatti’s performance in Ron Howard’s Cinderella Man earned him a SAG Award® and Broadcast Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2006, as well as Oscar® and Golden Globe nominations in the same category.  For his role in Alexander Payne’s critically lauded 2004 film Sideways, Giamatti earned accolades for his performance, including an Independent Spirit Award and a New York Film Critics Circle Award, both for Best Actor, as well as SAG® Award and Golden Globe nominations in the same category.

His 2003 portrayal of Harvey Pekar in Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini’s American Splendor, which won the prestigious Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize, received outstanding reviews and commendations, including an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Actor, and National Board of Review Breakthrough Performance Award.

Giamatti first caught the eyes of American audiences in Betty Thomas’ hit comedy Private Parts.  His extensive list of film credits also includes George Clooney’s The Ides of March; Todd PhillipsThe Hangover Part II; Ironclad; Win Win; The Last Station, opposite Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren; Tony Gilroy’s Duplicity; Cold Souls, which Giamatti also executive produced; Fred Claus; Shoot Em’ Up; The Nanny Diaries; M. Night Shyamalan’s Lady in the Water; The Illusionist; Milos Forman’s Man on the Moon; The Hawk is Dying; Tim RobbinsThe Cradle Will Rock; The Negotiator; Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan; Peter Weir’s The Truman Show; Mike Newell’s Donnie Brasco; Storytelling; Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes; Duets, the animated film Robots; Big Momma’s House; James Foley’s Confidence; and John Woo’s Paycheck.

He will be seen this summer in David Cronenberg’s Cosmopolis, starring Robert Pattinson; and alongside Stellan Skarsgård in Romeo and Juliet, and The Congress, opposite Robin Wright; both set for release next year.  He recently wrapped production on the comedy Lucky Dog, starring opposite Paul Rudd.

An accomplished stage actor, Giamatti received a Drama Desk nomination for Best Supporting Actor as Jimmy Tomorrow in Kevin Spacey’s Broadway revival of The Iceman Cometh.  His other Broadway credits include The Three Sisters, Racing Demon, and Arcadia.  He was also seen off-Broadway in the ensemble cast of The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, with Al Pacino.

This biography/filmography of Paul Giamatti is courtesy of Warner Brothers and the film, Rock of Ages

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