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John Turturro
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One of the top character actors of his era, John Turturro is a fixture of the contemporary American independent filmmaking landscape. Born February 28, 1957, in Brooklyn, NY, Turturro became fascinated by movies during childhood, and after graduating from college he won a scholarship to study at the prestigious Yale School of Drama. He first gained notice in regional theater and off-Broadway, earning an Obie Award for his starring role in Danny and the Deep Blue Sea. He made his film debut in Martin Scorsese's 1980 masterpiece Raging Bull but did not reappear onscreen prior to 1984's The Exterminator 2. That same year, he debuted on Broadway in Death of a Salesman. Small roles in diverse fare including Susan Seidelman's 1985 comedy Desperately Seeking Susan, Scorsese's 1986 drama The Color of Money, and Woody Allen's masterful Hannah and Her Sisters kept Turturro busy throughout much of the decade, but his breakthrough performance did not arrive until Spike Lee cast him as a bigoted pizzeria worker in 1989's Do the Right Thing.
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From All Movie Guide: One of the top character actors of his era, John Turturro is a fixture of the contemporary American independent filmmaking landscape. Born February 28, 1957, in Brooklyn, NY, Turturro became fascinated by movies during childhood, and after graduating from college he won a scholarship to study at the prestigious Yale School of Drama. He first gained notice in regional theater and off-Broadway, earning an Obie Award for his starring role in Danny and the Deep Blue Sea. He made his film debut in Martin Scorsese's 1980 masterpiece Raging Bull but did not reappear onscreen prior to 1984's The Exterminator 2. That same year, he debuted on Broadway in Death of a Salesman.
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John Turturro has the distinction of being both a director's actor and an actor's director. A favorite of both Spike Lee and the Coen brothers, over the past 20 years Turturro has marked himself out as one of the most interesting and talented actors in film, and whether it is a blocked writer (Barton Fink), a socially-awkward chess master (The Luzhin Defense) or a grief-stricken widower (Fear X), he adds a depth and humanity to the characters he inhabits. In 1992, he directed his first film, Mac, about three Italian American brothers who band together to start a construction firm, a story which was inspired by Turturro's own father's experiences as a carpenter. He followed it up with, Illuminata (1998), a tragicomic farce about a Manhattan theater troupe in the early 20th Century. A true multihyphenate, Turturro ... co-wrote both films with Brandon Cole, and played the principal lead in each.
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A gifted, lightly built, Italian-American actor/writer/director who always looks troubled and jumpy, John Turturro has become a favorite of cult/art house film fanatics with his performances in a broad range of cinematic vehicles. A regular in the provoking films of Spike Lee and the off-the-wall comedies of Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, Turturro, who delivered his first breakthrough as dogmatic pizzeria worker Pino in Spike Lee’s comedy Do the Right Thing (1989), received recognition and appreciation as the bewildered screenwriter in the Coen brothers’ Barton Fink (1991), in which he was honored the 1991 Cannes Film Festival Best Actor Award and the 1992 David di Donatello Best Foreign Actor Award. His later role, as paleontologist Benjamin, in Two Thousand and None (2000) garnered the frizzy-haired actor a Taormina International Film Festival award. Additionally, he added an Emmy Award to his impressive accomplishments for his outstanding guest starring performance as Brother Ambrose Monk in an episode of USA’s quirky detective series “Monk” (2004).
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Hardly content with his career as one of the most fascinating actors in the business today, John Turturro continues to make his mark as director of a growing catalog of boldly independent films. His searing debut, Mac, drew deeply from his experiences in a Brooklyn family cast adrift after their father’s death. Six years later, Turturro reveled in his love for theater with Illuminata, which Salon called “a heartbreakingly beautiful tragicomedy about art, love and artifice, with a script of rare humor and complexity.” Fast forward seven years to 2005, and, like clockwork, Turturro finished his most wildly imaginative project, Romance and Cigarettes, produced by the Coen brothers. Unfortunately, the Hollywood distribution system lacks Turturro’s regularity, and it’s taken another two years for this heartfelt and hilarious picture to appear in America. (A run at Film Forum begins tonight.) Gothamist recently spoke with Turturro about the film, the entertainment industry, and his hope to hatch a Big Lebowski spin-off with the Coens.
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Actor John Turturro has been described as the go-to guy for volatile, complex characters. After receiving his MFA from the Yale School of Drama, the NY native first gained notice on the stage. He made his film debut in Raging Bull and became a favorite of filmmakers Spike Lee and the Coen brothers. His TV credits include ESPN's The Bronx is Burning and an Emmy-winning guest turn on Monk. Turturro has expanded his range to include writing and directing, with three features, including Romance & Cigarettes.
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John Turturro