Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti was born on June 6, 1967, in New Haven, Connecticut. His father, Angelo Bartlett Giamatti, was a Yale University professor who later became president of the university and later commissioner of Major League Baseball. His mother, Toni Marilyn Giamatti, taught at Hopkins School and also previously acted. Paul’s older brother, Marcus Giamatti, is also an actor and is best known for being a regular cast member of the drama series Judging Amy. Paul graduated from Yale, where he was active in the undergraduate theater scene and worked with fellow actors and Yale students Ron Livingston and Edward Norton. He performed in theater, appearing on Broadway and Seattle’s Annex Theater, before landing his first television role in ABC’s made-for-television film She’ll Take Romance in 1990. By 1995, he appeared in Woody Allen’s comedy film Mighty Aphrodite and Sydney Pollack’s romantic comedy remake of Sabrina.
In the late ’90s, Giamatti landed a number of supporting roles in big-budget films like The Truman Show, Saving Private Ryan, and Man on the Moon. Giamatti continued landing big films in the early 2000s with Duets, Big Momma’s House, Planet of the Apes, and Big Fat Liar. Going through his legendary career with Vanity Fair, Giamatti revealed he had to be blue for weeks for filming Big Fat Liar. The blue wouldn’t come off his feet for months! He and director Shawn Levy were pushing the mold on how big of an “a–hole” Giamatti could be in a kids movie starring alongside Frankie Muniz and Amanda Bynes.
Critical Acclaim
Giamatti achieved critical acclaim for the first time in his lead role in 2003’s American Splendor. He followed that up the next two years in Sideways and Cinderella Man. Both roles earned the actor awards and nominations. With steady work in the entertainment industry for the last 30 years, Paul Giamatti has 118 credits under his belt. Take a look at his best roles below:
