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Background:
Italian-American descendant actor Alessandro Nivola was best recognized while
playing the brilliant supporting role of rock star Ian McKnight in Lisa
Cholodenko’s musical drama Laurel Canyon (2002, with Frances McDormand,
Christian Bale and Kate Beckinsale). The actor who debuted in the NBC miniseries
"Danielle Steel's 'The Ring'" (1996) has appeared in such films as Face/Off
(1997), Mansfield Park (1999), Jurassic Park III (2001) and Time Code (2000).
Recently played roles in the films Carolina, The Clearing and Junebug, Nivola
will soon be seen in the upcoming films The Darwin Awards and Goal!.
Alessandro Nivola has often mistaken for British for his flawless English accent
in his films. As for his private life, he once dated actress Rachel Weisz (born
March 7, 1971) and is currently husband of actress Emily Mortimer.
Soccer Fan Sandro
Childhood and Family:
“I’m from an Italian family so I grew up playing and watching and everything. I
actually just finished this film playing a big sort of David Beckham-isque
soccer star with a fake tan and a mullet.” Alessandro Nivola.
On June 28, 1972, Alessandro Nivola was born in Boston, Massachusetts. His
father Pietro is an Italian-born academic father (a senior fellow in Governance
Studies at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC.) and her mother is a
Boston blue blood. Alessandro Nivola, nicknamed Sandro, is the older brother of
Adrian Nivola.
Alessandro attended Phillips Exeter Academy high school and received a B.A. in
English Literature from Yale University, Class of 1994. As for his own family,
Alessandro is husband of actress Emily Mortimer (born on December 1, 1971) and
father of a son, who was born on September 26, 2003.
Junebug
Career:
Growing up in summer drama camp, Alessandro Nivola then worked as an intern with
the Eugene O'Neill Theatre in Waterford, Connecticut. He got his first
professional jobs with the Yale Repertory Theatre and a Seattle-based company,
with whom he performed "Master Harold...and the Boys." He received applause for
his portrayal as a young Brit in the Long Wharf Theater production of "Paddywack"
and debuted on Broadway stage in a production of "A Month in the Country,"
opposite Helen Mirren.
Since his sophomore year at Yale, Nivola has secured an agent and joined several
auditions in New York. He eventually landed on television, appeared as a guest
in an episode of the Emmy winning drama comedy series "Remember WENN" and scored
his TV movie acting debut in the NBC romantic, epic melodrama miniseries
"Danielle Steel's 'The Ring'", starring Nastassja Kinski.
Nivola broke the motion picture scene in 1997, with a bit part as Joanna Going's
husband in Pat O'Connor’s romantic drama Inventing the Abbotts, alongside Liv
Tyler, Joaquin Phoenix, Billy Crudup and Jennifer Connelly. In that same year,
he also won his breakout film role as Nicolas Cage's psychotic genius brother
Pollux Troy in John Woo's thriller Face/Off (also starring John Travolta).
In 1998 Nivola flew to UK to star in Michael Winterbottom’s I Want You (a.k.a.
Beloved), playing Rachel Weisz’ ex-con former boyfriend. He followed it up with
The Almost Perfect Bank Robbery (TV, with Brooke Shields and Dylan Walsh, aired
in summer 1999), William Ryan’s drama comedy Reach the Rock (1998, costarring
with William Sadler) and starred opposite Josh Brolin and Reese Witherspoon in
Mike Barker’s crime drama Best Laid Plans (1999). Nivola also returned on stage,
starring opposite Gwyneth Paltrow in the Williamstown Theatre Festival
production of "As You Like It".
The portrayal of the dashing and morally skeptical Henry Crawford, not to forget
his flawless English accent, in Patricia Rozema's saucy adaptation of Jane
Austen’s novel Mansfield Park (1999) brought Nivola’s name into recognition.
Thanks to his seamless English accent, He then became King Ferdinand of the
fictional kingdom of Navarre in Kenneth Branagh's musical adaptation of
Shakespeare's comedy play, Love's Labour's Lost (2000, costarring with Kenneth
Branagh). Other films included Mike Figgis’ experimental feature film Timecode
(2000, with Saffron Burrows and Salma Hayek) and Joe Johnston’s film produced by
Steven Spielberg, Jurassic Park III (2001, alongside Sam Neill, William H. Macy
and Tea Leoni in).
Nivola costarred as rock star Ian McKnight in Lisa Cholodenko’s musical drama
Laurel Canyon (2002, with Frances McDormand, Christian Bale and Kate Beckinsale).
His performance received warm reviews and nominated him an Independent Spirit
Award for Best Supporting Male. Being asked about the singing scenes in the
film, Nivola explained, “Well, I think probably ‘Laurel Canyon’ was the only
time where my singing actually helped me get the job. Because I went in and I
could play some crappy song on the guitar for Lisa Cholodenko and I think it
sort of made the difference for me getting the job. Other than that, this one
was totally sprung on me. I didn’t even remember it even being in the script
when I first read it. Then I remembered Phil [Morrison], the director, telling
me sometime after we started filming, ‘Oh by the way, I hope you’re doing your
warm-up scales or whatever.’”
Director Marleen Gorris next cast him with Julia Stiles and Shirley MacLaine in
his romantic drama Carolina (2003) and Pieter Jan Brugge’s teamed him with
Robert Redford, Willem Dafoe and Helen Mirren in his drama thriller The Clearing
(2004). He also played a bookie for the dog races in the Irish drama comedy
Turning Green (with Colm Meaney and Tim Hutton) and played the brother Andrew in
Arthur Allan Seidelman’s adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s play, The Sisters (with
Maria Bello, Erika Christensen and Chris O'Donnell). Additionally, he starred as
George, Embeth Davidtz’ younger husband, a man who wants more than his family
and small town have to offer, in Phil Morrison’s indie drama Junebug.
Soon, Nivola will be seen in Finn Taylor’s upcoming romantic comedy The Darwin
Awards, starring Joseph Fiennes and Winona Ryder, and in Danny Cannon’s sport
drama Goal!, costarring with Kuno Becker. An American actor who is often
mistaken for British because of his flawless English accent in his films, Nivola
revealed, “… That’s one of the pleasures of being an actor, is kind of getting
out of yourself and trying to stretch and reshape yourself into someone else
that’s had a very different kind of experience. Obviously you bring whatever you
know about life and about the way that people behave and everything to a
performance.”
Awards:
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