Giancarlo Giannini attended Rome’s Academy of Dramatic Arts. In the theatre, he came to prominence working with Giuseppe Patroni Griffi in 1963 (In memoria di una signora amica) and with Franco Zeffirelli the following year (Romeo and Juliet). However it was only in 1967 that he became a popular figure, playing the lead role in the TV version of “David Copperfield”, adapted from the Charles Dickens novel by Anton Giulio Majano. On the big screen, he made a name for himself with Drama of jealousy (Dramma della gelosia, tutti i particolari in cronaca), 1970, by Ettore Scola, where he began to outline that high-voltage, mercurial sub-proletariat character that he was to successfully refine in subsequent films. After other interesting performances (he played the lead in the ’71 thriller Black belly of the tarantula (La tarantola dal ventre nero) by Paolo Cavara, in ’72 he excelled himself alongside Alain Delon in the intense The professor La prima notte di quiete by Valerio Zurlini, and was explosive as the central character of a Sicilian blue collar worker in The seduction of Mimi (Mimì metallurgico ferito nell’onore), 1972, by Lina Wertmuller. The film also heralded the start of a long and productive partnership between Giannini and Wertmuller, which was to yield its best in Love and anarchy (Film d’amore e d’anarchia), 1973,, Swept away (Travolti da un insolito destino nell’azzurro mare d’agosto), 1974, and the razor-sharp Seven beauties (Pasqualino Settebellezze), 1975, perhaps their most magnificent achievement.
A protean talent, as comfortable in humorous comedy roles as in dramatic ones, Giannini flitted with ease from the madcap frenetic pace of How funny can sex be (Sesso matto), 1973, by Dino Risi to the darker genre of Drama of the rich (Fatti di gente perbene), 1974, by Mauro Bolognini, from the light-hearted tones of “Midnight lovers (A mezzanotte va la ronda del piacere), 1975, by Marcello Fondato to the lofty The innocent (L’innocente), 1976, by Luchino Visconti, from the quintessentially Italian comedy A trip with Anita (In viaggio con Anita), 1978, by Mario Monicelli to the internationally flavoured Lili Marleen, 1980, by Rainer Werner Fassbinder. During the Eighties, good roles gradually became rarer: one exception was Picone sent me (Mi manda Picone), 1983, in which he gave a feisty, priceless performance as an unemployed Neapolitan struggling against the local mafia. Unfortunately, his directorial debut was to prove disappointing The numbers game (Ternosecco), 1987 and this was followed by a plethora of unmemorable, uncalled for appearances: for example, his roles in a number of foreign films A walk in the clouds (Il profumo del mosto selvatico), 1995, by Alfonso Arau; Hannibal, 2001, by Ridley Scott) and the telling characterization of the neurotic writer caught up in the spiralling events of Dark illness (Il male oscuro), 1990, by Mario Monicelli. It is worth noting that Giannini continues dubbing foreign language films, as he always has, with truly superb results. 

Awards 
Nastri d'Argento Best Actor Sirocco, 1998.
David Di Donatello Prize Best Actor Celluloid, 1996.
Cannes Film Festival Best Actor Award Film d'Amore e d'Anarchia (Love and Anarchy), 1973.

Milestones 
2004 Cast in Tony Scott's Man of Fire starring Denzel Washington and Dakota Fanning.
2004 Starred with Lena Olin and Anna Paquin in the thriller Darkness.
2003 Starred opposite Maggie Smith in the HBO special My House in Umbria.
2001 Cast as Inspector Pazzi in Hannibal, the sequel to Silence of the Lambs. 
1997 Co-starred in the sci-Fi thriller Mimic.
1995 Had co-starring role in A Walk in the Clouds.
1994 Played Laban, father-in-law of Jacob in the TNT miniseries.
1992 Starred in the comedy Once Upon a Crime... directed by Eugene Levy. 
1990 TV debut in the Cinemax documentary, Anthony Quinn.
1989 Starred in New York Stories, the segment Life without Zoe directed by Francis Ford Coppola.
1986 Directorial debut, also starred in, Ternosecco; Starred opposite Joan Collins in CBS miniseries SINS.
1981 Appeared in Fassbinder's, Lili Marleen.
1977 First collaboration with Mario Monicelli, I Nuovi Mostri.
1975 Produced first feature, also starred as the title character in Wertmuller's, Pasqualino Settebellezze.
1972 First leading role as Mimi in Wertmuller's, Mimi Metallurgico Ferito nell'onore. 
1969 Appeared in first US production, The Secret of Santa Vittoria. 
1966 First worked with Lina Wertmuller with stage production of Two and Two Are No Longer Four. 
1966 Had first film collaboration with Lina Wertmuller, Rita la Zanzara. 
1965 Made feature film debut in Fango sulla Metropoli.
1964 Played Romeo in Romeo and Juliet on stage.
1961 Made stage debut playing Puck in production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Giancarlo Giannini Filmography

Actor
Raul -The Right To Kill (2005)
Man on Fire (2004)
Shadows in the Sun (2004)
The Italian Job (2003)
Piazza delle Cinque Lunes (2003)
Il Cuore Altrove (2003)
My House in Umbria (2003)
Per Sempre (2003)
Joshua (2002)
Darkness (2002)
I Banchieri di Dio (2002)
Ti Voglio Bene, Eugenio (2002)
Ciao America (2001)
Momo Alla Conquista Del Tempo (2001)
Francesca e Nunziata (2001)
Una Lunga Lunga Lunga Notte D'Amore (2001)
Una Noche Con Sabrina Love (2001)
The Whole Shebang (2001)
Vipera (2001)
CQ (2001)
Hannibal (2001)
Dune (2000)
Dolce Far Niente (2000)
Greener Fields (1998)
Vuoti a Perdere (1998)
La Cena (1998)
La Stanza Dello Scirocco (1998)
Death in Granada (1997)
Heaven Before I Die (1997)
Mas Alla del Jardin (1997)
Una Vacanza All'Inferno (1997)
Mimic (1997)
La Lupa (1996)
La Frontiera (1996)
Celluloide (1995)
A Walk in the Clouds (1995)
Palermo - Milano Solo Andata (1995)
Jacob (1994)
Come Due Coccodrilli (1994)
Giovanni Falcone (1993)
Once Upon a Crime (1992)
Nel Giardino Delle Rose (1990)
Les Amusements De La Vie Privee (1990)
Night Sun (1990)
Il Male oscuro (1990)
New York Stories (1989)
Good Night, Michelangelo (1989)
Time to Kill (1989)
Lo Zio Indegno (1989)
Snack Bar Budapest (1988)
Blood Red (1988)
I Picari (1987)
Bellissimo: Images of the Italian Cinema (1987)
Nini Terno-Secco (1986)
Saving Grace (1986)
American Drive-In (1985)
Fever Pitch (1985)
Mi Manda Picone? (1984)
American Dreamer (1984)
Lili Marleen (1981)
The Immortal Bachelor (1980)
Buone Notizie (1979)
Fatto di sangue fra due uomini per causa di una vedova - si sospettano moventi politici (1979)
La Vita è Bella (1979)
Lovers and Liars (1979)
La Fine del Mondo nel Nostro Solito Letto in una Notte Piena di Pioggia (1978)
The Innocent (1976)
Seven Beauties (1976)
A Mezzanotte Va la Ronda del Piacere (1975)
Swept Away... By an Unusual Destiny in the Blue Sea of August (1974)
The Sensual Man (1974)
Fatti Di Gente Perbene (1974)
Il Bestione (1974)
Sono Stato Io (1973)
Love and Anarchy (1973)
Paolo il Caldo (1973)
Sessomatto (1973)
La Prima Notte Di Quiete (1972)
La Tarantola dal ventre nero (1972)
The Seduction of Mimi (1972)
Dramma della Gelosia - Tutti i Particolari in Cronaca (1970)
Macchia Rosa (1969)
The Secret of Santa Vittoria (1969)
Fräulein Doktor (1969)
Le Sorelle (1969)
Anzio (1968)
Arabella (1967)
Non Stuzzicate La Zanzara (1967)

Director
Nini Terno-Secco (1986)
Producer
Buone Notizie (1979)
Seven Beauties (1976)

Screenwriter
Nini Terno-Secco (1986)