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Stanley Tucci

Stanley Oliver Tucci Jr. (/ˈti/ TOO-chee Italian pronunciation: [ˈtuttʃi]; born November 11, 1960) is an American actor. Known as a character actor,[1][2] he has played a wide variety of roles ranging from menacing to sophisticated. Tucci has earned numerous accolades, including six Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards as well as nominations for an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Tony Award.

Stanley Tucci

Stanley Oliver Tucci Jr.

(1960-11-11) November 11, 1960
  • Actor
  • producer
  • director
  • screenwriter

1982–present

  • Kathryn Spath
    (m. 1995; died 2009)
  • Felicity Blunt
    (m. 2012)

5

Tucci made his film debut in John Huston's Prizzi's Honor (1985), and continued to play a variety of supporting roles in films such as Deconstructing Harry (1997), Road to Perdition (2002), and The Terminal (2004). He made his directorial debut with the comedy Big Night (1996), which he also co-wrote and starred in. Following roles in The Devil Wears Prada (2006) and Julie & Julia (2009), Tucci was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for The Lovely Bones (2009). Tucci's other film roles include Burlesque (2010), Easy A (2010), Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), Margin Call (2011), The Hunger Games film series (2012–2015), Spotlight (2015), Supernova (2020), and Worth (2021).


He has starred in numerous television series such as the legal drama Murder One (1995–96), the medical drama 3 lbs (2006), Ryan Murphy's limited series Feud: Bette & Joan (2017), and the drama Limetown (2018). He played Stanley Kubrick in the HBO film The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004). For his portrayal of Walter Winchell in the HBO film Winchell (1998) he received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie. Since 2020, Tucci has voiced Bitsy Brandenham in the Apple TV+ animated series Central Park.


From 2021 to 2022, he hosted the CNN food and travel documentary series Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy for which he won two consecutive Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Hosted Nonfiction Series. He was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his role in Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune (2003),[3] and a Grammy Award for narrating the audiobook The One and Only Shrek! (2008).[4]

Early life and education[edit]

Tucci was born on November 11, 1960, in Peekskill, New York,[5] and grew up in nearby Katonah, New York.[6] His parents, Joan (née Tropiano), a secretary and writer, and Stanley Tucci Sr.[6][7] an art teacher at Horace Greeley High School in Chappaqua, New York,[8] both of Italian descent, have roots in the town of Marzi in Calabria, South Italy.[9][10] His maternal great-grandmother, Angela Albanese, was from Calabria and her surname indicates that she was of Arbëreshë descent.[11][12] Tucci is the oldest of three children,[6] including his sister, actress Christine Tucci. Screenwriter Joseph Tropiano is a cousin.[13] During the early 1970s, the family spent a year living in Florence, Italy.[10]


He attended John Jay High School,[6] where he played on the soccer and baseball teams, although his main interest lay in the school's drama club, where he and fellow actor and high school friend, Campbell Scott, son of actors George C. Scott and Colleen Dewhurst, gave well-received performances at many of John Jay's drama club productions. Tucci then attended State University of New York at Purchase, where he majored in acting and graduated in 1982.[6] Among his classmates at SUNY Purchase was fellow acting student Ving Rhames. It was Tucci who gave Rhames, born Irving, the Ving nickname by which he is known.[14]

Career[edit]

1982–1995: Early roles and Broadway debut[edit]

In 1982, Tucci earned his Actors' Equity card when actress Colleen Dewhurst, the mother of Tucci's high-school friend, actor Campbell Scott, arranged for the two young men to have parts as soldiers in a Broadway play in which she was co-starring,[6] The Queen and the Rebels which premiered on September 30, 1982. Around this time, Tucci also worked as a model, with his most notable work being a television commercial for Levi's 501 jeans.[15][16] In 1985, Tucci made his film debut as a Soldier in John Huston's black comedy crime film Prizzi's Honor starring Jack Nicholson and Kathleen Turner. During this period Tucci portrayed minor and supporting roles in a number of films including the psychological horror film Monkey Shines (1988), the comedy-drama Slaves of New York (1989) and the comedy Fear, Anxiety & Depression (1989).


In 1991, he acted in the biographical drama film Billy Bathgate starring Dustin Hoffman and Nicole Kidman. Here Tucci portrayed mobster Lucky Luciano. That same year he performed the role of Scapino at the Yale Repertory Theatre in Molière's Scapin.[17] In 1992, Tucci acted in the family comedy Beethoven and the romantic fantasy Prelude to a Kiss. The former spawned a franchise of the same name due to the success of the 1992 film. Tucci continued to take roles in films such as the legal thriller The Pelican Brief (1993) starring Denzel Washington and Julia Roberts, and the romantic comedy It Could Happen to You (1994) with Nicolas Cage and Bridget Fonda. From 1995 to 1996, Tucci starred in the television series Murder One as the mysterious Richard Cross. Tucci received his first Primetime Emmy Award nomination for his performance in the series, specifically for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. Following disappointing ratings, ABC decided to revamp the series resulting in Tucci being dismissed from the series.

1996–2005: Directorial debut and other roles[edit]

In 1996, Tucci co-wrote, co-directed the comedy-drama film Big Night. Tucci starred alongside Tony Shalhoub and co-wrote the screenplay with his cousin Joseph Tropiano and directed the film with friend Campbell Scott. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival where it was nominated for the "Grand Jury Prize". Tucci and Tropiano won the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay for writing the screenplay of the film. The film also featured his sister Christine and their mother, who wrote a cookbook for the film. The film also starred Minnie Driver, Isabella Rossellini, Ian Holm, and Allison Janney. Critic Roger Ebert praised the film writing, "To some degree this film must represent a break for [Tucci]: He has been in good movies before, but not enough of them...Now here is their labor of love. Their perfect risotto. They include just what is needed and nothing else."[18]


That same year Tucci also acted in the independent drama The Daytrippers which was written and directed by Greg Mottola. The film also starred Hope Davis, Liev Schreiber, and Parker Posey. The following year he appeared in Woody Allen's comedy Deconstructing Harry which received an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay nomination. In 1998, Tucci wrote, directed, co-produced and starred in the comedy film The Impostors. The film starred Tucci, and Oliver Platt who play Laurel and Hardy like comedians who are struggling in the 1930s. The film premiered at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival where it received positive reviews. Shortly thereafter, Tucci starred in the HBO biographical television film Winchell (1998) in which Tucci portrayed columnist Walter Winchell. For his portrayal of Winchell, Tucci won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film. Tucci also received a Screen Actors Guild Awards nomination for his performance in the film.


In 1999, he played Robin Goodfellow / Puck in the Michael Hoffman adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream.[19][20] In 2000, Tucci directed, produced and starred in the drama film Joe Gould's Secret, based on a 1964 biographical essay about Gould by The New Yorker reporter Joseph Mitchell. In 2001, Tucci starred in the HBO television war film Conspiracy as Adolf Eichmann. The project also starred Kenneth Branagh and Colin Firth. For his portrayal of Eichmann, Tucci won another Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Miniseries or Television Film. The film was critically acclaimed and won a Peabody Award.[21]


In 2002, Tucci returned to the stage by starring in the revival of Terrence McNally's Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune. Tucci received a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play nomination for his performance in the play. Also in 2002, he starred in Sam Mendes' Road to Perdition opposite Tom Hanks. The film went on to receive $181 million at the box office and received six Academy Award nominations.[22] He reunited with Hanks in Steven Spielberg's The Terminal (2004). That same year Tucci appeared in Shall We Dance (2004). Tucci also portrayed Stanley Kubrick in the HBO television film, The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004). He also was a guest caller in an episode of Frasier. Also that year, Caedmon Audio released an audiobook of Tucci reading Kurt Vonnegut's 1973 novel Breakfast of Champions. In 2005, Tucci had his first voice role in the animated film Robots, which features other notable actors' voices such as Ewan McGregor, Halle Berry, and Robin Williams.

Personal life[edit]

Marriages and family[edit]

Tucci's first wife, Kathryn Spath (born 1962), died of breast cancer in 2009.[45][46] She was a social worker and former wife of actor and stage manager Alexander R. Scott, the elder son of actors Colleen Dewhurst and George C. Scott.[47] She and Tucci married in 1995, and had three children.[48][49] The couple also raised Kathryn's two children from her previous marriage.[6][49] Tucci left her in 2002 for actress Edie Falco, with whom he was appearing on Broadway in Terrence McNally's Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, but the affair ended, and he returned to his wife and children.[50]


In 2011, then a widower, Tucci became engaged to Felicity Blunt (born 1981), a British literary agent of the Curtis Brown Group. She is the elder sister of British actress Emily Blunt, who co-starred with Tucci in The Devil Wears Prada and introduced the couple several years later at her own wedding to actor John Krasinski, in 2010.[51] Tucci and Blunt married in a civil ceremony in the summer of 2012,[52] followed by a larger observance at Middle Temple Hall in London on September 29, 2012.[53][54] They have a son[48] and a daughter.[55]

Charity work[edit]

On September 12, 2016, Tucci, alongside other celebrities, appeared in a video from the United Nations' refugee agency UNHCR to help raise awareness of the global refugee crisis. The video, titled "What They Took With Them", has the actors reading a poem, written by Jenifer Toksvig and inspired by primary accounts of refugees, and is part of UNHCR's #WithRefugees campaign, which also includes a petition to governments to expand asylum to provide further shelter, integrating job opportunities, and education.[56][57]


On May 21, 2021, Tucci received a Doctorate Honoris Causa in Humane Letters from the American University of Rome, in Rome, Italy, for his lifelong contribution to the arts and humanities.[58][59]

Health issues[edit]

In September 2021, Tucci revealed that he had been diagnosed with oropharyngeal cancer three years earlier. He had received treatment (chemotherapy and radiation) after a tumor was found at the base of his tongue, and said it was unlikely that the tumor would return.[60] In November 2022, he said there are still some foods he cannot eat, as a result of his cancer.[61]


In October 2021, his memoir Taste: My Life Through Food was published, which describes his encounter with cancer and his love of food.[62] As of February 20, 2022, Taste: My Life Through Food had been on The New York Times Best Seller List for 18 weeks.[63]

Tucci, Stanley (October 9, 2012). The Tucci Cookbook. Gallery Books.  978-1451661255.[64]

ISBN

Tucci, Stanley; Blunt, Felicity (2014). The Tucci Table: Cooking With Family and Friends. Gallery Books.  978-1476738567.

ISBN

Tucci, Stanley (October 5, 2021). Taste: My Life Through Food. Gallery Books.  978-1982168018.[65]

ISBN

at IMDb

Stanley Tucci

at the Internet Broadway Database

Stanley Tucci