Born October 27, 1952, in Misericordia, Arezzo, Italy. Benigni grew up in rural Italy, with his parents, Isolina and Luigi, and three older sisters. Economic times were hard during the post-World War II era, and the family lived without running water and electricity for much of Roberto’s childhood. When the precociously intelligent Benigni was 12 years old, a local priest enrolled him in a seminary in Florence, where he stayed until the school was flooded in 1966. Benigni then worked as a magician’s apprentice and attended a mostly female secretarial school before abandoning his formal education. In 1972, a director in Rome recruited Benigni for his avant-garde theatre company, and his acting career had officially begun. After acting on stage for several years, Benigni landed a steady job on the Italian television show, The Other Sunday, where his outlandish, irreverent humour got him a good deal of recognition. A strong political bent in his humour continued in his first film, Berlinguer ti voglio bene (1976), or “Berlinguer, I Like You,” which he also wrote; the title referred to Enrico Berlinguer, head of the Italian Communist Party from 1972 to 1984. By the time he directed his first film, Tu mi turbi, in 1983, Benigni had appeared in six other movies. Tu mi turbi, or “You Move Me,” which Benigni also wrote and starred in, featured the actress Nicoletta Braschi as the Virgin Mary. Braschi and Benigni got married in 1991. In 1986, Benigni appeared in his first American film, Down By Law, directed by Jim Jarmusch. In Italy, Benigni became one of the nation’s biggest box office stars, appearing in Federico Fellini’s final film, La voce della luna, in 1990, and the tremendously successful Johnny Stecchino, which he also co-wrote and directed, in 1991. With La vita e bella, Benigni brought his manic charm into a grave new realm: the Holocaust. La vita e bella, released in the U.S. as Life is Beautiful, tells the story of an Italian-Jewish man (Benigni) in a concentration camp with his wife, played by Braschi, and his young son. In order to protect the young boy, his father makes up a complex game to obscure the terrible reality of their situation. While writing the film, Benigni drew on the inspiration of his own father, who served in the Italian cavalry during WWII and was imprisoned in a German labor camp for two years after Italy joined the Allied coalition in 1943. The film was released in 1998 to great acclaim. Some criticized Benigni for trivializing the horrors of the Holocaust, but others maintained that the film was a unique and deeply moving portrait of courage in the face of unspeakable horror and cruelty. Life is Beautiful won the Prix du Jury at the Cannes Film Festival and was given a special award by the mayor of Jerusalem after a screening at the Jerusalem Film Festival. In March 1999, after his film was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, Benigni took home two Oscars Best Foreign Film and Best Actor. The diminutive filmmaker’s exuberant acceptance of his awards made the long ceremony more memorable, especially when he jumped over several seats (one containing Steven Spielberg) in his eagerness to get to the stage. In 1999, Benigni appeared in a French film, Asterix et Obelix contre Cesar, based on the famous European comic book series. Braschi) in a live-action film version of the children's classic Pinocchio.

I think that Benigni is the most great Italian actor; because he is able to laugh and to move in the same time; and only  few people have  this “skill”.

 Written by  Marco Vitalone  (e-mail free3@itcgbianchi.mi.it)