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Biography #2 (for Mostly Martha)

Sergio Castellitto graduated from the Silvio D'Amieo National Academy of Dramatic Art in 1978. He began his theatrical career in Italian public theater with Shakespeare's Measure for Measure at the Teatro di Roma and with roles in other plays in the great tradition of Italian comedy. Then he performed two sessions at the Teatro di Genova, taking on the roles of Tuzenbach in Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters and Jean in Strindberg's Miss Julie, directed by the great Czech director Otomar Krejka.

His production of Piccoli Equivoci by the young Italian playwright Claudio Bigagli was a tremendous success at the Festival Dei Due Mondi in Spoleto. At that same festival, he experimented with bringing Peter Handke's Infelicita Senza Desideri (Sorror Beyond Dreams) to the stage.

Castellitto made his debut in the cinema in 1982 playing alongside Marcello Mastroianni in L'Armata Ritorna (The General of the Dead Army), directed by Luciano Tovoli, which was followed by Magic Moments with Stefaring Sandrelli. He has also taken leading roles in some of the best films by young auteur directors such as Marco Colti (Giovanni Senza Pensteri) and Felice Fatina (Sembra Morto Ma El Solo Svenuto), for which Castellitto also served as the subject and screenwriter. In 1986, he acted with Vittorio Gassman and Fanny Ardant in the great saga La Famiglia (The Family) directed by Ettore Seola, who would go on to produce another movie with Castellitto and Mariangela Melato called Amore a Cinque Stelle. In France, he co-starred in 1987 with Alain Delon in Cinema and in Luc Besson's cult movie Paura e Amore (Love and Fear). Starring in 1989, he played the leading role of the magistrate Dario De Santis in the TV serial Cane Sciolto for three years, resulting in great popularity and several prestigious Italian television awards. He also acted in Carlo Vanzina's the Colonne in Cronaca in 1989. He played the main character Alberto in Arthur Joffe's Alberto Express. In Italy he playied the role of the famous Italian musicman, Gioachino Rossini, in Mario Monicelli's film Rossini Rossini and in the same year played the grotesque, leading role of La Carne directed by Marco Ferren.

Having met the greatest directors in Italian comedy (Scola, Ferrari, Monicelli), he returned to working with directors of his own generation such as Francesca Archibugi, playing the role of the psychiatrist, Arturo, in one of the most successful movies of recent years, Il Grande Cocomero (The Great Pumpkin), for which Castellitto won David di Donatello and Ciak D'Oro awards as Best Leading Actor. In Fausto Coppi (1994), directed by Alberto Sironi, he played the famous Italian cyclist. It was also in 1994 that he met Giuseppe Tornatore who cast him in the leading role Joe Morelli in his movie The Starmaker. Castillitto's popularity has been rising in France since 1995 when he began acting for several French directors such as Yvon Marciano (Le Cri De La Soie) and Martina Dugawson (Portraits Chinois [Shadow Play]). That same year in Italy, he acted with Paolo Rossi in Silenzio Si Nasce, directed by Gioanni Verones. In 1996, he took the leading role in Renato De Maria's first feature film Hotel Paura in which he plays a man who is suddenly unemployed and is forced to become a beggar. In the same year, in the United States, he played The Zip in Jim McBride's dark comedy Pronto with Peter Falk. Also in 1996, he worked in France again with Valerie Lemercie for Quadrille and Luctitia Masson for A Vendre (For Sale). That same year, he also worked in Italy on another important TV project on the life of Don Milani, directed by Antonio and Andrea Prazzi: Il Prior Di Barblana, a great success.

In 1998, Casellitto made his first debut as a director: he is the protagonist and the director of Libero Burro, a comedy written by Margaret Mazzantini (his wife), Pier Bodrano and Castellitto himself. In the film, he stars alongside Margaret Mazzantini, Chiaro Mastroianni and Michel Piccoli. The film was presented at the Venice Film Festival in 1999, at the Amecy Film Festival '99 and at the Festival de L'amour de Mons '99.

In 1999, he acted for another French director, Nadine Trintignant, in Victoire. Castellitto has a special talent for interpreting the roles of important real-life characters such as Gioachino Rossini, Fausto Coppi and Don Milani. This is why, at the end of 1999, Sergio was chosen to play the title role in Padre Pio, the television event of the year 2000, produced by Angelo Riazoli for Mediatrade and directed by Carlo Carlei.

In 2000, he acted in Germany on Mostly Martha and in Italy in Concorrenza Sleale (Unfair Competition), directed by Ettore Scola. He worked again in France with Jacques Rivette in Va Savoir (Who Knows?). In late 2000 and early 2001, Castellitto toured Italy's theaters with the dramatic monologue Zorro, which he directed and played and which was written by his wife, writer and actress Margaret Mazzantini.

In 2001 Castellitto played the role of Joe Sollazzo in the film Laguna, directed by Dennis Berry and in the same year he worked with director Marco Bellocchio as leading role in L'Ora Di Religione. The film was selected for the Cannes Film Festival in competition and was a big success in Italy. For his role he was awarded Ciak D'Oro and Nastro D' Argento awards.

In 2003 Mediatrade will Mazzantini air the international mini series Ferrari on the life of Enzo Ferrari in which Castellitto plays the leading role, directed again by Carlo Carlei.

Bio courtesy Paramount Classics for "Mostly Martha" (06-Oct-2002)