Roberto Benigni

Roberto Remigio Benigni (born 27 October 1952) is an Italian actor, comedian, screenwriter and film director. He gained international recognition for writing, directing and starring in the Holocaust comedy drama film Life Is Beautiful (1997), for which he received the Academy Awards for Best Actor and Best International Feature Film, becoming the first actor to win the Best Actor Academy Award for a non-English language performance. He was born in Manciano La Misericordia, a frazione of Castiglion Fiorentino in Tuscany, the son of a fabric maker and a bricklayer.

Benigni made his acting debut in 1977's Berlinguer, I Love You, which he also wrote, directed by Giuseppe Bertolucci. His directorial debut was the 1983 anthology film Tu mi turbi, which was also the acting debut of his wife, Nicoletta Braschi, who became his wife in 1991 and has starred in most of his films. He continued directing and starring in comedic films including Nothing Left to Do But Cry (1984), The Little Devil (1988), Johnny Stecchino (1991), The Monster (1994), Life Is Beautiful (1997), Pinocchio (2002) and The Tiger and the Snow (2005). He became widely known in Italy in the 1970s through Renzo Arbore's television series Onda Libera and L'altra domenica.

Benigni also acted in the Jim Jarmusch films Down by Law (1986), Night on Earth (1991) and Coffee and Cigarettes (2003), as well as Federico Fellini's The Voice of the Moon (1990), Woody Allen's To Rome with Love (2012) and Matteo Garrone's Pinocchio (2019). His honours include the BAFTA Award and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, multiple Nastro d'Argento awards, and the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.