Roberto Benigni

Roberto Benigni

Birth : 1952-10-27, Manciano La Misericordia, Castiglion Fiorentino, Arezzo, Italy

History

Roberto Benigni, (born October 27, 1952, Misericordia, Arezzo, Italy), Italian actor and director known for his comedic work, most notably La vita è bella (1997; Life Is Beautiful), for which he won an Academy Award for best actor. Benigni was the son of a poor tenant farmer who had worked in a German forced-labour camp during World War II. The elder Benigni used humour in retelling his experiences, which helped shape his son’s comedic skill. Benigni briefly attended a Jesuit seminary in Florence, and, after a stint as a magician’s assistant, he joined an underground theatre group in the late 1960s.

Profile

Roberto Benigni
Roberto Benigni
Roberto Benigni
Roberto Benigni
Roberto Benigni

Movies

Francesco Il Cantico
Producer
An immersive reading of one of the most iconic texts dedicated to love.
Francesco Il Cantico
Writer
An immersive reading of one of the most iconic texts dedicated to love.
Francesco Il Cantico
Self - Host
An immersive reading of one of the most iconic texts dedicated to love.
I magnifici 4 della risata
Noi siamo cinema
Himself
An Italian documentary about Italian cinema.
Alida Valli: In Her Own Words
Self
The story of the legendary star Alida Valli through the unpublished words of her letters and diaries, enriching it with other exclusive materials: photographs, family film in 8mm, new interviews with her sons, relatives, friends and collaborators, and much more archive material.
Paolo Conte, Come Away with Me
Documentary follows the life and work of Italian singer and composer Paolo Conte.
Pinocchio
Mister Geppetto
In this live-action adaptation of the beloved fairytale, old woodcarver Geppetto fashions a wooden puppet, Pinocchio, who magically comes to life. Pinocchio longs for adventure and is easily led astray, encountering magical beasts, fantastical spectacles, while making friends and foes along his journey. However, his dream is to become a real boy, which can only come true if he finally changes his ways.
Cecchi Gori - Una famiglia italiana
Self
Untouchable
Himself (archive footage)
The inside story of the rise and fall of Harvey Weinstein reveals how, over decades, he acquired and protected his power even when scandal threatened to engulf him. Former colleagues and accusers detail the method and consequences of his alleged abuse, hoping for justice and also to inspire change.
La voce di Fantozzi
Venice 74 -
Marco Ferreri: Dangerous But Necessary
Self
Marco Ferreri: Dangerous But Necessary is a trip through the auteur's singular cosmos - at once supernatural and earthbound. He dropped out of his studies to become a veterinarian, choosing instead to concern himself principally with the human animal, in our corporeal and yearning essence.
Evviva Giuseppe
Himself
The life and work of Giuseppe Bertolucci, as told by his father and brother, friends and colleagues.
Cinque mondi
Self
Roberto Benigni, Bernardo Bertolucci, Gabriele Salvatores, Paolo Sorrentino and Giuseppe Tornatore talk about their idea of cinema.
Red Chairs - Parma and the Cinema
The relations between Parma and cinema were so strong for almost the whole of the twentieth century that this city became an early laboratory of ideas and theories on cinema and a set chosen by some of the greatest Italian authors and beyond. Furthermore, a considerable number of directors, actors, screenwriters and set designers were born in Parma who have made their way internationally, testifying to the fact that in this small city in Northern Italy there was a decidedly cinematic air. Red armchairs takes up the thread of this story, wondering why, unique among the Italian provincial cities, Parma has given so much to the cinema, accompanying the viewer on a journey backwards that from the first projections of the Lumière cinema reaches the ultramodern experience of new multiplexes. During this journey we will meet the characters who created the conditions for this diffusion of cinematographic culture in Parma.
And the Oscar Goes To...
Self (archive footage)
The story of the gold-plated statuette that became the film industry's most coveted prize, AND THE OSCAR GOES TO... traces the history of the Academy itself, which began in 1927 when Louis B. Mayer, then head of MGM, led other prominent members of the industry in forming this professional honorary organization. Two years later the Academy began bestowing awards, which were nicknamed "Oscar," and quickly came to represent the pinnacle of cinematic achievement.
La più bella del mondo
Using a lectern on which the Constitution is placed, Benigni begins to read each article praising and exalting its beauty, declaring to the Italians that he has decided to write these principles to constitute a rebirth from the disastrous end of the Second World War.
La più bella del mondo
Himself
Using a lectern on which the Constitution is placed, Benigni begins to read each article praising and exalting its beauty, declaring to the Italians that he has decided to write these principles to constitute a rebirth from the disastrous end of the Second World War.
Opinioni di un clown - Roberto Benigni
A documentary about the career of Roberto Benigni with many rare and funny sketches.
To Rome with Love
Leopoldo
Four tales unfold in the Eternal City: While vacationing in Rome, architect John encounters a young man whose romantic woes remind him of a painful incident from his own youth; retired opera director Jerry discovers a mortician with an amazing voice, and he seizes the opportunity to rejuvenate his own flagging career; a young couple have separate romantic interludes; a spotlight shines on an ordinary man.
Revisiting Life is Beautiful 15 Years After
(archival audio)
In this documentary film, directed by Dominique Maillet for StudioCanal, director Martin Scorsese, cast and crew members, and prominent critics and historians discuss Life is Beautiful and its success, as well as Roberto Benigni's career.
La commedia di Amos Poe
Narrator (voice)
A new translation of Dante's Divine Comedy channeling the tools of Edward Muybridge and a meditation on the perception of motion in a motion picture.
Isabella Rossellini - Aus dem Leben eines Schmetterlings
Himself
I Vicerè
Thanks
In late 19th-century Sicily, the noble Uzeda family – whose lineage dates back to the ancient viceroys that ruled those lands – fights to preserve its waning power in the face of the newly unified Italian regime.
The Tiger and the Snow
Attilio de Giovanni
Love and injury in time of war. Attilio de Giovanni teaches poetry in Italy. He has a romantic soul, and women love him. But he is in love with Vittoria, and the love is unrequited. Every night he dreams of marrying her, in his boxer shorts and t-shirt, as Tom Waits sings. Vittoria travels to Iraq with her friend, Fuad, a poet; they are there with the second Gulf War breaks out. Vittoria is injured. Attilio must get to her side, and then, as war rages around him, he must find her the medical care she needs. In war, does love conquer all?
The Tiger and the Snow
Author
Love and injury in time of war. Attilio de Giovanni teaches poetry in Italy. He has a romantic soul, and women love him. But he is in love with Vittoria, and the love is unrequited. Every night he dreams of marrying her, in his boxer shorts and t-shirt, as Tom Waits sings. Vittoria travels to Iraq with her friend, Fuad, a poet; they are there with the second Gulf War breaks out. Vittoria is injured. Attilio must get to her side, and then, as war rages around him, he must find her the medical care she needs. In war, does love conquer all?
The Tiger and the Snow
Director
Love and injury in time of war. Attilio de Giovanni teaches poetry in Italy. He has a romantic soul, and women love him. But he is in love with Vittoria, and the love is unrequited. Every night he dreams of marrying her, in his boxer shorts and t-shirt, as Tom Waits sings. Vittoria travels to Iraq with her friend, Fuad, a poet; they are there with the second Gulf War breaks out. Vittoria is injured. Attilio must get to her side, and then, as war rages around him, he must find her the medical care she needs. In war, does love conquer all?
Caterina in the Big City
Self
When her social-climbing father is relocated from small-town North to his native Rome, 12-year-old Caterina enrolls to his old school, finding herself in an completely different environment where students rigidly divide themselves in subcultures based on social class and their parents' political affiliation.
Coffee and Cigarettes
Roberto
Coffee And Cigarettes is a collection of eleven films from cult director Jim Jarmusch. Each film hosts star studded cast of extremely unique individuals who all share the common activities of conversing while drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes.
Fellini: I'm a Born Liar
Self - La Voce della Luna
A look at Fellini's creative process. In extensive interviews, Fellini talks a bit about his background and then discusses how he works and how he creates. Several actors, a producer, a writer, and a production manager talk about working with Fellini. Archive footage of Fellini and others on the set plus clips from his films provide commentary and illustration for the points interviewees make. Fellini is fully in charge; actors call themselves puppets. He dismisses improvisation and calls for "availability." His sets and his films create images that look like reality but are not; we see the differences and the results.
Cesare Zavattini
Self
Documentary about Italian film screenwriter Cesare Zavattini
Pinocchio
Story
Roberto Benigni adapts the classic children's tale by Carlo Collodi for the big-budget family-oriented comedy Pinocchio.
Pinocchio
Pinocchio
Roberto Benigni adapts the classic children's tale by Carlo Collodi for the big-budget family-oriented comedy Pinocchio.
Pinocchio
Screenplay
Roberto Benigni adapts the classic children's tale by Carlo Collodi for the big-budget family-oriented comedy Pinocchio.
Pinocchio
Director
Roberto Benigni adapts the classic children's tale by Carlo Collodi for the big-budget family-oriented comedy Pinocchio.
The Magic of Fellini
Self (archive footage)
Documentary with interviews and clips of Fellini's movies.
La strana coppia. Incontro con Age e Scarpelli
Self
Documentary about Italian screenwriting legends Agenore 'Age' Incrocci and Furio Scarpelli.
Asterix & Obelix Take on Caesar
Lucius Detritus
Set in 50 B.C., Asterix and Obelix are living in a small but well-protected village in Gaul, where a magic potion concocted by Druids turns the townsfolk into mighty soldiers. When Roman troops carve a path through Gaul to reach the English Channel, Caesar and his aide de camp Detritus discover the secret elixir and capture the Druid leader who knows its formula, and Asterix and Obelix are sent off to rescue them.
Life Is Beautiful
Story
A touching story of an Italian book seller of Jewish ancestry who lives in his own little fairy tale. His creative and happy life would come to an abrupt halt when his entire family is deported to a concentration camp during World War II. While locked up he tries to convince his son that the whole thing is just a game.
Life Is Beautiful
Guido Orefice
A touching story of an Italian book seller of Jewish ancestry who lives in his own little fairy tale. His creative and happy life would come to an abrupt halt when his entire family is deported to a concentration camp during World War II. While locked up he tries to convince his son that the whole thing is just a game.
Life Is Beautiful
Screenplay
A touching story of an Italian book seller of Jewish ancestry who lives in his own little fairy tale. His creative and happy life would come to an abrupt halt when his entire family is deported to a concentration camp during World War II. While locked up he tries to convince his son that the whole thing is just a game.
Life Is Beautiful
Director
A touching story of an Italian book seller of Jewish ancestry who lives in his own little fairy tale. His creative and happy life would come to an abrupt halt when his entire family is deported to a concentration camp during World War II. While locked up he tries to convince his son that the whole thing is just a game.
Tuttobenigni 95/96
Director
Benigni, alone on stage, speaks freely about politics, sex and religion.
Tuttobenigni 95/96
Roberto Benigni
Benigni, alone on stage, speaks freely about politics, sex and religion.
The Monster
Story
A vicious serial sex killer is on the loose, and landscape gardener and shop-window outfitter Loris is the prime suspect, thanks to his unfortunate habit of getting caught in compromising situations (for which there is always a totally innocent explanation that the police fail to spot). Undercover policewoman Jessica is assigned by eccentric police psychologist Taccone to follow Loris and ...
The Monster
Screenplay
A vicious serial sex killer is on the loose, and landscape gardener and shop-window outfitter Loris is the prime suspect, thanks to his unfortunate habit of getting caught in compromising situations (for which there is always a totally innocent explanation that the police fail to spot). Undercover policewoman Jessica is assigned by eccentric police psychologist Taccone to follow Loris and ...
The Monster
Director
A vicious serial sex killer is on the loose, and landscape gardener and shop-window outfitter Loris is the prime suspect, thanks to his unfortunate habit of getting caught in compromising situations (for which there is always a totally innocent explanation that the police fail to spot). Undercover policewoman Jessica is assigned by eccentric police psychologist Taccone to follow Loris and ...
The Monster
Loris
A vicious serial sex killer is on the loose, and landscape gardener and shop-window outfitter Loris is the prime suspect, thanks to his unfortunate habit of getting caught in compromising situations (for which there is always a totally innocent explanation that the police fail to spot). Undercover policewoman Jessica is assigned by eccentric police psychologist Taccone to follow Loris and ...
Son of the Pink Panther
Gendarme Jacques Gambrelli
The eighth and last of the Pink Panther series. The illegitimate son of Inspector Clouseau is on the case of the kidnapped Princess Yasmin.
Look to the Sky
Thanks
A Jewish boy living in Amsterdam at the onset of WWII is taken to a concentration camp with his parents. Based on the memoir of Holocaust survivor Jona Oberski.
Night on Earth
Cab Driver Rome
An anthology of 5 different cab drivers in 5 American and European cities and their remarkable fares on the same eventful night.
Johnny Stecchino
Story
Good hearted but not very wordly-wise, Dante is happy driving the school bus for a group of mentally handicapped children, while feeling he is somehow missing out on life and love. So he is very excited when after nearly being knocked down by her car he meets Maria, who seems immediately enamoured of him. He is soon invited to her sumptuous Palermo villa, little suspecting that this is part of a plot. He bears an amazing likeness to Maria's stool-pigeon gangster husband and it would be convenient for them if the mobster, in the shape of Dante, was seen to be dead and buried.
Johnny Stecchino
Screenplay
Good hearted but not very wordly-wise, Dante is happy driving the school bus for a group of mentally handicapped children, while feeling he is somehow missing out on life and love. So he is very excited when after nearly being knocked down by her car he meets Maria, who seems immediately enamoured of him. He is soon invited to her sumptuous Palermo villa, little suspecting that this is part of a plot. He bears an amazing likeness to Maria's stool-pigeon gangster husband and it would be convenient for them if the mobster, in the shape of Dante, was seen to be dead and buried.
Johnny Stecchino
Director
Good hearted but not very wordly-wise, Dante is happy driving the school bus for a group of mentally handicapped children, while feeling he is somehow missing out on life and love. So he is very excited when after nearly being knocked down by her car he meets Maria, who seems immediately enamoured of him. He is soon invited to her sumptuous Palermo villa, little suspecting that this is part of a plot. He bears an amazing likeness to Maria's stool-pigeon gangster husband and it would be convenient for them if the mobster, in the shape of Dante, was seen to be dead and buried.
Johnny Stecchino
Johnny Stecchino
Good hearted but not very wordly-wise, Dante is happy driving the school bus for a group of mentally handicapped children, while feeling he is somehow missing out on life and love. So he is very excited when after nearly being knocked down by her car he meets Maria, who seems immediately enamoured of him. He is soon invited to her sumptuous Palermo villa, little suspecting that this is part of a plot. He bears an amazing likeness to Maria's stool-pigeon gangster husband and it would be convenient for them if the mobster, in the shape of Dante, was seen to be dead and buried.
The Voice of the Moon
Ivo Salvini
A parable on the whisperings of the soul that only madmen and vagabonds are capable of hearing. Odd couple Ivo Salvini, recently released from a mental asylum, and former prefect Gonnella wander through the countryside and discover a dystopia made of television commercials, beauty pageants, rock music, Catholicism, and pagan rituals.
Verso La Luna Con Fellini
Himself
A rare, comical and up-close behind-the-scenes look at the late Italian director Federico Fellini, as he directs his last film, "La Voce Della Luna".
Mystery Train
Thanks
In Memphis, Tennessee, over the course of a single night, the Arcade Hotel, run by an eccentric night clerk and a clueless bellboy, is visited by a young Japanese couple traveling in search of the roots of rock; an Italian woman in mourning who stumbles upon a fleeing charlatan girl; and a comical trio of accidental thieves looking for a place to hide.
The Little Devil
Screenplay
Father Maurice, a priest living in a residential college for priests in Rome, is called out one day to "exorcise" the devil from someone. The devil turns out to be in the form of a fun-loving man called Giuditta. What Father Maurice doesn't know is that this type of devil will turn his life around.
The Little Devil
Story
Father Maurice, a priest living in a residential college for priests in Rome, is called out one day to "exorcise" the devil from someone. The devil turns out to be in the form of a fun-loving man called Giuditta. What Father Maurice doesn't know is that this type of devil will turn his life around.
The Little Devil
Director
Father Maurice, a priest living in a residential college for priests in Rome, is called out one day to "exorcise" the devil from someone. The devil turns out to be in the form of a fun-loving man called Giuditta. What Father Maurice doesn't know is that this type of devil will turn his life around.
The Little Devil
Giuditta
Father Maurice, a priest living in a residential college for priests in Rome, is called out one day to "exorcise" the devil from someone. The devil turns out to be in the form of a fun-loving man called Giuditta. What Father Maurice doesn't know is that this type of devil will turn his life around.
Down by Law
Roberto
A disc jockey, a pimp and an Italian tourist escape from jail in New Orleans.
Coffee and Cigarettes
Writer
In a vignette called "Strange to meet you," Roberto sits at a small table in a coffee bar. Five cups of coffee and two ashtrays are in front of him; he drinks and smokes. Steven joins him. They start a conversation about cigarettes and coffee. Steven likes to drink coffee before he sleeps, so he can dream faster. The conversation jumps around. "You know my mother?" asks Roberto. Steven describes coffee Popsicles. They switch seats; then switch back. Steven has to leave for a dental appointment he's not looking forward to. Roberto makes a startling offer, inspired no doubt by the coffee and cigarettes.
Coffee and Cigarettes
Roberto
In a vignette called "Strange to meet you," Roberto sits at a small table in a coffee bar. Five cups of coffee and two ashtrays are in front of him; he drinks and smokes. Steven joins him. They start a conversation about cigarettes and coffee. Steven likes to drink coffee before he sleeps, so he can dream faster. The conversation jumps around. "You know my mother?" asks Roberto. Steven describes coffee Popsicles. They switch seats; then switch back. Steven has to leave for a dental appointment he's not looking forward to. Roberto makes a startling offer, inspired no doubt by the coffee and cigarettes.
Nothing Left to Do but Cry
Screenplay
A teacher (Saverio) and a schoolkeeper (Mario) get lost in the Italian countryside. They find themselves in the late 15th century, they met Leonardo da Vinci and try to teach him how to play cards, they try to stop Columbus, they sing beatles's song etc...
Nothing Left to Do but Cry
Story
A teacher (Saverio) and a schoolkeeper (Mario) get lost in the Italian countryside. They find themselves in the late 15th century, they met Leonardo da Vinci and try to teach him how to play cards, they try to stop Columbus, they sing beatles's song etc...
Nothing Left to Do but Cry
Director
A teacher (Saverio) and a schoolkeeper (Mario) get lost in the Italian countryside. They find themselves in the late 15th century, they met Leonardo da Vinci and try to teach him how to play cards, they try to stop Columbus, they sing beatles's song etc...
Nothing Left to Do but Cry
Saverio
A teacher (Saverio) and a schoolkeeper (Mario) get lost in the Italian countryside. They find themselves in the late 15th century, they met Leonardo da Vinci and try to teach him how to play cards, they try to stop Columbus, they sing beatles's song etc...
Farewell to Enrico Berlinguer
Director
A film of Enrico Berlinguer's funeral in Rome, briefly tracing his career as leader of the Italian Communist Party.
Roberto Benigni: Tuttobenigni
Himself
A young Roberto Benigni in one of his first public show in Florence at Parco delle Cascine.
You Upset Me
Screenplay
The first movie directed by Roberto Benigni in four surreal short stories: "Durante Cristo" (During Christ), "Angelo" (Angel), , "In Banca" (At the Bank) and "I Due Militi" (The Two Soldiers). An excursus in Benigni's satirical views on man, religion and society.
You Upset Me
Story
The first movie directed by Roberto Benigni in four surreal short stories: "Durante Cristo" (During Christ), "Angelo" (Angel), , "In Banca" (At the Bank) and "I Due Militi" (The Two Soldiers). An excursus in Benigni's satirical views on man, religion and society.
You Upset Me
Benigno
The first movie directed by Roberto Benigni in four surreal short stories: "Durante Cristo" (During Christ), "Angelo" (Angel), , "In Banca" (At the Bank) and "I Due Militi" (The Two Soldiers). An excursus in Benigni's satirical views on man, religion and society.
You Upset Me
Director
The first movie directed by Roberto Benigni in four surreal short stories: "Durante Cristo" (During Christ), "Angelo" (Angel), , "In Banca" (At the Bank) and "I Due Militi" (The Two Soldiers). An excursus in Benigni's satirical views on man, religion and society.
FF.SS. cioè '...che mi hai portato a fare sopra a Posillipo se non mi vuoi più bene?'
Lo sceicco Beige
Morto Troisi, viva Troisi!
The anonymous childhood friend / Himself
The fake report about Troisi's death, with the direction of Troisi himself with Lello Arena and Anna Pavignano. A long of list people greet the comediam, from Gianni Boncompagni to Maria Giovanna Elmi. There is also Benigni, hidden behind a window, and Arena, his guardian angel.
The Soup
Il maestro
Rome, 1960. Four different people meet each other at the Olympics. They follow the games and become friends, talking about their sad lifes.
In the Pope's Eye
self
The Pope is disturbed by the fact that today's youth are not as spiritually inclined as they should be, and so he decides to set up a Vatican television station and entice them back into the religion of their ancestors. In order to particularly grab the wandering flock, a priest invites the comedians from "The Other Sunday," an actual comedy program on Italian television, to perform on this new channel.
I giorni cantati
Il professore
Seeking Asylum
Writer
A new teacher introduces radical ideas at a nursery school and it leads to various reactions from the students and the parents.
Seeking Asylum
Roberto
A new teacher introduces radical ideas at a nursery school and it leads to various reactions from the students and the parents.
Luna
Upholsterer
While touring in Italy, a recently-widowed American opera singer has an incestuous relationship with her 15-year-old son to help him overcome his heroin addiction.
Womanlight
Bartender at Clapsy's
Having both suffered extreme losses, a man and a woman try to form a relationship.
Tigers in Lipstick
The Principal
8 comic sketches set in Italy, with 4 of the most famous European sex symbols of the 70's playing 2 roles each.
Cinématon
N°801
Cinématon is a 156-hour long experimental film by French director Gérard Courant. It was the longest film ever released until 2011. Composed over 36 years from 1978 until 2006, it consists of a series of over 2,821 silent vignettes (cinématons), each 3 minutes and 25 seconds long, of various celebrities, artists, journalists and friends of the director, each doing whatever they want for the allotted time. Subjects of the film include directors Barbet Schroeder, Nagisa Oshima, Volker Schlöndorff, Ken Loach, Benjamin Cuq, Youssef Chahine, Wim Wenders, Joseph Losey, Jean-Luc Godard, Samuel Fuller and Terry Gilliam, chess grandmaster Joël Lautier, and actors Roberto Benigni, Stéphane Audran, Julie Delpy and Lesley Chatterley. Gilliam is featured eating a 100-franc note, while Fuller smokes a cigar. Courant's favourite subject was a 7-month-old baby. The film was screened in its then-entirety in Avignon in November 2009 and was screened in Redondo Beach, CA on April 9, 2010.
Il parolaio
Cliente
Vita da Cioni
Berlinguer: I Love You
Story
A young poet falls in love with a sophisticated woman who hates poetry. But the poet wants to win her with poetry — and a bit of help from his mum.
Berlinguer: I Love You
Mario Cioni
A young poet falls in love with a sophisticated woman who hates poetry. But the poet wants to win her with poetry — and a bit of help from his mum.
Berlinguer: I Love You
Screenplay
A young poet falls in love with a sophisticated woman who hates poetry. But the poet wants to win her with poetry — and a bit of help from his mum.