Stanley Tucci (born January 11 or November 11, 1960; sources differ) is an American actor, writer, film producer and film director. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for performance in The Lovely Bones (2009), and won an Emmy Award for his performance in Winchell. He also was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children, for The One And Only Shrek.

 

Early life

Tucci, an Italian American, was born in Peekskill, New York,the son of Joan (née Tropiano), a secretary and writer, and Stanley Tucci, Sr., an art teacher at Horace Greeley High School in Chappaqua, New York. His grandfather Stanislaus Tucci was from the town of Marzi, in the province of Cosenza in Calabria. His sister is actress Christine Tucci, and his cousin is the screenwriter Joseph Tropiano. He grew up in Katonah, New York, and attended John Jay High School.[8] Tucci played on the John Jay soccer team and baseball teams; his main interest lay in the school's drama club, where he and fellow actor and high school buddy, Campbell Scott, son of actor George C. Scott, gave well-received performances at many of John Jay's drama club productions. Tucci attended SUNY Purchase, and completed his B.F.A. degree after four years in the school's Conservatory of Theatre Arts.

 

Career

Tucci made his Broadway debut in The Queen and the Rebels on September 30, 1982. His film debut was in Prizzi's Honor (1985). Tucci is known for his work in films such as The Pelican Brief, Beethoven, Kiss of Death, Road to Perdition and Big Night, and in the television series Murder One as the mysterious Richard Cross. Big Night (1996), which he co-wrote with his cousin Joseph Tropiano, starred in, and co-directed with Campbell Scott, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. The film also featured his sister Christine and mother, who wrote a cookbook for the film. It won him and Tropiano the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay.

 

He has been nominated three times for Golden Globes, and won twice – for his title role in Winchell (1998), and for his supporting role as Adolph Eichmann in Conspiracy (2001), both for HBO films. He also received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Winchell. He was nominated for Broadway's Tony Award as Best Actor in a Play for his role as Johnny in the 2002 revival of Terrence McNally's Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune.

 

In July 2006, Tucci made an appearance on the USA Network TV series Monk, in a performance that earned him a 2007 Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor – Comedy Series. Tucci's TV series, the medical drama 3 lbs., debuted on CBS in the 10:00 pm EDT time slot on November 14, 2006. It was canceled on November 30, 2006 due to low ratings. He can be heard as the voice over in the AT&T Wireless "Raising the Bar" marketing campaign. Tucci also played Nigel in the screen adaption of The Devil Wears Prada alongside Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt and Anne Hathaway. In 2007, Tucci had a recurring role in medical drama ER. In 2009, Tucci again starred opposite Meryl Streep in Julie & Julia playing husband Paul Child to her Julia Child.

 

That same year, Tucci portrayed George Harvey, a pedophile and serial killer of young girls, in The Lovely Bones, Peter Jackson's adaptation of Alice Sebold's novel, for which he received high critical praise and Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations. To prepare for the role, he consulted with retired FBI profiler John Douglas.

 

In 2010, Tucci directed a revival of the Ken Ludwig play Lend Me a Tenor on Broadway, starring Tony Shalhoub. Tucci played Dr. Abraham Erskine in Captain America: The First Avenger.

 

In July 2010, it was announced that Tucci will direct an upcoming comedy entitled Mommy & Me starring Meryl Streep and Tina Fey as mother and daughter.[12] In February 2011 it was reported that Tucci had been cast as the villain in Jack the Giant Slayer.[13]

 

On May 9, 2011, it was announced that Tucci would play Caesar Flickerman in The Hunger Games film (released 2012). On May 15, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Tucci also has joined the cast of Gambit, a remake of a 1966 film, which stars Colin Firth. He is also expected to star in David Yates' psychological drama film Your Voice in My Head.

 

Tucci was co-owner of the Finch Tavern restaurant in Croton Falls, New York. His cookbook, The Tucci Cookbook, will be released in autumn 2012 and feature simple family recipes.

 

Personal life

Tucci's first wife was Kathryn Louise Spath-Tucci (1962–2009), also known as Kate Tucci, who died of breast cancer. She was a social worker and the former wife of actor and stage manager Alexander R. Scott, the elder son of actors Colleen Dewhurst and George C. Scott. She and Tucci married in 1995 and had three children: twins Isabel Concetta and Nicolo Robert (born in 2000) and Camilla (born in 2002). The couple also raised Spath-Tucci's two children from her previous marriage. Tucci was separated from his wife between 2003 and 2004, during which time the actor dated Edie Falco.

 

In 2011, Tucci became engaged to Felicity Blunt (born 1981), a British literary agent and the elder sister of Tucci's The Devil Wears Prada co-star Emily Blunt, who introduced the couple several years after they worked together on Prada.[21] Blunt and Tucci were married in 2012.

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1987	Crime Story	Zack Lowman
1987	Kojak: The Price of Justice (1987)	1st Tenant
1988	The Street	Arthur Scolari
1986–1988	Miami Vice	Frank Mosca, Steven Demarco
1988	The Equalizer	Assymblyman Phillip Wingate
1988–1989	Wiseguy	Rick Pinzolo
1989–1990	thirtysomething	Karl Draconis
1990	Revealing Evidence: Stalking the Honolulu Stranger	Detective Patrick McGuire
1990	Lifestories	Art Conforti
1990–1991	Equal Justice	Detective Frank Mirelli
1995–1996	Murder One	Richard Cross
2000	Bull	Hunter Lasky
2004	Frasier	Morrie
2006	Monk	David Ruskin	Episode: Mr. Monk and the Actor 2007 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series
2006	3 lbs.	Dr. Douglas Hanson
2007–2008	ER	Dr. Kevin Moretti
2012	30 Rock	Henry Warren	Episode: Alexis Goodlooking and the Case of the Missing Whisky

Awards