Al Pacino began studying acting in his teens and eventually made his way from the stage to the big screen. During his career he has brought a brooding seriousness and explosive rage to gritty roles, including those of gangster Michael Corleone in The Godfather (1972) and drug lord Tony Montana in Scarface (1983).

A versatile performer, he has starred in a diverse range of projects during his prolific career, appearing in countless stage productions and directing several films as well. He received an Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of a blind man in Scent of a Woman (1992) and in 2007 received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Film Institute.

Early Life

Alfredo James Pacino was born on April 25, 1940, to Salvatore and Rose Pacino in New York City. His parents split up when he was two years old, and Pacino and his mom moved in with his grandparents in the South Bronx.

Intelligent, but never motivated by school work, he found solace and fulfillment in acting, although his mother often disagreed with his choices.The two enjoyed a very close relationship, and Pacino was devastated by her death in 1962 after a long illness, as did his maternal grandfather the following year.

Aged 16, Pacino won a place at the prestigious High School for Performing Arts in Manhattan, but dropped out after just one year. He moved out of home and struggled to make ends meet on his own, and after years of off-off-Broadway work and basement plays, was accepted into Lee Strasberg's famed Actors Studio (which he eventually became president of in 2000).

Career

He began a career on the stage in the late '60s, picking up a Tony Award for a Broadway production of Does A Tiger Wear A Necktie? in 1969. As he transitioned to Hollywood, he made his big screen debut in 1971 as a heroin-addicted criminal in The Panic In Needle Park, but it was Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather the following year that truly ignited his career, nabbing him his first Oscar nomination. He was nominated eight more times, winning once in 1993 for Scent Of A Woman.

Pacino has starred in a string of acclaimed films including Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, ...And Justice For All, Glengarry Glen Ross, The Insider, Donnie Brasco, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, The Irishman, and House of Gucci. His most remembered performance, arguably, might be in Brian De Palma's controversially violent and groundbreaking Scarface as Tony Corleone. He is frequently considered one of the greatest actors of his generation and of the 20th century in general for his masterfully intense and layered performances.

Personal Life

While Pacino has never been married, he has had several high-profile romances, most of them with fellow actors, including Jill Clayburgh, Diane Keaton, Tuesday Weld, and Marthe Keller. A brief dalliance with acting coach Jan Tarrant in the late '80s resulted in the birth of his daughter Julie.

He was in a relationship with actress Beverly D'Angelo from 1997-2003, resulting in the birth of twins Anton and Olivia. After a decade-long relationship with Argentine actress Lucila Polak from 2008-2018, he entered into a relationship with producer Noor Alfallah, who is 54 years his junior. In June 2023, he and Noor welcomed their son Roman.

Awards and nominations

Pacino has won and been nominated for many awards during his acting career, including nine Oscar nominations (winning one) and five BAFTA nominations (winning one) for his film work; 18 Golden Globe nominations (winning four) and seven SAG Award nominations (winning two), each recognizing both his film and TV work; three Primetime Emmy Award nominations (winning two) solely for his work on television; and three Tony Award nominations (winning two) for his stage work. In 2007, the American Film Institute awarded Pacino with a lifetime achievement award and, in 2003, British television viewers voted Pacino as the greatest film star of all time in a poll for Channel 4.

FACTS

• Dropped out of high school at 17 to study acting in New York City at the HB Studio and the Actors Studio
• Early jobs included usher at Carnegie Hall and stand-up comic
• Breakthrough role of Michael Corleone in The Godfather (1972) was originally offered to Jack Nicholson, Robert Redford, Warren Beatty and Ryan O'Neal
• Turned down starring roles in Pretty Woman (1990), Apocalypse Now (1979) and Kramer vs
  Kramer (1979)
• First love is theater, especially Shakespeare; directed a feature-length documentary in 1996 called Looking for Richard, about his staging of Richard III
• Received the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007
• Lost weight to portray Jack Kevorkian in the 2010 HBO movie You Don't Know Jack; didn't meet Kevorkian until the night before the premiere of the film