60 Fun Facts About Al Pacino

In which New York neighbourhood was Al Pacino born in 1940?

Pacino was born in East Harlem, Manhattan, on April 25, 1940; after his parents divorced when he was two, his mother moved him to the South Bronx to live with her parents.

Pacino's maternal grandparents had emigrated to New York from which Sicilian town?

Corleone: his mother Rose Gerardi's parents came from Corleone, Sicily, the town whose name Mario Puzo borrowed for the Godfather family; Pacino grew up in their South Bronx home.

Pacino's memoir title 'Sonny Boy' was his mother's nickname for him, from a song by whom?

Al Jolson: Pacino's mother sang him Jolson's 1928 hit 'Sonny Boy', and the nickname became the title of his 2024 memoir.

Which junior high teacher visited Pacino's grandmother to say he was 'made to do this'?

Blanche Rothstein, his junior high teacher, cast him in school plays and visited his grandmother to say he was 'made to do this'; he went on to the High School of Performing Arts.

Rejected by the Actors Studio as a teen, Pacino trained at which school, where he met mentor Charlie Laughton?

HB (Herbert Berghof) Studio took Pacino in after the Actors Studio turned him down as a teenager; there he met Charlie Laughton, the teacher who became his lifelong mentor.

Under which teacher did Pacino study method acting at the Manhattan academy that had once rejected him?

Strasberg later acted alongside him in The Godfather Part II and ...And Justice for All.

How old was Pacino when his mother died, a year before his grandfather also died?

He was 22 when his mother Rose died in 1962; his maternal grandfather died the following year, and Pacino said losing both sent him into a tailspin.

For which 1968 off-Broadway play, in which he played the street punk Murph, did Pacino win an Obie Award?

The Indian Wants the Bronx, Israel Horovitz's 1968 one-act, won Pacino the Obie for Best Actor as the punk Murph; John Cazale played Gupta, and manager Martin Bregman signed Pacino after seeing it.

Which actress did Pacino meet on stage in Boston in 1967, beginning a five-year romance?

Jill Clayburgh met Pacino doing theatre in Boston in 1967; they lived together in New York until 1972, and she later starred in An Unmarried Woman.

Pacino won his first Tony Award in 1969 for which play, which closed after just 39 performances?

Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie? was Pacino's Broadway debut, at the Belasco Theatre in 1969; it closed after 39 performances, but his Bickham won the Tony for Best Featured Actor in a Play.

Pacino's first lead film role, in 1971, cast him as what?

A heroin addict: in The Panic in Needle Park (1971) Pacino played Bobby, a small-time hustler strung out around Manhattan's Sherman Square, opposite Kitty Winn; he had debuted in Me, Natalie in 1969.

Which character did Pacino play in The Godfather?

Michael Corleone, the war-hero youngest son who takes over the family, was Coppola's choice despite Paramount's push for a bigger star; Pacino's performance earned a Best Supporting Actor nomination.

According to his 2024 memoir, why did Pacino really skip the Oscars ceremony for The Godfather?

In Sonny Boy Pacino writes that he was terrified by his sudden fame and stayed in Boston, where he was doing a Shakespeare play on stage, rather than attend the 1973 ceremony; he denies snubbing the supporting category.

Which 1973 film pairing Pacino with Gene Hackman won the Palme d'Or at Cannes?

Scarecrow, Jerry Schatzberg's 1973 road movie with Pacino and Gene Hackman as drifters Lion and Max, shared the Grand Prix (the Palme d'Or) at Cannes with The Hireling.

Serpico (1973) told the true story of a New York policeman who did what?

Serpico's Frank Serpico went undercover to expose corrupt fellow officers: the real plainclothes cop refused bribes, went to the New York Times in 1970 and testified to the Knapp Commission.

What Academy Awards first did The Godfather Part II (1974) achieve?

First sequel to win Best Picture: The Godfather Part II took six Oscars in 1975, including Best Picture and Best Director for Francis Ford Coppola, a feat no sequel had managed before.

Dog Day Afternoon (1975) was based on the true story of which bank robber?

John Wojtowicz robbed a Brooklyn Chase Manhattan branch in August 1972 to fund his partner's gender-confirmation surgery; Pacino's Sonny Wortzik is based on him, and the 14-hour standoff gave the film its 'Attica!' chant.

In Bobby Deerfield, Pacino played what kind of sportsman?

A racing driver: Bobby Deerfield is a Formula One driver who falls for a terminally ill woman, played by Marthe Keller; Sydney Pollack directed, and the role brought Pacino a Golden Globe nomination.

What had Pacino done with the Kramer vs. Kramer role that won the 1979 Oscar?

Turned it down: Pacino passed on the role of Ted Kramer, and the actor who took it beat Pacino's ...And Justice for All performance for the 1979 Best Actor Oscar.

Which 1980 Pacino film drew protests from New York's gay community during filming?

Cruising, William Friedkin's thriller with Pacino as a cop hunting a killer in Manhattan's gay leather bars, was picketed during its 1979 shoot by activists who called it homophobic.

What is the name of the Cuban drug lord Pacino plays in Scarface (1983)?

Tony Montana, the Cuban refugee who builds a Miami cocaine empire in Brian De Palma's Scarface, gave Pacino the line 'Say hello to my little friend'; the film became a hip-hop touchstone.

Which 1985 Hugh Hudson flop drove Pacino away from films until 1989?

Revolution, Hugh Hudson's 1985 epic with Pacino as fur trapper Tom Dobb, was savaged by critics; he blamed a rushed production and stayed off screen until 1989, returning to the stage instead.

Pacino returned to film in 1989 playing a detective hunting a killer who finds victims through what?

Newspaper singles ads: in Sea of Love (1989) Pacino's detective Frank Keller dates women who answered rhyming personal ads, one of them Ellen Barkin's Helen, to catch a killer.

For playing which villain in Dick Tracy (1990) did Pacino earn an Oscar nomination?

Big Boy Caprice, the hunchbacked mob boss under heavy prosthetics in Warren Beatty's Dick Tracy, earned Pacino a Best Supporting Actor nomination at the 1991 Oscars.

Which Scarface co-star reunited with Pacino as the waitress in Frankie and Johnny (1991)?

Michelle Pfeiffer, who had played Elvira in Scarface, was the waitress Frankie to Pacino's short-order cook Johnny; Kathy Bates had originated the role off-Broadway in 1987.

For which film did Pacino finally win the Academy Award for Best Actor?

Scent of a Woman (1992) won Pacino the Best Actor Oscar as the blind, retired Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade, whose 'Hoo-ah!' became a catchphrase.

The year he won Best Actor, Pacino was also a supporting nominee for which film?

Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) earned Pacino a Best Supporting Actor nomination as salesman Ricky Roma in the same year he won Best Actor, making him the first man nominated for two different films at once.

Which Michael Mann film first put Pacino and Robert De Niro in a scene together?

Heat (1995): Michael Mann put Pacino's Vincent Hanna and De Niro's Neil McCauley across a coffee-shop table, their first shared scene; they had no scenes together in The Godfather Part II.

Pacino's 1996 directorial debut, a docudrama, explored which Shakespeare play?

Richard III: Looking for Richard mixes rehearsals, street interviews and staged scenes from Shakespeare's play, with Pacino as the hunchbacked king; it won him a Directors Guild documentary award.

Pacino's law-firm boss opposite Keanu Reeves in a 1997 thriller turns out to be whom?

Satan: in The Devil's Advocate Pacino's John Milton, head of a Manhattan law firm, is revealed as the devil tempting Keanu Reeves's young lawyer Kevin Lomax.

In Donnie Brasco (1997), Pacino played a gangster known by what nickname?

Lefty: Pacino's Benjamin 'Lefty' Ruggiero is the ageing Bonanno-family soldier who vouches for Johnny Depp's undercover FBI agent Joe Pistone, the real Donnie Brasco.

In The Insider (1999), Pacino played Lowell Bergman, a producer for which TV programme?

60 Minutes: Lowell Bergman was the CBS newsmagazine's producer who fought to air Jeffrey Wigand's tobacco-industry interview in 1995; Russell Crowe played Wigand in Michael Mann's film.

Christopher Nolan directed Pacino opposite Robin Williams in which 2002 remake of a Norwegian film?

Insomnia (2002) remade Erik Skjoldbjærg's 1997 Norwegian thriller, with Pacino as a sleepless LA detective hunting Robin Williams's killer under Alaska's midnight sun; it was Nolan's follow-up to Memento.

Pacino won his first Emmy playing lawyer Roy Cohn in which 2003 HBO miniseries?

Angels in America, Mike Nichols's HBO adaptation of Tony Kushner's Pulitzer-winning play, cast Pacino as the closeted, AIDS-stricken lawyer Roy Cohn and won him the 2004 Emmy for Lead Actor in a Miniseries.

Which Shakespeare role did Pacino play in a 2004 film and on Broadway in 2010, earning a Tony nomination?

Shylock: Pacino played the Venetian moneylender in Michael Radford's 2004 film of The Merchant of Venice and again in Daniel Sullivan's Shakespeare in the Park staging, which moved to Broadway in 2010.

Pacino refused the 2006 Godfather video game but allowed his likeness in which game?

Scarface: The World Is Yours (2006) used Pacino's likeness but not his voice; he chose André Sogliuzzo to voice the character, while EA's Godfather game had to render his character without his face or voice.

Pacino played casino tycoon Willy Bank, the villain of which 2007 heist sequel?

Ocean's Thirteen (2007): Pacino's Willy Bank cheats Reuben out of his casino, so Danny Ocean's crew rigs every game to bankrupt The Bank on its opening night.

Pacino won his second Emmy playing which physician-assisted-suicide advocate in a 2010 HBO film?

Jack Kevorkian, the Michigan pathologist who helped dozens of terminally ill patients die, was played by Pacino in You Don't Know Jack; the role won him the 2010 Emmy and a Golden Globe.

Pacino 'won' a Razzie for Worst Supporting Actor for playing himself in which 2011 Adam Sandler comedy?

Jack and Jill earned Pacino the Razzie for Worst Supporting Actor, playing himself smitten with Adam Sandler in drag; he later said he took it because his jailed accountant had left him broke.

Which real-life college football coach did Pacino play in a 2018 HBO film?

Joe Paterno: in Barry Levinson's Paterno (2018) Pacino played the Penn State coach during the two weeks in 2011 when the Jerry Sandusky abuse scandal ended his 46-season career.

Whom did Pacino play in Martin Scorsese's The Irishman (2019), earning his ninth Oscar nomination?

Jimmy Hoffa, the Teamsters boss who vanished in 1975, was Pacino's first role for Scorsese; Robert De Niro played Frank Sheeran, Hoffa's supposed killer, and Joe Pesci played Russell Bufalino.

In the Amazon series Hunters (2020-2023), Pacino played Meyer Offerman, a hunter of what?

Nazis: in Hunters Pacino's Meyer Offerman leads a 1970s New York team tracking Nazi war criminals hiding in America; it was his first regular television series role.

Which member of the fashion dynasty did Pacino play in Ridley Scott's House of Gucci (2021)?

Aldo Gucci, the expansive patriarch who built the brand's American business, was Pacino's role; Jared Leto played his son Paolo, and Jeremy Irons played his brother Rodolfo, Maurizio's father.

Which artist is the subject of Johnny Depp's 2024 film featuring Pacino as a collector?

Amedeo Modigliani: Depp's film, adapted from Dennis McIntyre's play, follows the Italian painter through a few chaotic days in 1916 Paris, with Riccardo Scamarcio as Modigliani and Pacino as collector Maurice Gangnat.

How many children does Pacino have?

The youngest was born in June 2023, when he was 83, making him one of the oldest fathers on record; he has never married.

With which Godfather co-star did Pacino have an on-off relationship that ended after Part III?

Diane Keaton, who played Kay in every Godfather film, had an on-off romance with Pacino that ended around Part III in 1990; his later partners included Beverly D'Angelo, mother of his twins.

In which year did Pacino achieve sobriety after abusing alcohol and pills post-Godfather?

1977: Pacino stopped drinking that year, ending the alcohol and pill abuse that had followed The Godfather's sudden fame.

How many Pacino lines made the AFI's list of the 100 greatest movie quotations?

Three: 'Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer' (The Godfather Part II), 'Say hello to my little friend!' (Scarface) and 'Attica! Attica!' (Dog Day Afternoon) all made the AFI's 2005 list.

In which 1996 film did Pacino play New York mayor John Pappas?

City Hall (1996) cast Pacino as charismatic New York mayor John Pappas, with John Cusack as his idealistic deputy; Harold Becker directed.

Which Bob Dylan song mixes 'the Scarface Pacino and the Godfather Brando' in a tank?

My Own Version of You, from Dylan's 2020 album Rough and Rowdy Ways, has the narrator mixing 'the Scarface Pacino and the Godfather Brando' in a tank to build a 'robot commando'.

Which honour did Shakespeare's Globe give Pacino in June 2026?

Ron Rosenbaum once called him 'the Hamlet of Hollywood'.

Which 1993 Brian De Palma film starred Pacino as an ex-convict trying to go straight?

Carlito's Way (1993) reunited Pacino with Scarface director Brian De Palma as Carlito Brigante, a Puerto Rican ex-convict trying to go straight, with Sean Penn as his crooked lawyer Dave Kleinfeld.

How many Oscar nominations did Pacino receive during the 1970s?

Five: a supporting nomination for The Godfather (1972) and Best Actor nods for Serpico, The Godfather Part II, Dog Day Afternoon and ...And Justice for All.

Which director made both Serpico and Dog Day Afternoon with Pacino?

Sidney Lumet directed Pacino in Serpico (1973) and Dog Day Afternoon (1975), both shot on New York streets; each brought Pacino a Best Actor nomination.

For which David Rabe play did Pacino win his second Tony Award?

The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel, David Rabe's Vietnam-era play, won Pacino his second Tony, for Best Actor in a Play, as the naive army recruit Pavlo.

In 2003 British viewers voted Pacino the Greatest Movie Star of All Time in a poll by which broadcaster?

Channel 4's 2003 viewer poll The 100 Greatest Movie Stars put Pacino in first place, the result revealed in a countdown programme on the British broadcaster.

Which US president presented Pacino with the National Medal of Arts in 2011 and the Kennedy Center Honors in 2016?

Barack Obama presented Pacino's 2011 National Medal of Arts at a White House ceremony in February 2012 and hosted the December 2016 Kennedy Center Honors class, his last as president.

Which 2015 film cast Pacino as an ageing rocker who finds a letter from John Lennon?

Danny Collins (2015), written and directed by Dan Fogelman, stars Pacino as a jaded rocker inspired to change his life by a decades-old letter from John Lennon, with Annette Bening and Bobby Cannavale.

Per his memoir, what did Pacino do with his fee from William Friedkin's 1980 thriller?

Donated it anonymously to a charitable trust: in Sonny Boy Pacino writes that his unease about the finished film led him to give away his whole fee, telling no one at the time.

Which Pacino movie moment was re-recorded in 2023 to promote the UN's Sustainable Development Goals?

The 'inch by inch' talk in Any Given Sunday: for the Global Goals' 'Halftime' campaign in 2023, marking the halfway point to the 2030 deadline, Pacino re-recorded his locker-room speech.