Actor Profile: Paul Giamatti

Thirty-nine year old Paul Giamatti is not your typical Hollywood actor. Avoiding the spotlight, he chooses to live in Brooklyn, with his wife and young son, instead of in Hollywood. Despite his distance from the movie capitol of the world, Giamatti is one of the most sought after actors in Hollywood today. Giamatti has spent much of his career settling comfortably into supporting roles. The balding Giamatti looks more like a middle-aged father, or a character actor, than a Hollywood leading man. Even so, his acting chops are beginning to command leading roles on the big screen.

Paul Giamatti’s father was the late Bart Giamatti. Bart Giamatti was a professor at Yale University before briefly serving as the Commissioner of Major League Baseball. Paul’s father, Bart, was the Commissioner when Pete Rose was banned from baseball for life. Paul Giamatti followed his father to Yale, where he earned a Bachelors Degree in English and a Masters Degree in Fine Arts. After his education at Yale, Giamatti started his career in theater, appearing in numerous plays both on and off Broadway.

After leaving the theater, Giamatti landed small supporting roles on both TV and the big screen. Despite these appearances, he went largely unnoticed by the American public. Giamatti first gained national attention acting alongside Howard Stern, in the movie Private Parts. Playing “pig vomit”, the program director for Stern’s radio show in New York, he appeared in many memorable scenes, which earned him some well-deserved attention. Giamatti also earned the respect of Stern, who praised him for his exceptional performance. After Private Parts, Giamatti’s acting opportunities started to increase. Over the next several years, he appeared in Saving Private Ryan, The Truman Show, Doctor Dolittle, Man on the Moon, My Best Friend’s Wedding, Paycheck, Big Momma’s House, The Negotiator, and the 2001 remake of Planet of the Apes.