Valerio Mastandrea

Valerio Mastandrea — Biography

Valerio Mastandrea was born in Rome on 14 February 1972. As a philosophy student in the early 1990s, he built some early visibility through regular guest spots on Maurizio Costanzo Show, a late-night program on Canale 5; small stage and screen parts followed before his breakout as Tarcisio in Claudio Fragasso's 1995 film Palermo - Milan One Way.

In 1997 he took the lead in the sleeper hit Tutti giù per terra as Walter, a role that also brought him the acting prize at the Locarno festival that year. The First Beautiful Thing brought him a David di Donatello as best actor in 2010, and three years later he collected two more of the same award in a single year — best actor for a film by Ivano De Matteo and best supporting actor for Roberto Andò's Long Live Freedom. His directorial debut, Ride, was recognized at the Moscow festival.

Credited in close to fifty films spanning both comedy and drama, Mastandrea is counted among the leading figures of the renewed generation of Italian cinema, with roles in Perfect Strangers, the Diabolik trilogy and The First Beautiful Thing.