Bentivoglio, Fabrizio

(1957-)

   Actor, screenwriter, director. One of the most accomplished of the younger actors who emerged in the 1980s, Bentivoglio studied at the school of the Piccolo Teatro of Milan and worked on the stage before making his film debut as the young Dumas in Mauro Bolognini's La storia vera della signora delle camelie (The True Story of Camille, 1980). After appearing in a handful of minor parts and then taking major roles in Gabriele Salvatores's Marrakech Express (1989) and Turne (1990), which he cowrote, he won the Volpi Cup at the Venice Festival in 1993 for his powerful performance in Silvio Soldini's Un'anima divisa in due (A Soul Split in Two). He subsequently became one of the best-known faces on the Italian screen, appearing in, among a host of others, Gia-como Campiotti's Come due coccodrilli (Like Two Crocodiles, 1994), Michel Placido's Un eroe borghese (Ordinary Hero, 1995), Paolo and Vittorio Taviani's Le affinita elettive (The Elective Affinities, 1996) and Pasquale Pozzessere's Testimone a rischio (An Eyewitness Account, 1997), where his role as the courageous witness willing to testify to a Mafia killing earned him his first David di Donatello.He was awarded a second David for his supporting role in Placido's Del perduto amore (Of Lost Love, 1999) and a year later his first attempt at directing himself in Tipota (1999) earned him a nomination for the David for Best Short Film. His most memorable recent appearances have been as the father in Gabriele Muccino's enormously popular Ricordati di me (Remember Me, My Love, 2003) and as the older brother in Sergio Rubini's La terra (The Land, 2006).