An actor and director, Nino Manfredi studied a the Accademia D’Arte Drammatica with Tino Buazzelli, Paolo Danelli, Giancarlo Sbragia, Luciano Salce and Luigi Squarzina. A student of Orazio Costa, he also worked alongside Eduardo De Filippo and appeared in skits, musical comedies and television and radio shows.

 

A great interpreter of Italian comedy, under the guidance of famous directors such as Dino Risi, Ettore Scola and Antonio Petrangeli, he added to the realistic base of his performance a unique flash of surrealism or a vein of bitter sarcasm, almost always bringing to the surface a deep yet completely controlled irony which often takes on a dramatic hue.

 

As a director, in 1971, he won the Best First Work Award at the Cannes Film Festival for his autobiographical film Per Grazia Ricevuta. He also won the Nastro d’Argento Award for Best Actor: in 1966 with Lina Wertmüller’s Questa Volta Parliamo di Uomini, in 1970 with Luigi Magni’s film Nell’anno del Signore and in 1978 with the film In nome del Papa re.

 

He also worked with other well-known directors such as: Nanni Loy, Mario Camerini, Luigi Zampa, Damiano Damiani, Sergio Corbucci, Giuliano Montaldo, Giulio Paradisi, Maurizio Ponzi, Castellano and Pipolo.

 

He has taken part in many important European productions such as Helsinki Napoli All Night Long (1987), Mika Kaurismäki’s Napoli-Berlino, un taxi nella notte, Jos Stelling’s De Vliegende Hollander (1995).