Tom Conti | |
|---|---|
 Conti in 2007 | |
| Born | Tommaso Antonio Conti (1941-11-22)22 November 1941 (age 84) Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland |
| Alma mater | Royal Conservatoire of Scotland |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1963–present |
| Spouse | |
| Children | Nina Conti |
| Relatives | Arthur Conti (grandson) |
Tommaso Antonio Conti (born 22 November 1941) is a Scottish stage, film and television actor. Conti has received numerous accolades including aTony Award, aLaurence Olivier Award and aNational Board of Review Award, as well as nominations for anAcademy Award, aBAFTA Award, aDavid di Donatello Award and twoGolden Globe Awards.
He won theTony Award for Best Actor in a Play and theLaurence Olivier Award for Actor of the Year in a New Play in role inWhose Life Is It Anyway? which he performed onBroadway and theWest End in 1978 and 1979. He also directed the Frank D. Gilroy playLast Licks (1979) on Broadway. Conti returned to the West End portrayingJeffrey Bernard in theKeith Waterhouse playJeffrey Bernard is Unwell (1989).
Conti received, among other notices and plaudits, nominations for both anAcademy Award for Best Actor and aGolden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama forReuben, Reuben (1983). He also acted in such films asThe Duellists (1977),Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983),American Dreamer (1984),Saving Grace (1986),The Quick and the Dead (1987),Shirley Valentine (1989),The Tempest (2010),The Dark Knight Rises (2012), andPaddington 2 (2017). Conti portrayedAlbert Einstein inChristopher Nolan'sOppenheimer (2023).
Conti was born on 22 November 1941 inPaisley, Renfrewshire, the son of hairdressers Mary McGoldrick and Alfonso Conti.[1] After being raisedRoman Catholic, he described himself asantireligious in 2011.[2] His father was Italian, while his mother was born and raised in Scotland to Irish parents.[3][4] Conti was educated at independent Catholic boys' school Hamilton Park[5]St Aloysius' College, Glasgow;[6] and at theRoyal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.[citation needed]
Conti is a theatre, film, and television actor. He began working with theDundee Repertory in 1959. He appeared on Broadway inWhose Life Is It Anyway? in 1979, and in London, he played the lead inJeffrey Bernard Is Unwell at theGarrick Theatre.[citation needed] Besides taking the leading role in the TV versions ofFrederic Raphael'sThe Glittering Prizes andAlan Ayckbourn'sThe Norman Conquests, Conti appeared in the "Princess and the Pea" episode of the family television seriesFaerie Tale Theatre, guest-starred onFriends andCosby, and played oppositeNigel Hawthorne in a long-running series ofVauxhall Astra car advertisements in theUnited Kingdom from the early to the mid-1990s.[citation needed]
Conti has appeared in such films asMerry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence,Reuben, Reuben,American Dreamer,Shirley Valentine,Miracles,Saving Grace,Dangerous Parking, andVoices Within: The Lives of Truddi Chase.[citation needed] Conti's novelThe Doctor, about a former secret operations pilot for intelligence services, was published in 2004. According to the foreword, his friendLynsey De Paul recommended the manuscript to publisher Jeremy Robson.[7]
He appeared in theBBC sitcomMiranda alongsideMiranda Hart andPatricia Hodge, as Miranda's father, in the 2010 seasonal episode "The Perfect Christmas".[citation needed] Most recently he portrayedAlbert Einstein inChristopher Nolan's 2023 thriller-dramaOppenheimer. The film had one of the most successful opening weekends of 2023, and received wide critical acclaim.[citation needed]
Conti has been married to Scottish actressKara Wilson since 1967. Their daughterNina is an actress who performs as aventriloquist. According to Nina, her parents have anopen marriage.[8]
Conti is a resident ofHampstead in northwest London, having lived in the area for several decades. Conti was part of a campaign against the opening of aTesco supermarket in nearbyBelsize Park.[9] Conti put his Hampstead house up for sale in 2015 for £17.5 million after his long-running opposition to the building plans of his neighbour, the footballerThierry Henry.[10] Conti had also opposed development plans for Hampstead's Grove Lodge, the 18th-centuryGrade II listed former home of novelistJohn Galsworthy.[11]
Conti participated in agenetic-mapping project conducted by the company ScotlandsDNA (now called BritainsDNA). In 2012, Conti and the company announced that Conti shares agenetic marker withNapoléon Bonaparte.[12] Conti said that he "burst out laughing" when told he was related to Napoléon on his father's side.[12]
Conti considered running as theConservative candidate in the2008 London mayoral election, but ultimately did not, and in the following election, in2012, he supported the unsuccessful independent candidateSiobhan Benita.[13] In the run up to the2015 general election, Conti said in an interview published in several newspapers that he was once aLabour supporter but had come to view socialism as a "religion" with a "vicious, hostile spirit".[14]
Film[edit]
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