Shull, Evan Roberts, Gabriel De Silva, Jennifer Gareis, Mandy Fabian, Ali Marsh, Scott Cohen, James Villemaire, Wendy Hoopes, Richard Russell Ramos, Gordon Joseph Weiss, Allison Furman, Julie Gawkowski, Davenia McFadden, Michael C. Hammer, Ted Nugent, Ozzy Osbourne, John Popper, Slash, Renee Suran, Dee Snider, Tiny Tim, Steven Gilborn, Curtis McClarin, Richard B. The last word "If I went to an analyst to figure out why I became an actor, I probably wouldn't be able to act any more.All actors – Howard Stern, Robin Quivers, Mary McCormack, Fred Norris, Paul Giamatti, Gary Dell'Abate, Jackie Martling, Carol Alt, Richard Portnow, Kelly Bishop, Henry Goodman, Jonathan Hadary, Paul Hecht, Allison Janney, Michael Murphy, James Murtaugh, Reni Santoni, Lee Wilkof, Melanie Good, Theresa Lynn, Amber Smith, Althea Cassidy, Jenna Jameson, Bobby Boriello, Michael Maccarone, Matthew Friedman, John Michael Bolger, John Stamos, Chris Barron, Flavor Flav, M.C. Need to know His father was a major league baseball commissioner, which is something important if you understand baseball. Still, you've gotta pay the bills somehow, right? A "comedy" about a boy farting, and British to boot. Hell, it's better than Otis.Ĭareer low Thunderpants. But the way Giamatti finds redemption through crooning Try A Little Tenderness is tearjerking. Truth's ugly.Ĭareer high Gwynnie's dad Bruce Paltrow made a film about karaoke singers, Duets. Which makes his triumph of the ill all the more un-American and, well, splendid. Creeps and weirdos tend not to clean up in Movieworld. Giamatti's persona's beyond fearing it: he knows it. "We hoped this could be his Marty," say the film's directors, Marty being Ernest Borgnine's 1955 Oscar-winning role as a man who fears no woman will ever want him.
Thankfully, American Splendor has got Giamatti's party started. Only Todd Solondz knew how best to use him, allowing him to ooze anxiety and self-doubt as the wannabe film-maker in Storytelling. But it still wasn't quite happening for him: witness the nadirs of Thunderpants and Big Fat Liar. He almost capitalised, making ninth-string appearances in Donnie Brasco, The Truman Show, Saving Private Ryan and Planet Of The Apes (now that's casting). As the shock-jock's would-be nemesis, we weren't supposed to root for his worm-like symbol of authority, but he made Stern seem as hilarious as Chris Moyles. His first big splash in movies came as the cutely named Pig Vomit in Howard Stern biopic Private Parts. He's done Chekhov on Broadway, made the obligatory visits to NYPD Blue and Homicide.
In fact, Giamatti's already covering Affleck's wooden ass in John Woo's new action-fest, Paycheck. You know, the doomed guy whose physically untoned nerdiness (lent colour by something called acting) contrasts with the all-conquering ruggedness of the charismatic lead male, or Ben Affleck. Steve Buscemi and Philip Seymour Hoffman should start looking over their deliberately dandruff-flecked shoulders as Giamatti gets offers like Third Astronaut or Fourth Cop in the next two years' blockbusters.
Giamatti does geek like Cruise does hero. After fleeting acclaim for unselfish turns in films good and bad, he's finally hit the so-uncool-he's-übercool mark in American Splendor, playing comic-book geek icon Harvey Pekar.Īlways that word, geek.
He's everything the average man hopes he isn't, and fears he might be. S hifty, sweaty, slightly greasy, possibly malodorous and tormented by twitches and tics, the onscreen Paul Giamatti is uncannily great at communicating his discomfort with himself.