60 Fun Facts About Al Pacino

In which New York neighbourhood was Al Pacino born in 1940?

After his parents divorced when he was two, his mother took him to the South Bronx to live with her parents, who had emigrated from Corleone.

Pacino's maternal grandparents had emigrated from which Sicilian town, later famous from his films?

His father came from San Fratello and moved to California to sell insurance and run a restaurant.

Pacino's memoir title 'Sonny Boy' was his mother's nickname for him, from a song by whom?

His teenage friends preferred 'Pistachio', after his favourite ice-cream flavour, and 'The Actor'.

Which junior high teacher visited Pacino's grandmother to say he was 'made to do this'?

She cast him in school plays and had him read Bible passages at assemblies; he then auditioned into the High School of Performing Arts.

Rejected by the Actors Studio as a teen, Pacino trained at which school, where he met mentor Charlie Laughton?

He cleaned the hallways and dance studios in exchange for free classes, and practised Shakespeare soliloquies wandering the streets at night.

Under which teacher did Pacino study method acting at the Manhattan academy that had once rejected him?

Strasberg later acted alongside him in The Godfather Part II and ...And Justice for All.

How old was Pacino when his mother died in 1962, a year before his grandfather also died?

'The two most influential people in my life had gone, so that sent me into a tailspin,' he recalled.

For which 1968 off-Broadway play, in which he played the street punk Murph, did Pacino win an Obie Award?

Manager Martin Bregman saw it and signed him; John Cazale won the supporting Obie for the same show.

Which actress did Pacino meet on stage in Boston in 1967, beginning a five-year romance?

Her father sent the struggling couple money every month; she was then playing Grace Bolton on the soap Search for Tomorrow.

Pacino won his first Tony Award in 1969 for which play, which closed after just 39 performances?

It was his Broadway debut, at the Belasco Theater; the reviews were raves even as the show folded.

In his first lead film role, The Panic in Needle Park (1971), Pacino played what?

His screen debut had been a brief appearance in Me, Natalie two years earlier.

Which character did Pacino play in The Godfather?

Studio executives wanted a bigger name; Nicholson, Redford, Beatty and an unknown Robert De Niro had all tried out.

According to his 2024 memoir, why did Pacino really skip the Oscars ceremony for The Godfather?

He called the long-standing rumour that he was insulted at being nominated as supporting actor 'appalling'.

Which 1973 film pairing Pacino with Gene Hackman won the Palme d'Or at Cannes?

The same year Serpico brought his first Best Actor nomination.

Serpico (1973) told the true story of a New York policeman who did what?

Frank Serpico is now on the AFI's list of the 100 greatest screen heroes.

What Academy Awards milestone did The Godfather Part II (1974) achieve?

Newsweek called Pacino's performance 'arguably cinema's greatest portrayal of the hardening of a heart'.

Dog Day Afternoon (1975) was based on the true story of which bank robber?

Sidney Lumet directed, as he had Serpico; 'Attica! Attica!' made the AFI list of great movie quotes.

In Bobby Deerfield (1977), Pacino played what kind of sportsman?

Sydney Pollack directed and the title role brought a Golden Globe nomination.

Pacino lost the 1979 Oscar to Hoffman for Kramer vs. Kramer, a role Pacino had done what with?

Pacino's own nomination that year was for the courtroom drama ...And Justice for All: 'The whole trial is out of order!'

Which 1980 film, protested by New York's gay community, did Pacino later call 'exploitative'?

He revealed the anonymous donation to an irrevocable trust in his memoir Sonny Boy.

What is the name of the Cuban drug lord Pacino plays in Scarface (1983)?

Critics panned the violence at first; the film has since been quoted by Jay-Z, Nas, Nicki Minaj and Bob Dylan.

Which 1985 flop about a Revolutionary War fur trapper sent Pacino into a four-year break from films?

He blamed a rushed production and went back to the stage, including Julius Caesar for Joseph Papp in 1988.

Pacino returned to film in 1989 playing a detective hunting a killer who finds victims through what?

Sea of Love earned solid reviews and relaunched his career.

For playing which villain in Dick Tracy (1990) did Pacino earn an Oscar nomination?

Roger Ebert called him 'the scene-stealer' of the film.

Which Scarface co-star reunited with Pacino as the waitress in Frankie and Johnny (1991)?

Kathy Bates had played the part in Terrence McNally's original off-Broadway play.

For which film did Pacino finally win the Academy Award for Best Actor?

He played the blind Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade; 'Hoo-ah!' followed him for the rest of his career.

The year he won Best Actor, Pacino was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor for which film, a first for a man?

He was the first man nominated for two different films in the same year to win the lead award.

Which Michael Mann film first put Pacino and Robert De Niro in a scene together?

They had both been in The Godfather Part II but never shared a scene; Righteous Kill and The Irishman came later.

Pacino's 1996 directorial debut, a docudrama, explored which Shakespeare play?

The docudrama won him a Directors Guild award; Alec Baldwin, Kevin Spacey and Winona Ryder took part.

Whom did Pacino play opposite Keanu Reeves in The Devil's Advocate (1997)?

Roger Ebert said the part was played 'with relish bordering on glee'.

In Donnie Brasco (1997), Pacino played a gangster known by what nickname?

Johnny Depp played the undercover FBI agent who brings down the Mafia from inside.

In The Insider (1999), Pacino played Lowell Bergman, a producer for which TV programme?

Russell Crowe co-starred as the tobacco whistleblower; the same year Pacino made Any Given Sunday for Oliver Stone.

Christopher Nolan directed Pacino opposite Robin Williams in which 2002 remake of a Norwegian film?

Newsweek wrote that he 'can play small as rivetingly as he can play big'.

Pacino won his first Emmy playing lawyer Roy Cohn in which 2003 HBO miniseries?

It was adapted from Tony Kushner's Pulitzer-winning play and also brought his third Golden Globe.

Which Shakespeare role did Pacino play in a 2004 film and on Broadway in 2010, earning a Tony nomination?

The Shakespeare in the Park production took $1 million in its first Broadway week.

Pacino refused the 2006 Godfather video game but allowed his likeness in which game?

His character still appears in the Godfather game, just without his face or voice.

Pacino played casino tycoon Willy Bank, the villain of which 2007 heist sequel?

Danny Ocean's crew set out to ruin him on opening night.

Pacino won his second Emmy playing which physician-assisted-suicide advocate in a 2010 HBO film?

You Don't Know Jack also brought his fourth Golden Globe.

Pacino 'won' a Razzie for Worst Supporting Actor for playing himself in which 2011 Adam Sandler comedy?

He took the job, he said, after discovering his jailed accountant had left him with no money.

Which real-life college football coach did Pacino play in a 2018 HBO film?

It was based on a 2012 biography by sportswriter Joe Posnanski.

Whom did Pacino play in Martin Scorsese's The Irishman (2019), earning his ninth Oscar nomination?

It was the first time Scorsese had directed him, alongside De Niro and Joe Pesci.

In the Amazon series Hunters (2020-2023), Pacino played Meyer Offerman, a hunter of what?

It was his first TV series since Angels in America.

Which member of the fashion dynasty did Pacino play in Ridley Scott's House of Gucci (2021)?

Critics singled out his performance alongside Lady Gaga's and Jared Leto's.

Which artist is the subject of Modi, Three Days on the Wing of Madness, the 2024 film Pacino made with Johnny Depp?

It is based on a Dennis McIntyre play that had also been filmed in 2004.

How many children does Pacino have?

The youngest was born in June 2023, when he was 83, making him one of the oldest fathers on record; he has never married.

With which Godfather co-star did Pacino have an on-off relationship that ended after Part III?

His later partners included Beverly D'Angelo, mother of his twins, and Argentine actress Lucila Polak.

In which year did Pacino achieve sobriety after abusing alcohol and pills post-Godfather?

He insists in his memoir that, despite the Scarface assumption, he has never taken cocaine in his life.

How many Pacino lines made the AFI's list of the 100 greatest movie quotations?

'Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer', 'Say hello to my little friend!' and 'Attica! Attica!'

Which two actors are named as Pacino's most notable impersonators?

Vulture called him 'the inimitable Al Pacino, although he is the most imitated actor in the world'.

Which Bob Dylan song mixes 'the Scarface Pacino and the Godfather Brando' in a tank?

The 2020 lyric imagines building a 'robot commando' from the two.

Which honour did Shakespeare's Globe give Pacino in June 2026?

Ron Rosenbaum once called him 'the Hamlet of Hollywood'.

Which of these actors is NOT named among those who tried out for Michael Corleone before Coppola chose Pacino?

Studio executives wanted a bigger name; the little-known Robert De Niro also auditioned.

How many Oscar nominations did Pacino receive during the 1970s?

Four were for Best Actor: Serpico, The Godfather Part II, Dog Day Afternoon and ...And Justice for All.

Which director made both Serpico and Dog Day Afternoon with Pacino?

Lumet said everything Pacino does 'stems from some incredible core inside of him'.

What nickname did longtime advisor Charlie Laughton give Pacino for his bohemian-outside, traditional-inside life?

Friends describe him as gentle and compassionate, 'the opposite of his characters', and he went years without a press agent.

In 2003 British viewers voted Pacino the Greatest Movie Star of All Time in a poll by which broadcaster?

Esquire ranked him sixth on its 2022 list of the 100 greatest actors in film history.

Which US president presented Pacino with the National Medal of Arts in 2011 and the Kennedy Center Honors in 2016?

The citation noted that Pacino calls the theatre his 'flashlight' and has always cared more for it than the spotlight.

How many Pacino films have been selected for the US National Film Registry?

The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, Dog Day Afternoon and Scarface are preserved by the Library of Congress.

What did Pacino do with the money he earned from the 1980 film Cruising, per his memoir?

He felt the finished film exploited the gay community and refused to promote it.

Which Pacino movie moment was re-recorded in 2023 to promote the UN's Sustainable Development Goals?

The 'Halftime' campaign marked the goals reaching their halfway mark.