Acting

Ennio Fantastichini

Born 20 February 1955 · Gallese, Viterbo, Italy · Died 1 December 2018 at 63

Ennio Fantastichini (20 February 1955, Gallese, province of Viterbo – 1 December 2018, Naples) was an Italian actor. The son of a Carabinieri officer, he grew up in Fiuggi and at twenty moved to Rome to study at the Accademia Nazionale d'Arte Drammatica Silvio D'Amico. He first worked in theatre, performing with Dario Fo and the avant-garde group Falso Movimento, before his film debut in Fuori dal giorno (1983, dir. Paolo Bologna). His breakout role was Tommaso Scalia in Open Doors (1990, dir. Gianni Amelio) (Gian Maria Volontè, Valeria Golino), which earned him a Nastro d'Argento for Best Supporting Actor, a Ciak d'Oro, and a European Film Award as Discovery of the Year. He won a second Nastro d'Argento and a David di Donatello for Best Supporting Actor in 2010 for Loose Cannons (dir. Ferzan Özpetek). He died of acute promyelocytic leukemia in Naples at the age of 63. His filmography includes: Open Doors (1990) (Gian Maria Volontè, Valeria Golino); August Vacation (1996, dir. Paolo Virzì) (Sabrina Ferilli, Edoardo Gabbriellini); Napoléon (2002, TV miniseries) (Serge Regiani, Sonia Braga); Saturn in Opposition (2007, dir. Özpetek) (Kasia Smutniak, Alessandro Gassman); I, Don Giovanni (2009, dir. Carlos Saura) (Isabelle Huppert, Rufus); Loose Cannons (2010, dir. Özpetek) (Kasia Smutniak, Micaela Ramazzotti); Studio illegale (2013, dir. Umberto Carteni) (Fabio Volo, Zoé Félix); The Move of the Penguin (2014, dir. Claudio Amendola) (Vincenzo Salemme, Giuliana De Sio); Me, Myself & Her (2015, dir. Maria Sole Tognazzi) (Valeria Solarino, Giorgio Pasotti); The Music of Silence (2017, dir. Andrea Bocelli) (Anthony Hopkins, Isabella Ferrari); Citizens of the World (2019, dir. Giovanni Veronesi) (Valerio Mastandrea, Elena Sofia Ricci).