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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2015 www.italoamericano.org 15 L'Italo-Americano " I have often gone to start a f i l m o n l y t o f i n d t h e p r o d u c e r s s u r p r i s e d t o d i s c o v e r I a m A m e r i c a n . " - Alessandro Nivola says. This is what this year's Tony Award nominee Nivola faces by carrying Italian roots. It was the performance on Broadway as Frederick Treves o p p o s i t e B r a d l e y C o o p e r i n "The Elephant Man" that scored him the nomination. N i v o l a , 4 3 , h a s r e c e n t l y competed filming on Nicolas Winding Refn's movie "The N e o n D e m o n " o p p o s i t e E l l e F a n n i n g a n d C h r i s t i n a H e n d r i c k s , a s w e l l a s B a r r y Levinson's film for HBO "The W i z a r d o f L i e s " a b o u t t h e Madoff Ponzi scheme. During our email exchange, Nivola writes he plays Mark M adoff. The older s on, w ho committed suicide two years after the fraud was revealed and Robert DeNiro plays his father Bernie Madoff. H i s n e x t f o c u s i s o n "Weightless" produced by Greg Shapiro and directed by Jaron Albertin. " I ' l l b e s t a r r i n g o p p o s i t e Julianne Nicholson," Nivola shares. D i g g i n g i n t o N i v o l a ' s filmography background, I read t i t l e s s u c h a s " A m e r i c a n Hustle," "Selma," "Face/Off," "Jurassic Park III" and "Coco Before Chanel." Q : T e l l m e a b o u t y o u r Italian origins and in what way you feel connected to the culture, if so. A: My grandfather was the Sardinian sculptor Costantino Nivola. He grew up in a small village near Nuoro and earned a scholarship to attend art school i n M i l a n w h e r e h e m e t m y grandmother Ruth Guggenheim w h o w a s a G e r m a n J e w i s h r e f u g e e f r o m F r a n k f u r t . Together they emigrated to the US during the war. My father was born in New York but had Italian as his first language and only learned to speak English in school. As a child we spent the s u m m e r s l i v i n g w i t h m y grandparents and Italian was the language they spoke with my father. Growing up I always had a s t r o n g s e n s e t h a t I h a d E u r o p e a n r o o t s a n d I f e l t thoroughly Italian until I began regular visits to my extended f a m i l y i n S a r d i n i a w h o a l l t h o u g h t I w a s t h e m o s t American person they had ever met. What inspired you to start your acting career at first? I had an older cousin who was studying to be an actor and I saw him in a play at his college when I was about 10 years old. It made me want to be an actor. I wasn't a film buff. I wanted to be in the theater. But that all changed later on. What acting role did you feel the most and why? LAVINIA PISANI A Conversation with Italian American Star Alessandro Nivola Italian American actor Alessandro Nivola Alessandro Nivola in a scene from Coco Before Chanel. With Emily Mortimer in the photo below Perhaps the most enjoyable r o l e I ' v e p l a y e d w a s I a n McKnight in Lisa Cholodenko's "Laurel Canyon". He was very m i s c h i e v o u s a n d s e x u a l l y irresponsible, but he was also a passionate musician and a loving person. He was both soulful and c o m i c . T w o g r e a t q u a l i t i e s which are rarely combined in o n e c h a r a c t e r . I a l s o g o t t o record all my own music and be naked in a swimming pool with Frances MacDormand and Kate Beckinsale. What was the hardest role for you to interpret and why? Boy Capel in "Coco Before Chanel" was difficult. It was all in French and the director kept criticizing my accent. Who would you like to work with that you haven't had the opportunity yet and why? I ' d l i k e t o w o r k w i t h t h e Iranian director Asghar Farhadi who made "A Separation". It's one of my favorite movies in recent years. Hopefully he will direct something in English. What is the biggest advice y o u w o u l d g i v e t o y o u n g actors/actresses? R e l a x . B o t h w h e n y o u ' r e acting and when you're not. W h a t i s t h e b i g g e s t l i f e l e s s o n y o u h a v e l e a r n e d throughout your career? N o t t o t a k e a n y t h i n g personally. And that everything is always changing (for better and for worse). L e t ' s s a y t h a t o n e d a y people wouldn't recognize you and your life as an actor would be over, what would you do? Sink into a deep depression and hope that my children would support me financially. What is your next goal? My wife Emily Mortimer and I have a production company and we've begun producing for film and television. Our first outing is the HBO series "Doll & Em" but we have many other t h i n g s i n d e v e l o p m e n t . T h e c o m p a n y i s g r o w i n g a n d w e want to write and direct our own projects. THE SEVENTH ART SPOTLIGHTS EVENTS REVIEWS