Roberto Benigni

Italian actor, comedian, screenwriter, and film director

Born: October 27, 1952

Famous Persons

Who is Roberto Benigni?

Roberto Remigio Benigni ( bə-NEE-nyee, Italian: [roˈbɛrto beˈniɲɲi]; born 27 October 1952) is an Italian actor, comedian, screenwriter, and film director. He gained international recognition for writing, directing, and starring in the Holocaust comedy drama film Life Is Beautiful (1997), for which he received the Academy Awards for Best Actor and Best International Feature Film. Benigni made his acting debut in 1977's Berlinguer, I Love You, which he also wrote, and which was directed by Giuseppe Bertolucci. Benigni's directorial debut was the 1983 anthology film Tu mi turbi, which was also the acting debut of his wife, Nicoletta Braschi. Benigni acted in the Jim Jarmusch films Down by Law (1986), Night on Earth (1991), and Coffee and Cigarettes (2003).

Historical significance

Benigni is the first, and only, recipient of an Academy Award for Best Actor for a non-English language performance. He continued directing and also starring in the comedic films Nothing Left to Do But Cry (1984), The Little Devil (1988), Johnny Stecchino (1991), The Monster (1994), the award-winning film Life Is Beautiful (1997), Pinocchio (2002, as the title character), and The Tiger and the Snow (2005).

Benigni and wife Nicoletta Braschi at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival

Sources and further reading

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Wikipedia source

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MLA

“Roberto Benigni.” thisDay, thisday.info/people/roberto-benigni/. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

APA

Roberto Benigni. (n.d.). thisDay. Retrieved October 27, 2026, from https://thisday.info/people/roberto-benigni/

Chicago

“Roberto Benigni.” thisDay. Accessed October 27, 2026. https://thisday.info/people/roberto-benigni/.

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