Roberto Benigni

Italian actor, comedian, screenwriter and film director (born 1952)

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Italy rank#248

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Fame63.7
Momentum0.3
Italy rank#248
Directors rank#184
Wikipedia59.6K

Born 1952 · age 74Italy

Italy DirectorsMovie Director

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Wikipedia
79 languages
Cross-language footprint
Rank in Italy
#248
Directors
Age
74
Born 1952
Known for
Life Is Beautiful
1997

Summary

Updated 2026-06-21

He won the Oscar for Best Actor in a language that wasn't English — the first person ever to do it — for a Holocaust film he also wrote and directed, one that dared to find grace in the darkness and somehow made the gamble work.

Biography

About

Roberto Benigni started writing and acting in 1977 with Berlinguer, I Love You, then directed his first film in 1983, an anthology that introduced his wife Nicoletta Braschi to the screen. Through the '80s and '90s he built a run of Italian comedies — Nothing Left to Do But Cry, Johnny Stecchino, The Monster — while threading into American indie work with Jim Jarmusch and a Fellini twilight piece. In 1997 he released Life Is Beautiful, a Holocaust comedy-drama that split opinion and swept awards: two Oscars, including Best Actor, making him the first to win that prize in a non-English performa…

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