
Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti (born June 6, 1967 in New Haven, Connecticut) is an American actor best known for Sideways, John Adams, American Splendor, and a slew of roles in other films. His brother Marcus Giamatti is also an actor, and was a regular on Judging Amy. Their father, A. Bartlett "Bart" Giamatti, was president of Yale University from 1978 to 1986 and became commissioner of Major League Baseball about five months before dying in 1989; his death came only eight days after he permanently banned Pete Rose from MLB for betting on games.
This actor provides examples of the following tropes:
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Award Snub: Has made a career of having acclaimed performances not get noticed at the Oscars. The most notable are American Splendor, Sideways and Barney's Version (he did win a Golden Globe for the latter though). His one nomination (a Best Supporting Actor nomination for Cinderella Man) was widely seen as a make-up for the Sideways snub.
- The Danza: Played a character named Paul Giamatti in Cold Souls.
- Large Ham: Has a tendency to play one of these. See John Adams, Shoot 'em Up and Ironclad for just three examples.
- The Napoleon: He's of average height (5ft 9) but is usually made to look shorter and bent in several roles, specially in the less heroic ones.
Partial filmography:
- Sabrina (1995)
- Ripper (1996)
- Donnie Brasco (1997)
- Private Parts (1997)
- My Best Friend's Wedding (1997)
- The Truman Show (1998)
- Saving Private Ryan (1998)
- Man on the Moon (1999)
- Big Momma's House (2000)
- Duets (2000)
- Planet Of The Apes (2001)
- Big Fat Liar (2002)
- Thunderpants (2002)
- American Splendor (2003)
- Paycheck (2003)
- Sideways (2004)
- Robots (2005) (voice)
- Cinderella Man (2005)
- The Illusionist (2006)
- Lady in the Water (2006)
- The Ant Bully (2006) (voice)
- Shoot 'em Up (2007)
- Fred Claus (2007)
- Duplicity (2009)
- Barney's Version (2010)
- Win Win (2011)
- Ironclad (2011)
- The Hangover Part II (2011)
- The Ides of March (2011)
- Rock of Ages (2012)
- Cosmopolis (2012)
- John Dies at the End (2012)
- 12 Years a Slave (2013)
- Saving Mr. Banks (2013)
- Parkland (2013)
- Downton Abbey (2013) (1 episode)
- The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)
- The Congress (2014)
- Love & Mercy (2014)
- San Andreas (2015)
- Straight Outta Compton (2015)
- Ratchet & Clank (2016) (voice)
- The Little Prince (2015)
- Billions (2016 - )
- BoJack Horseman (2017) (cameo)
- The Catcher Was a Spy (2018)
- Jungle Cruise (2021)