"A man known as an 'actor’s actor', 'a devoted craftsman', and, of course, as 'the guy who was good in that thing you really liked'."
—Stephen Colbert right before giving Giamatti his own wax statue (which is really just a statue of Zachary Taylor wearing a cardboard Giamatti mask), The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
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 the 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 having gambled on games while managing the Cincinnati Reds.
This actor provides examples of the following tropes:
- 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 (5'9") but has been made to look shorter and bent in several roles, especially the less heroic ones.
Partial filmography:
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Film roles
- Singles (1992)
- Mighty Aphrodite (1995)
- Sabrina (1995)
- Donnie Brasco (1997)
- Private Parts (1997)
- My Best Friend's Wedding (1997)
- Deconstructing Harry (1997)
- The Truman Show (1998)
- Dr. Dolittle (1998)
- Saving Private Ryan (1998)
- The Negotiator (1998)
- Man on the Moon (1999)
- Big Momma's House (2000)
- Duets (2000)
- Storytelling (2001)
- Planet of the Apes (2001)
- Big Fat Liar (2002)
- Thunderpants (2002)
- Confidence (2003)
- 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)
- The Nanny Diaries (2007)
- Fred Claus (2007)
- Duplicity (2009)
- Cold Souls (2009)
- Barney's Version (2010)
- Win Win (2011)
- Ironclad (2011)
- The Hangover Part II (2011)
- Too Big to Fail (2011)
- The Ides of March (2011)
- John Dies at the End (2012)
- Cosmopolis (2012)
- Rock of Ages (2012)
- Turbo (2013) (voice)
- The Congress (2013)
- 12 Years a Slave (2013)
- Parkland (2013)
- Romeo & Juliet (2013) (2013)
- Saving Mr. Banks (2013)
- The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)
- Madame Bovary (2014)
- Love & Mercy (2014)
- San Andreas (2015)
- April and the Extraordinary World (2015) (voice, English dub)
- Straight Outta Compton (2015)
- Ratchet & Clank (2016) (voice)
- The Little Prince (2015) (voice)
- Morgan (2016)
- The Catcher Was a Spy (2018)
- I Think We're Alone Now (2018)
- Gunpowder Milkshake (2021)
- Jungle Cruise (2021)
Television roles
- NYPD Blue (1 episode, 1994)
- Homicide: Life on the Street (1 episode, 1998)
- King of the Hill (1 episode, 2001) (voice)
- John Adams (2008)
- 30 Rock (1 episode, 2010)
- Downton Abbey (1 episode, 2013)
- Inside Amy Schumer (2 episodes, 2014–15)
- BoJack Horseman (1 episode, 2017) (voice)
- Billions (2016–)
- Lodge 49 (2019)
- Rick and Morty (1 episode, 2020) (voice)
- Big Mouth (1 episode, 2020) (voice)
Video game roles
- Ripper (1996)
