Paul Giamatti Biography

Paul Giamatti is the youngest of three children born to Bartlett Giamatti, a former president of Yale University and major league baseball commissioner. His mother, Toni Smith, was an actress before she married his father. Paul majored in English at Yale University before obtaining his Master's Degree in Fine Arts from the Yale University School of Drama.

Continuing his work in theater from his college days, Paul ventured out to work on regional productions in Seattle, San Diego, and Massachusetts. He eventually landed gigs on Broadway such as The Three Sisters, Arcadia and playing Jimmy Tomorrow in The Iceman Cometh for which he received a Drama Desk nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

He began his screen career in 1990 with roles on television, such as the telefilms She'll Take Romance and Past Midnight, and guest appearances on NYPD Blue and Homicide: Life on the Street. His roles in feature films remained largely unnoticed by the majority of filmgoers until 1997 when he captured the eyes of America in the hit comedy Private Parts as the young eager NBC executive derisively nicknamed "Pig Vomit" by Howard Stern. The exposure led him to larger roles in big budget films such as My Best Friend's Wedding, Deconstructing Harry, The Truman Show, Saving Private Ryan, The Negotiator, Cradle Will Rock, and Man on the Moon.

The new millennium provided him with even more starring roles such as John in Big Momma's House (2000), Limbo in Planet of the Apes (2001), and Gordo in Confidence (2003) with Dustin Hoffman and Andy Garcia.

In 2005, his career reached new heights when he received his first Golden Globe nomination for his lead role in Sideways (2004). The following year, he received not only a second Golden Globe nomination, but his first Academy Award nod for his supporting role in Cinderella Man (2005). In 2008, he added an Emmy to the acting trophies he's collected, as well as a Golden Globe award the following year, both for his work in HBO's John Adams. He won a second Golden Globe in 2011 for Barney's Version (2010) and was nominated again in 2012 for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television for his work on Too Big to Fail.

On top of that, Paul starred in George Clooney's film The Ides of March (2011), David Cronenberg's Cosmopolis (2012) and the highly-anticipated film adaptation of Rock of Ages (2012). He played a key role in the Oscar-winning Best Picture 12 Years a Slave(2013) alongside Chiwetel Ejiofor and Michael Fassbender. He played Aleksei Sytsevich in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014), Jerry Heller in Straight Outta Compton (2015) and Dr. Alan Shapiro in Morgan (2016).

Paul received his second Academy Award nomination and his first in the leading actor category for his role as a teacher at a private school in the critically acclaimed film The Holdovers (2023). He won a Golden Globe and a Critics Choice Award for the same role.

Paul married screenwriter Elizabeth Cohen in 1997, but they have since divorced. They have a son, Samuel.