# Tao Ruspoli

Tao dei Principi Ruspoli (/ˈrʊspoʊli/ RUU-spoh-lee; born 7 November 1975) is an Italian and American filmmaker, photographer, musician, and co-founder of The Bombay Beach Biennale. He is the son of Alessandro Ruspoli, 9th Prince of Cerveteri and part of the Papal nobility.

## Early life

Ruspoli was born in Bangkok, Thailand, and raised in Rome, Italy and Los Angeles, California, United States. He is the second son of occasional actor and aristocrat Alessandro Ruspoli, 9th Prince of Cerveteri and Austrian-American actress Debra Berger. He is the older brother of Bartolomeo Ruspoli (born 6 October 1978 in Rome), second husband of oil heiress Aileen Getty. His half-siblings include Francesco Ruspoli, 10th Prince of Cerveteri, Mélusine Ruspoli, and Theodoro Ruspoli.
Ruspoli graduated from Beverly Hills High School in 1993, and later from the University of California, Berkeley in 1998 with a degree in philosophy.

## Career

Ruspoli's feature narrative début, Fix, was one of 10 feature films to screen in competition at the 2008 Slamdance Film Festival and soon afterward at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, where Ruspoli was awarded the Heineken Red Star Award for "most innovative and progressive filmmaker". Fix also won the Festival Award for Best Film at the 2008 Brooklyn Film Festival, Vail Film Festival and the 2008 Twin Rivers Media Festival, as well as other prizes at several international festivals.
Ruspoli's documentaries include Being in the World, an exploration of the real world implications of the philosophical work of Martin Heidegger, and Monogamish starring Dan Savage, Esther Perel and Christopher Ryan. His other films include Just Say Know, a personal discussion of his family's drug addictions, and Flamenco: A Personal Journey, a feature-length documentary about the flamenco way of life as it is lived by Roma in the south of Spain. He has directed a number of other short documentaries, including El Cable (also about flamenco), and This Film Needs No Title: A Portrait of Raymond Smullyan, a portrait of the logician, mathematician and concert pianist Raymond Smullyan).
In 2000, Ruspoli founded LAFCO, the Los Angeles Filmmakers Cooperative, which is a bohemian collective of filmmakers and musicians who work out of a converted school bus. Through LAFCO, Ruspoli has produced several films. His producing credits include the feature film Camjackers, which he also acted in and co-edited. Camjackers won the editing award at the 44th Ann Arbor Film Festival.
Tao is a flamenco guitar player and co-founder of the Bombay Beach Biennale.

## Personal life

Ruspoli married actress Olivia Wilde on 16 January 2003 in Venice, California. On 8 February 2011, they announced that they were separating. Wilde filed for divorce in Los Angeles County Superior Court on 3 March 2011, citing "irreconcilable differences". The divorce was finalized on 29 September 2011. Wilde did not seek spousal support, and the pair reached a private agreement on property division.
Since 2009, he has lived and worked in Venice, Los Angeles, as a photographer and filmmaker.

## Filmography

* Just Say Know (2002) Director, Cinematographer and Film editor
* This Film Needs No Title: A Portrait of Raymond Smullyan (2004) Director, Cinematographer and Film editor
* El Cable (2004) Director, Cinematographer, Editor and Film producer
* Flamenco: A Personal Journey (2005) Director, Cinematographer and Film producer
* Camjackers (2006) Whack Filmmaker No. 1 and also Film editor and Executive Producer
* Fix (2008) Writer, Cinematographer, director, and Actor (as Milo)
* Behind the Wheel (film)|Behind the Wheel (2008) Film director
* Being in the World (2009) Film director
* American Casino (2009) Film producer
* Monogamish (2017) Film director
* Dying to Know: Ram Dass & Timothy Leary (2014), Film producer

## Recordings

* Flamenco, (Mapleshade, 2005)