John Turturro

John Michael Turturro (born February 28, 1957) is an American actor, writer and director known for roles in the films Do the Right Thing (1989), Miller's Crossing (1990), Barton Fink (1991), Quiz Show (1994), The Big Lebowski (1998), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) and the Transformers film series. He has appeared in over sixty films, and has worked frequently with the Coen brothers, Adam Sandler and Spike Lee.
==Early Life==
Turturro was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Katherine, an amateur jazz singer who worked in a Navy yard during World War 2, and Nicholas Turturro, a carpenter and construction worker who fought as a Navy sailor in D-Day. Turturro's mother was Sicilian (from Aragona near Agrigento) and his father emigrated from Giovinazzo, Bari, Italy at the age of six. Turturro was raised a Roman Catholic and moved to the Rosedale section of Queens, New York with his family when he was six. He majored in drama at the State University of New York at New Paltz, and completed his MFA at the Yale School of Drama. He first appeared on film working as an extra in Martin Scorsese's critically acclaimed Raging Bull (1980).
==Career==
Turturro created the title role of John Patrick Shanley's Danny and the Deep Blue Sea at the Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center in 1983. He repeated it the following year Off-Broadway and won an Obie Award. Spike Lee liked Turturro's performance in Five Corners so much that he chose to cast him in Do the Right Thing. This movie was the first of a long-standing collaboration between the famous director and Turturro, which includes work together on a total of nine films, more than any other actor in the Lee oeuvre including Mo' Better Blue (1990), Jungle Fever (1991), Clockers (1995), Girl 6 (1996), He Got Game (1998), Summer of Sam (1999), She Hate Me (2004) and Miracle at St. Anna (2008). A versatile actor comfortable with both comedy and drama, Turturro also had an extended collaboration with the Coen Brothers, appearing in their films Miller's Crossing (1990), Barton Fink (1991), The Big Lebowski (1998), and O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000). He has also appeared in several of Adam Sandler's movies, such as Mr. Deeds (2002) and You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008). He played a severely disturbed patient of Jack Nicholson's in the comedy Anger Management and played Johnny Depp's antagonist in Secret Window. Turturro hosted Saturday Night Live in 1994, where he spoofed his recent film Quiz Show, being told he was ineligible to host unless he answered questions in a booth and if he failed, the honour of hosting would go to Joey Buttafuoco, who was actually backstage to witness Turturro's test.
He won an Emmy award for his portrayal of Adrian Monk's brother Ambrose Monk in the USA Network series Monk, and has reprised the role on numerous occasions. He has also been nominated and won many awards from film organisations such as Screen Actors Guild, Cannes Film Festival, Golden Globes and others.
Turturro produced and directed, as well as acted in, the film Illuminata (1999), which also starred his wife Katherine Borowitz. He wrote and directed the film Romance and Cigarettes (2005). In 2006 he appeared in Robert De Niro's The Good Shepherd, and as the Sector 7 agent Simmons in three films of the Transformers live-action series. In 2010 he directed (and had cameo on-screen appearances in) Passione, which chronicles the rich musical heritage of Naples, Italy.
As a stage director, his Broadway debut is set for October 2011 with "Relatively Speaking", in which he will guide an ensemble of veteran actors in a production of three comedic one-act plays, written by Elaine May, Woody Allen and Ethan Coen. The cast includes Julie Kavner, Marlo Thomas, Mark Linn-Baker and Steve Guttenberg.
==Personal Life==
Turturro's brother is actor Nicholas Turturro. Actress Aida Turturro and artist Ralph Turturro are his cousins. He has two children, Amedeo (born 1990) and Diego (born 2000), with his wife, actress Katherine Borowitz.
Turturro participates as a member of the Jury for the NYICFF, a local New York City Film Festival dedicated to screening films for children between the ages of 3 and 18. He and his brother Nicholas are avid New York Yankees fans.
==Filmography==
Year	Title 	Role
1980	Raging Bull 	Man at Table
1984	Exterminator 2 	Guy #1
1984	The Flamingo Kid 	Ted from Pinky's
1985	Desperately Seeking Susan 	Ray
1985	To Live and Die in L.A. 	Carl Cody
1986	Hannah and Her Sisters 	Writer
1986	The Color of Money 	Julian
1986	Gung Ho 	Willie
1986	Off Beat 	Neil Pepper
1987	Five Corners 	Heinz Zabantino
1987	The Sicilian 	Pisciotta
1989	Do the Right Thing 	Pino
1990	Catchfire 	Pinella
1990	State of Grace 	Nick
1990	Mo' Better Blues 	Moe Flatbush
1990	Miller's Crossing 	Bernie Bernbaum
1991	Men of Respect 	Mike Battaglia
1991	Jungle Fever 	Paulie Carbone
1991	Barton Fink 	Barton Fink
1992	Mac 	Niccolo Vitelli
1992	Brain Donors 	Roland T. Flakfizer
1993	Being Human 	Lucinnius
1993	Fearless 	Bill Pearlman
1994	Quiz Show 	Herb Stempel
1994	The Search for One-eye Jimmy 	Disco Bean
1995	Search and Destroy 	Ron
1995	Unstrung Heroes 	Sidney Lidz
1995	Clockers 	Det. Larry Mazilla
1995	Sugartime 	Sam Giancana
1996	Girl 6 	Murray
1996	Box of Moon Light 	Al Fountain
1996	Grace of My Heart 	Joe Milner
1997	The Truce 	Primo Levi
1997	The Last Bet 	Leon
1998	Illuminata 	Tuccio
1998	Rounders 	Joey Knish
1998	He Got Game 	Billy Sunday
1998	O.K. Garage 	Jonny
1998	The Big Lebowski 	Jesus Quintana
1999	Summer of Sam 	Demon
1999	Cradle Will Rock 	Aldo Silvana
2000	O Brother, Where Art Thou? 	Pete
2000	The Man Who Cried 	Dante Dominio
2000	Company Man 	Crocker Johnson
2000	Two Thousand and None 	Benjamin Kasparian
2001	The Luzhin Defence 	Alexander Luzhin
2001	Monkeybone 	Monkeybone
2001	Thirteen Conversations About One Thing	Walker
2002	Collateral Damage 	Armstrong
2002	Monday Night Mayhem 	Howard Cosell
2002	Mr. Deeds 	Emilio Lopez
2003	Fear X 	Harry
2003	Anger Management 	Chuck
2003	Opopomoz 	
2004	She Hate Me 	Don Angelo Bonasera
2004	Secret Window 	John Shooter
2006	The Good Shepherd 	Ray Brocco
2006	Quelques jours en septembre 	William Pound
2006	Romance and Cigarettes 	Male Dancer and Singer
2006	The Bronx is Burning 	Billy Martin
2007	Transformers 	Agent Seymour Simmons
2006	Margot at the Wedding 	Jim
2007	Slipstream 	Harvey Brickman
2008	What Just Happened 	Dick Bell
2008	You Don't Mess with the Zohan 	Fatoush "The Phantom" Hakbarah
2008	Miracle at St. Anna 	Detective Antonio "Tony" Ricci
2009	The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 	Camonetti
2009	Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen 	Seymour Simmons
2009	Rehearsal for a Sicilian Tragedy 	Himself
2010	Passione 	Himself/Narrator
2010	The Nutcracker in 3D 	The Rat King
2011	Cars 2 	Francesco Bernoulli
2011	Transformers: Dark of the Moon 	Seymour Simmons
===Audiobook===
*World War Z (2007) as Serosha Garcia Alvarez
===Television===
*Miami Vice (episode 1x16) (1985)
*Monk (as Ambrose Monk)
**Mr. Monk and the Three Pies (2004)
**Mr. Monk Goes Home Again (2005)
**Mr. Monk's 100th Case (2008)
*The Bronx is Burning (2007) as Billy Martin
*Flight of the Conchords (2007) as Himself
Category:You Don't Mess with the Zohan