Christian De Sica
Christian De Sica (; born 5 January 1951) is an Italian actor and film director. Life. De Sica was born in Rome the second son of Italian director Vittorio De Sica and Spanish actress María Mercader. His first cousin once removed was Ramón Mercader, the murderer of Leon Trotsky. After attending Liceo classico in Rome, where he had Carlo Verdone as his deskmate, De Sica worked in a hotel in Venezuela, where he began his career as an artist. He enrolled in "Lettere" (Literature and Arts) at La Sapienza university (1970), but did not graduate. He was attracted  to music, and participated in the Sanremo Festival singing "Mondo mio" ("My world") (1973). However, the results convinced him to follow in his father's footsteps and devote himself to acting. De Sica developed his own style of comedy and entertainment also in Rai television shows, such as "Bambole, non c'è una lira" which gave him a large success in 1978. Acting career. With his father's help, he was able to take his first steps in the movie world with such teachers and mentors as Roberto Rossellini ("Blaise Pascal", 1971), Vittorio De Sica himself ("Una breve vacanza", 1973), Pupi  Avati ("Bordella", 1976) and Salvatore Samperi (1979 "Liquirizia" and 1981 "Casta e pura"). He married Silvia Verdone, sister of Carlo, with whom he had two children, Brando and Mariarosa. He achieved fame in the 1980s: in 1982 "Borotalco" was released, together with his brother-in-law Verdone, then he filmed "Sapore di Mare" with Jerry Calà as well as "Yuppies", "Yuppies" "2", "Grandi Magazzini" and "Compagni di Scuola". After "Night club", the last film directed by Italian director Sergio Corbucci, Christian De Sica became one of the most famous interpreters of the "cine-panettone" (comedies that reach movie theatres during  the Christmas season) and formed till 2005 a partnership with actor Massimo Boldi. They acted together in the series of "Vacanze di Natale" and "A spasso nel tempo" (1996), "Paparazzi" (1998), "Tifosi" (1999) and "Christmas in Love" (2004). By 2002, their films had grossed 300 billion lire ($150 million). Afterwards, he starred in "Natale a New York" (2006), "Natale in crociera" (2007) and "Natale a Rio" (2008). These films, done in burlesque style, tend to be well received at the box office, if not by critics, at times even outstripping better known and expensively made movies such as the  Harry Potter series. As an actor, De Sica has won three David di Donatello awards: a prize for "Giovannino" in 1976, a special one together with Massimo Boldi in 2000, and the third one in 2009. He received the America Award of the Italy-USA Foundation in 2016. Directing career. Since 1990 Christian De Sica has also been a director: he debuted with "Faccione", whose script he wrote and tailor-made for actress Nadia Rinaldi. After "Count Max", a homage to the cinema of his father and of Mario Camerini, that he interpreted with Ornella Muti, Anita Ekberg and his  mother Maria Mercader, De Sica went on self-directing in "Ricky & Barabba" (1992), "Men Men Men" (1995), "Tre" (1996), "Simpatici & antipatici" (1998) and "The Clan" (2005). A great admirer of Frank Sinatra and above all of Marlon Brando, he named his first child Brando in honour of the American actor. Criticism has often likened his acting to that of Alberto Sordi, from whom De Sica has drawn a lot of his expressions.