John Turturro

Profile

John Turturro screened and discussed a musical film he directed called ROMANCE AND CIGARETTES at the Savoy, and discussed his career as an actor and director in film and theatre with students.

John Turturro studied at the Yale School of Drama. For his theatrical debut he created the title role of John Patrick Shanley’s Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, for which he won an OBIE Award and a Theater World Award. Since then, he has performed on stage in Waiting for Godot, in the title role of Brecht’s The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui and in Eduardo De Filippo’s Souls of Naples, for which he was nominated for a Drama Desk Award. On Broadway he appeared in Yasmina Reza’s Life x3, and directed an evening of one-acts Relatively Speaking. He most recently appeared as Lopakhin in the highly acclaimed CSC production of The Cherry Orchard.

Turturro was nominated for a SAG Award® for his portrayal of Howard Cosell in MONDAY NIGHT MAYHEM, and again nominated for THE BRONX IS BURNING, as notorious Yankee skipper Billy Martin. He won an Emmy® Award for his guest appearance on Monk.

Turturro has performed in more than 60 films, including Spike Lee’s DO THE RIGHT THING, MO’ BETTER BLUES, and JUNGLE FEVER; Robert Redford’s QUIZ SHOW; Francesco Rosi’s LA TREGUA; and Joel and Ethan Coen’s MILLER’S CROSSING, THE BIF LEBOWSKI, and O BROTHER WHERE ART THOU. For his lead role in the Coen Brothers’ BARTON FINK, Turturro won the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival. He received Cannes’ Camera D’Or Award for his directorial debut, MAC.

Other films as director include ILLUMINATA, ROMANCE & CIGARETTES, PASSIONE: A MUSICAL ADVENTURE, and the upcoming FADING GIGOLO, written by Turturro, starring him and Woody Allen.