Giovanni Vettorazzo

Though Italian journeyman actor Giovanni Vettorazzo is yet to ascend to the status of leading man, he has been involved in an extremely impressive array of movies that have won international acclaim. Initially a stage actor, he learned his craft under the esteemed theater and opera director Giorgio Strehler at the Teatro Piccolo in Milan, and performed in numerous plays throughout the 1970s and 1980s, appearing in everything from Albert Camus' "Caligula" to Shakespeare's "Hamlet." He broke into film in the late 1970s, his first significant role coming in the 1980 cross-dressing comedy sequel "La Cage aux Folles II," but it was not until a decade or so later, with his involvement in two Carlo Verdone comedies, "Compagni di scuola" and "Al lupo, al lupo," that he became a regular big-screen performer. In the 2000s, Vetorazzo appeared in a string of high-profile movies: He played The Inspector in Tom Tykwer's ethereal 2002 drama, "Heaven," starring Cate Blanchett and Giovanni Ribisi, and followed that up with a role as an elder in Mel Gibson's controversial 2004 box office smash, "The Passion of the Christ." Subsequently, he has appeared in two films by Paolo Sorrentino, one of Italy's best emerging directors--the 2004 dark romantic drama "The Consequences of Love" and the 2008 idiosyncratic political biopic "Il Divo"--and also had a role in Marco Bellocchio's acclaimed 2009 period drama, "Vincere."