ZINGARETTI, LUCA

(1961-)

Actor. After graduating from the National Academy of Dramatic Art in 1984, Zingaretti dedicated himself to the stage, working frequently with directors Luca Ronconi and Peter Stein. His first film appearance was in a small role inGiuliano Montaldo'sGli occhiali d'oro(The Gold Rimmed Glasses, 1987). In the 1990s he began to appear more prominently in films such asMarco Risi'sIl branco(The Pack, 1994) andRicky Tognazzi'sVite strozzate(StrangledLives, 1996), in both of which he played villains. After another supporting role inPaolo and Vittorio Taviani'sTu ridi(You Laugh, 1998) and a great deal of television work, he gave a very powerful performance in two films directed byRoberto Faenza,Alla Luce del Sole(Come into the Light, 2005), where he played the priest Don Pino Puglisi, murdered by the camorra in 1993, andI giorni dell'abbandono(The Days of Abandonment, 2005), the heart-wrenching story of a marriage breakup, both roles earning him nominations for theNastro d'argento.

In spite of a long line of acting achievements and other activities — in 2004 he also directedGulu, a movingdocumentaryon the plight of wartorn Uganda—Zingaretti is undoubtedly best known, both in Italy and abroad, for his portrayal of Inspector Montalbano in the popular and long-running television adaptations of the detective novels of Andrea Camilleri.