He has appeared in over 60 films so far in his career. In Feel the Noise (2007), he played ex-musician Roberto, the Puerto Rican father of Omarion Grandberry's character, aspiring rap star "Rob". Weight. The parents of Giancarlo are Giovanni Esposito and Elizabeth Foster . His big-screen dbut coincided with a star turn in Charles Fullers Pulitzer-winning play Zooman and the Sign as Zooman, a teen criminal who accidentally kills a little girl in a shoot-out with a rival gang. Lived in Europe, New York City, and Cleveland until he; his older brother, Vincent; and their parents moved to Manhattan when Giancarlo was six. Perhaps his most celebrated monologue, from Breaking Bad, is addressed to Guss then protg Walter White (Bryan Cranston), an ex-chemistry teacher whos wavering on his decision to enter the drug trade. Thanks to the groundbreaking success of Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, Mandalorian, and now Kaleidoscope, the talented actor isnt short of a cent or two. He was a student of Elizabeth Seton College in New York, from where he received his degree in radio and television communications. Elizabeth told her son to go out and buy a single red rose; that night, they sat close to the stage during the performance. In 1982, the actor took on the role of Mickey, Big Birds camp counselor, in 4 episodes of everyones favorite kids TV show, Sesame Street. His Neapolitan father worked as a stagehand and carpenter while his African American mother sang in operas and nightclubs. In 2016, Esposito voiced Akela in the film The Jungle Book, which was directed by Jon Favreau. "My mother tried to commit suicide once, my uncle committed suicide, and I found myself at the . He is famous for portraying the role of Gus Firing in the AMC drama series called ' Breaking Bad .'. Moreover, he has devoted much of his personal time to countering the problem of racial stereotyping and enjoys roles that explore minority and immigrant issues. Of course, Esposito isnt only the big name to have graced the show over the years. Vincent and Giancarlo Esposito during their debut on Broadway in the musical Maggie Flynn, 1968. His father, Giovanni, was a stagehand and carpenter who was born and raised in Italy. He studied violin at Julliard and the Manhattan School of Music. Giancarlo Esposito excels as Moff Gideon with a dead-eyed look and a ruthless demeanor, but he is very astute and kills anyone who gets in his way of restoring order in the galaxy. [17], In 2022, Esposito played Taxi Driver in Euphoria, a film installation by Julian Rosefeldt. Sometimes we fucking lose., The show that freed Esposito from purgatory was Breaking Bad (2008-13). Giancarlo Esposito shares what he misses about portraying Breaking Bad 's celebrated villain Gustavo Fring. The primary antagonist in The Mandalorian, Gideon is a powerful and formidable. Esposito joined the DC Universe Animated Original Movies series with his casting as Ras al Ghul in Son of Batman and Black Spider in Batman: Assault on Arkham. Barely two minutes into our interview, Giancarlo Esposito drops a bombshell. While the star has since portrayed intimidating figures in The Mandalorian, The Boys . Watching him grandstand, sermonize, womanize, and blackmail Dixiecrats in Congress, I found myself wishing that more directors would let him flex his talents as a showman. Esposito would periodically reprise the role in later seasons as a guest star. His folks' line of business included regular moves for the family. Between 1996 and 2005, he appeared in four episodes of Law & Order. He was born in Copenhagen on April 25, 1958. . Add this to what he makes from other projects (especially the latest successes like Mandalorian and Kaleidoscope), and were looking at a very respectable net worth of $8 million. This is America, he reassures employees in an episode of Better Call Saul, just after a drug-related altercation in his restaurant. The man born on April 26, 1958, attended Elizabeth Seton College in New York and received a two-year degree in radio and television communications. I was surprised when, just a few minutes into our conversation, he started tearing up, remembering a hug with his youngest daughter during a difficult stretch in the two-thousands. My karmic journey is to be told what to do and accept that and do it the best I can, he said. He is best known for his performance as drug lord Gus Fring in the AMC shows Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. They soon married, and Giancarlo was born in 1958, in Copenhagen, where Elizabeth was performing in a split bill with Josephine Baker. Another interesting fact is that even though Esposito was cast to play in the show, he wasnt supposed to be the main antagonist. He gives himself so fully to a role that spectators believe he must be playing himself. A friend pulled him out of depression with Who Moved My Cheese?, a best-selling self-help book that features two entrepreneurial mice learning to embrace change. The game was released in 2013 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. Besides his own films, he has produced The Keeper (1995) and Stuck (2017). Photo: Gerry Goodstein. I felt like doing that might be who I become forever, and I knew I had more to give.. Guss appeal has many dimensions, including the Zen-like quality of his compartmentalization and the dark comedy of his immigrant success story. Born in Rome, Italy but raised in New York City, Kedar grew up in a spiritual family of artists and performers. He encountered racism and prejudice early on in his life. Giancarlo Esposito is the man behind many iconic TV and movie roles. 2023 Cond Nast. His stage career began when he was a child when he appeared opposite Shirley Jones as an orphan in the 1968 Broadway production of Maggie Flynn. He left in tears, but after learning to draw back his Broadway presence in small plays, as Rich had suggested, he got the part. Espositos decision to follow a career in acting came after an appearance in Seesaw at the age of 13. It was Vince that inspired me by writing in the stage directions, hiding in plain sight, he told me. Esposito played FBI agent Mike Giardello on the TV crime drama Homicide: Life on the Street. Before the siren call of TV came beckoning, Esposito was carving out a successful career as a stage actor. In 1991, Giancarlo won his second Obie for Distant Fires for the Off-Broadway Atlantic Theater Company and began a long-lasting relationship with that company. He enjoys roles that rather explore minority and immigrant issues. According to IMDB, Espositos mother, Elizabeth, was gigging at a nightclub with legendary entertainer, Josephine Baker, around the time of his birth. Cool, calculating, and ruthless, he builds up a vast drug empire. The tech company Wirecard was embraced by the German lite. Ironically, as he grew up in the stage, screen and TV industry during the 1970s and '80s, Esposito fought hard to avoid being typecast as a street thug, a difficult task for minorities even today. :). Citizen by choice, not by force: I am American. Esposito has directed two films to date, Gospel Hill and The Show. The Mandalorian and Breaking Bad villain credits his menacing poise to mindfulness and military schooland yearns to play an everyman. If it's anything Shawshank Redemption, Seinfeld, or Kevin Bacon game related he's way more interested. The actor who strikes fear into the hearts of strangersonce, a Breaking Bad fan tried to yield him her place in the bathroom linewould seem to have little in common with the exuberant, demonstrative man who approaches his profession with such joy and humility. How the Biggest Fraud in German History Unravelled. According to him, Esposito was the natural choice for the role. He prowls the dorms stealing care packages, battling townies with a young Tom Cruise, and scoffing at Captain Kirks cautiousness in Star Trek: Why doesnt the man use his phaser? (He eventually found the right franchise.) What it all added up to was a talent that thrives on tension, a voltage derived from the gap between Espositos aggressive charisma and equally pronounced flair for constraint. In the weeks before John Wayne Gacys scheduled execution, he was far from reconciled to his fate. So, its no surprise that he has a net worth of $8 million. Another chance has been the latest season of Godfather of Harlem, a nineteen-sixties crime drama starring Forest Whitaker, with Esposito in the uncharacteristically righteous and unbuttoned role of Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., the congressman, preacher, and Civil Rights hero. 1997), Kale Lyn . What HBOs Chernobyl got right, and what it got terribly wrong. It was this entrepreneurial spirit that so appealed to Esposito, who notes: He was one of the first actors in Hollywood to start his own production company, and I respected him because he created something he believed in. Now a regular in the TV show Revolution, Giancarlo Esposito continues to be a versatile and in-demand actor, and despite his attempt to avoid bad guy roles, he's just too good at it. Giancarlo Esposito (or to give him his full name, Giancarlo Giuseppe Alessandro Esposito) was born April 26th, 1958 in Copenhagen, Denmark to father Giovanni Esposito, an Italian carpenter/stagehand, and mother Elizabeth Foster, an African-American opera singer from Alabama. He won the Best Supporting Actor in a Drama award at the 2012 Critics' Choice Television Awards and was nominated for an Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series award at the 2012 Primetime Emmy Awards, but lost to co-star Aaron Paul. Being an actor doesn't shield you from having a conscience. I scrapped everything for a few weeks and said, figure out how to be with yourself outside of the world, outside of people handing me my validation.. [1][2][3][4], When Esposito was six, his family moved to Manhattan. He is also known for his appearances in several Spike Lee films, such as School Daze (1988), Do the Right Thing (1989), Mo' Better Blues (1990), and Malcolm X (1992). Tell us what's wrong with this post? And it's kept going like that."[5]. I almost wanted you to switch, the actor told me; from a young age, hes struggled with hypervigilance, a tendency that became acute during the pandemic. On 26-4-1958 Giancarlo Esposito (nickname: Espo, Carlo) was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. With new projects such as The Mandalorian and Harley Quinn in the works, nows never been a better time to find out 20 things you didnt know about Giancarlo Esposito. The ruthless drug kingpin he portrayed calculated the violent removal from the world of those who displeased him after flashing a cold stare. His father Giovanni Esposito is an Italian stagehand and set designer from Naples, and his mother, Elizabeth Foster, was an African-American opera singer from Alabama. They want it, just like children want discipline, the actor told Conan OBrien during a recent interview. By day, Gus owns and operates a fast-food chain, Los Pollos Hermanos, where, all smiles and pious platitudes, he works shifts alongside his staff and caters charity events for the Albuquerque police department. Fans who cant get enough of the actors famously dulcet tones will be pleased to know Esposito has been known to put in the occasional appearance as a guest speaker. . Zooman is a tough, street-wis-e, violent kid who conjures anxious emotions of fear just . Instead, Salamanca was supposed to be the main villain. Giancarlo Esposito is known and loved by millions thanks to the extensive and varied work of his 6-decade career. Because the Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan didnt think he could land Esposito, he didnt even contemplate asking him to do it. The award was announced by Hollywood Chamber of Commerce President Leron Gubler, who stated We are thrilled to have this triple threat on our Walk of Fame. He is an American Actor, Producer, and film director. He won the Drama Desk Award for the play Balm in Gilead (1985). In 1979, he had his big screen debut in the sports drama Running. Was it Gus Fring, the fussy, stoical drug lord of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul? What are we all looking for but that energy? Esposito said. His TV credits include Sesame Street, The Guiding Light, Miami Vice, Spenser: For Hire, and The Equalizer in the 1980s. When Favreau was thinking about who would be good at playing Moff Gideon in Mandalorian, Esposito was the first actor to come to mind. Who told you to be in my neighborhood? For this role, he won the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series and earned three nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. [14] Esposito and Favreau would work together once again in the Disney+ series The Mandalorian in which Esposito appears in a starring role, while Favreau acts as an executive producer for the series and as its writer. He simply bears up and he does it. Photo: Bert Andrews. Esposito and his older brother Vincent debuted on Broadway in 1968 in the musical Maggie . In 1988, he landed his breakout role as the leader ("Dean Big Brother Almighty") of the black fraternity "Gamma Phi Gamma" in director Spike Lee's film School Daze, exploring color relations at black colleges. Giancarlo performs with Ken Howard and Michelle Lee in the musical Seesaw, 1973. Another demanding apprenticeship was growing up Black and Italian in a largely segregated New York City suburb, especially once his parents marriage dissolved. By signing up, you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement. Often he lost the roles once his face was known, but as he grew up in the stage, screen and TV industry during the 1970s and 80s, he fought hard to avoid being typecast as a street thug. From the balcony, we gazed at the shape-shifting forms of Refik Anadols Unsupervised, an A.I.-generated video installation that looked like an unruly galaxy in need of a firm hand. film school grad named Spike Lee. His breakout role came in 1988 when he appeared in the Spike Lee film School Daze, when he played Julian Dean Big Brother Almighty Evans. Vincent Esposito, 51, after pleading guilty Wednesday to. Photo: Newsday. It was crushing. At one point, he considered suicide to secure a life-insurance payout for his family. 75 kg or 165.5 lbs. He appeared in four Broadway musicals before hed turned fifteen. Although the series only lasted one season, and did not garner generally positive reviews, it represented a personal turning point for Esposito, who relayed to The Washington Post: "I started to play bosses. They want me to cut their throat, they want me to give them the look. A sequel is currently underway, although its as yet unconfirmed whether Esposito will reprise his role. His decision to pursue a career in acting has clearly paid off, but as a teenager, Esposito had some doubts. This talented actor, director, and producer continue to entertain fans, and his talent is a great fit on our sidewalk of immortalized stars.. his mom, is an African American lady from Alabama who performed show at a dance club. In early 2020, Esposito had just moved into a new house in Albuquerque, where shooting was set to begin for the final season of Better Call Saul. All my daughters thought that I would surely die, he told me. Who, I wondered, did they see? Giancarlo Giuseppe Alessandro Esposito is an actor and filmmaker from America, who is best known for his portrayal of Gus Fring in the AMC shows Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. However, Espositos performance blew away everyone on set, so they decided to rewrite his characters story and the rest is history. More recently, hes achieved a new level of success with his role as drug kingpin Gus Fring in the hugely popular AMC shows, Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. He continued to audition for good roles in theater, rather than specifically black roles. Giancarlo Esposito (or to give him his full name, Giancarlo Giuseppe Alessandro Esposito) was born April 26th, 1958 in Copenhagen, Denmark to father Giovanni Esposito, an Italian. When he was eight years old, he made his first Broadway appearance, portraying a slave child in the short-lived musical Maggie Flynn. 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