Biography
Because of his distinct, but indistinguishable appearance, the Yale Drama School grad was able to play a wide array of ethnic characters, giving him the opportunity to add more depth to cinema's historically two-dimensional Italians, Jews and Latinos. While Turturro made his home in independent film, he experienced commercial success with a starring role in "Quiz Show" (1994) and supporting role in "The Good Shepherd" (2006). Meanwhile, as a …
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Career Milestones
| Spent early childhood in Hollis, Queens, NY | ||
| Taught history at a Harlem high school, tended bar at the Right Bank on New York's Upper East Side and mounted off-off Broadway productions with friends at rented halls and at the Westbeth Theater | ||
1963 | Moved to Rosedale, Queens at age six | |
1980 | Made film debut in "Raging Bull"; Turturro and friend Michael Badalucco wrote their own scene and auditioned for director, Martin Scorsese and actor, Robert De Niro, who cast the two as extras for their trouble | |
1984 | Broadway debut, "Death of a Salesman" (understudy for roles of Biff and Happy) | |
1984 | Off-Broadway debut in John Patrick Shanley's "Danny and the Deep Blue Sea"; first created the role at the Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center in 1983 | |
1986 | Reteamed with director Martin Scorsese for "The Color of Money" | |
1987 | First major film role, courted Jodie Foster with purloined penguins in "Five Corners" | |
1989 | First film with writer-director Spike Lee, "Do the Right Thing" | |
1990 | Played Bernie 'The Schmatte' Bernbaum in "Miller's Crossing" written specially for him by the Ethan and Joel Coen | |
1991 | First starring film role, "Men of Respect," a pretentious modern version of "Macbeth"; first film with wife Katherine Borowitz | |
1991 | Portrayed a gangster whose rise parallels Hitler in the Off-Broadway production of Bertolt Brecht's "The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui"; wife also in cast | |
1991 | Starred as a titular, befuddled screenwriter in the Coen brothers' "Barton Fink"; role loosely modeled on Clifford Odets | |
1992 | Made directorial and screenwriting (with Brandon Cole) debut with "Mac"; also co-starred; second film with Borowitz | |
1994 | Played defeated game show champ Herbert Stempel in Robert Redford's "Quiz Show" | |
1994 | Provided a voice for Ken Burns' acclaimed PBS documentary "Baseball" | |
1995 | Portrayed nutty inventor father in Diane Keaton's feature directing debut, "Unstrung Heroes" | |
1995 | Starred as mobster Sam Giancana opposite Mary-Louise Parker as Phyllis McGuire in the acclaimed HBO movie "Sugartime" | |
1996 | Portrayed a buttoned-down, clock-watching enginer who goes AWOL in Tom DiCillo's "Box of Moonlight" | |
1997 | Acted in Cole's directing debut, "OK Garage" | |
1997 | Stepped into writer Primo Levi's tattered shoes in Francesco Rosi's restrained post-Holocaust drama "The Truce" | |
1998 | Portrayed Estragon opposite Tony Shalhoub's Vladimir in Classic Stage Company revival of "Waiting for Godot" in NYC | |
1998 | Produced, directed, co-wrote (with Cole) and starred in "Illuminata"; Borowitz played his onscreen wife | |
1998 | Reteamed with the Coen brothers for "The Big Lebowski," as a flamboyant Latin sex offender | |
1998 | Sixth collaboration with Spike Lee, "He Got Game" | |
1999 | Acted in Tim Robbins' "Cradle Will Rock" | |
2000 | Co-starred with George Clooney and Tim Blake Nelson as a trio of escapees from a Southern chain gang in the Coen brothers' "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" | |
2000 | Had featured role in "The Man Who Cried"; screened at Venice Film Festival; released in USA in 2001 | |
2000 | Reteamed with wife Katherine Borowitz in "Two Thousand and None" | |
2001 | Had featured role in "13 Conversations About One Thing" | |
2002 | Played a snooty butler in "Mr. Deeds," starring Adam Sandler | |
2002 | Starred as Howard Cosell in the TNT movie "Monday Night Mayhem"; received a SAG nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries | |
2004 | Co-starred with Johnny Depp in the thriller "The Secret Window" | |
2004 | Guest-starred on the USA comedy series "Monk" | |
2005 | Helmed "Romance & Cigarettes" a big-screen musical about a two-timing husband (James Gandolfini) who must choose between his mistress (Kate Winslet) and his beleaguered wife (Elaine Stritch); film released theatrically in 2007 | |
2006 | Played a blue-collar assistant opposite Matt Damon in Robert De Niro's "The Good Shepherd" | |
2007 | Cast in director Michael Bay's live action film "Transformers" | |
2007 | Portrayed Billy Martin, an All-Star second baseman with the NY Yankees in "The Bronx is Burning" (ESPN); earned a SAG nomination for Outstanding Male Actor in a Miniseries | |
2008 | Co-starred with Adam Sandler in the comedy film "You Don't Mess with the Zohan" | |
2009 | Co-starred with Denzel Washington and John Travolta in the remake of "The Taking of Pelham 123" | |
2009 | Re-teamed with director Michael Bay for "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" | |
2011 | Re-teamed with director Michael Bay to play Seymour Simmons in "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" | |
2011 | Voiced Francisco Bernoulli in the Pixar movie, "Cars 2" | |
Awards
1989 | Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male in Five Corners |
1991 | Cannes Film Festival for Best Actor in Barton Fink |
1994 | Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture in Quiz Show |
1994 | Independent Spirit Award for Best Director in Mac |
1994 | Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature in Mac |
1995 | Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role in Quiz Show |
1998 | Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead in Box of Moonlight |
2001 | MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo in O Brother, Where Art Thou? |
2003 | Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries in Monday Night Mayhem |
2004 | Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor In a Comedy Series in Monk |
2005 | Brooklyn International Film Festival for Brooklyn Excellence Award |
2008 | Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries in The Bronx Is Burning |