Unfortunately, Al Pacino's early life was very hard and full of poverty. School plays were something Al loved to participate in, and his teachers and peers took notice of his acting genius. He wasn't the greatest scholar in school, mainly because of a lack of interest; he was however voted "Most Likely To Succeed" in junior high for his acting abilities. Pacino enrolled in the famed High School of Performing Arts in New York City but dropped out when he was 17 to pursue his acting career.
At age 17 Al left home, much to the dismay of his mother, to start a career. For the next ten or fifteen years he struggled just to make ends meet, taking such jobs as a theatre usher or janitor. Sometimes money was so scarce Al would sleep until 4:00 P.M. just so he wouldn't have to buy lunch. During this rough time he also took classes at Lee Strasberg's Actor's Studio and the Hebert Berghof Studio, both in New York City. One of the toughest blows for Pacino, though, was the untimely death of his mother when he was 22. What made it worse was his beloved grandfather's passing only a year later. At first Al blamed himself for his mother's death because she hadn't wanted him to leave home at such a young age. It is still a topic he has problems addressing.
Throughout the 60's Al Pacino did many different types of theatre varying from children's theatre to Broadway. In fact, Al won an Obie in 1968 for "The Indian Wants the Bronx" and a 1969 Supporting Actor Tony for "Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?" (he later won a second Tony in 1977 for "The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel"). His intense style of totally involving himself in a role sparked a lot of enthusiasm from critics, however not from movie execs. A young director had seen Pacino on Broadway and knew he'd be perfect for a role in a new movie he was directing. The executives at Paramount strongly disagreed, especially since Al had shown up at a couple of the movie's auditions without knowing his lines. Still, this young director wanted nobody but Al, so he showed a tape from Pacino's first leading role in a movie, "The Panic in Needle Park,"(1971) to the people at Paramount. They finally gave in, and that's how Francis Ford Coppolla cast Al as Michael Corleone in a little known movie called "The Godfather."
Pacino's breakthrough performance in "The Godfather" got him his first Oscar nomination and a string of other movie deals. His next film, "Serpico,"(1973) launched him into acting superstardom and led to the other hit movies "The Godfather, Part II" and "Dog Day Afternoon." These four films earned Pacino four Academy Award nominations for four consecutive years (1972-1975) and respect from adoring fans all over the world.
However, Pacino started slowly going downhill from that point. "Bobby Deerfield,"(1977) the story of a race car driver in love with a terminally ill patient, was the first Pacino film that did not live up to its expectations. The 1979 movie "...And Justice for All", despite a fifth Oscar nomination for Pacino, did not make much of a financial gain either. It was the movie "Cruising,"(1980) though, that was Pacino's first flat-out bomb. Critics murdered it with horrendous reviews; it wasn't in theaters for more than a few days.
After another mild flop in 1982, called "Author! Author!," Al had a mini-comeback in 1983 witht he cult hit "Scarface." However it didn't last that long. Another big bomb, "Revolution,"(1985) was shooed out of movie theaters pretty quickly.
For the next four years Al Pacino went into movie seclusion - he just decided it was time for a break. It wasn't until 1989 that Al was once again on the hot list. His cop thriller "Sea of Love" paired him with Ellen Barkin and top box office numbers, once again reestablishing Al as one of the great talents of Hollywood.
Since then, Al's been on fire in the movies. "The Godfather, Part III" from 1990 let Pacino return to the role of Michael Corleone that made him a star almost two decades earlier. He had an Oscar-nominated cameo and a lot of funny make-up on as big Boy Caprice in the live-action version of the comic strip "Dick Tracy," and he let his comical side shine through beside Michelle Pfeifer in "Frankie and Johnny." A very rare event happened in 1992 when Pacino was Oscar-nominated twice in the same year - one Supporting Actor nomination for "Glengarry Glen Ross" and one Leading Actor nomination for "Scent of a Woman." He actually won the Oscar for "Scent of a Woman" after seven previous nominations.
A number of other hit movies followed. "Carlito's Way,"(1993) a fabulous movie about a former drug dealer trying to come clean, has left another Al Pacino fan on the web describing it as "an underrated classic." Pacino encountered his first scene with another Hollywood heavyweight, Robert DeNiro, in 1995's critically acclaimed "Heat." Fans of the two Italian-Americans the world over rejoiced at the long overdue pairing if the two greatest actors of their generation.
"City Hall" was Al's 1996 mediorcre money maker. In other words, it wasn't a hit like "Heat" or "The Godfather." However, 1996 also brought "Looking for Richard," Pacino's documentary and pet project about Shakespeare's Richard III. It was Al's first attempt to direct a film. In fact, he also co-wrote and produced the movie as well as starring in it. His latest releases are "Donnie Brasco," his most recent return to the Mafia scene, and "Devil's Advocate," in which he plays the devilish boss of a NYC law firm.
Although Al Pacino is a huge movie star with an impressive film career, he still hasn't forgotten his roots in theatre. In fact, Al has been in a play at least every four years since 1962. He's admitted to loving the theatre more than film and compares the feeling to walking on a wire 100 feet off the stage. His most recent play, "Hughie," ran in the fall of 1996, and Al has even been thinking of returning to the theatre in Eugene O'Neill's "The Iceman Cometh" within the next year.
Upcoming Al Pacino projects include "Chinese Coffee," an independent film that Al is directing and starring in. "Chinese Coffee" is based on a play he did on Broadway in 1992. It has reportedly now been finished and may be released some time in 1998. Another project is called "Man of the People", which Al has finished filming and concerns the tobacco industry. Pacino is also signed on to film "On Any Given Sunday" this fall, in which he'll play a football coach of an NFL team.
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