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Alfredo "Al" James Pacino (born on April 25 , 1940 ) is an iconic Academy Award -winning American Actor . EARLY LIFE Pacino was born in The Bronx , New York to Italian American parents Salvatore Pacino (who was born in the Italian town of Corleone ) and Rose Gerard (the daughter of an Italian -born father and a New York -born mother of Italian descent). His parents divorced while Pacino was still a child. His grandparents originated from Corleone, Sicily . Pacino is a Catholic. CAREER In 1966 , Pacino studied under legendary acting coach Lee Strasberg (alongside whom he would later feature in the 1974 film '' The Godfather Part II ''), finding acting a therapeutic outlet in a youth which saw him depressed and so impoverished he could barely afford the bus fares required to get him to his next audition. Yet by the end of the decade, he had won an Obie award for his stage work in ''The Indian Wants the Bronx'' and a Tony award for ''Does the Tiger Wear a Necktie?'' His movie debut came in 1969 's ''Me, Natalie'' but it was the 1971 film '' The Panic In Needle Park '', in which he played a Heroin addict, that would showcase his talents and bring him to the attention of Director Francis Ford Coppola . Pacino's rise to fame came after portraying Michael Corleone in Coppola's blockbuster 1972 Mafia film '' The Godfather '' and Frank Serpico in the eponymous 1972 movie. Although numerous established actors, including Robert Redford , Warren Beatty , and a then unknown Robert De Niro , were vying to portray Michael Corleone, Coppola selected the relatively unknown Pacino. His performance earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor and, by the end of the 1970s he would have three more nominations, all for Best Actor . Despite further nominations, it wasn't until 1992 that Pacino would win an Oscar, for Best Actor, for his portrayal of the irascible, retired and Blind Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade in Martin Brest 's '' Scent Of A Woman ''. That year, he was also up for the supporting award for his role in '' Glengarry Glen Ross '', making Pacino the first male actor ever to receive two acting nominations for two different movies in the same year, and the first actor of either gender to achieve that feat and win for the lead acting nomination. ( Jamie Foxx did the same in 2005.) Pacino has not received another nomination from the Academy since those two, but has won two Golden Globes since the turn of the century, the first being the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in motion picture, and the second for his role in the HBO miniseries '' Angels In America ''. Pacino's career took a downturn in the early 1980s and his appearances in the controversial '' Cruising '' and the comedy-drama '' Author! Author! '' saw him critically panned. 1983 's '' Scarface '' proved to be both a career highlight and a defining role, earning Pacino a Golden Globe nomination for his performance as a Cuba n drug lord who cries out the now famous line, punctuated by an Automatic Rifle blast, "''You wanna play rough? Okay! Say hello to my little friend!''". However, 1985 's '' Revolution '' was a commercial and a critical dud, and Pacino returned to stage work for four years. He mounted workshop productions of ''Crystal Clear'', ''National Anthems'' and other plays; appeared in '' Julius Caesar '' in 1988 for producer Joseph Papp 's New York Shakespeare Festival ; and worked on his most personal project, '' The Local Stigmatic '', a play he had starred in Off Broadway in 1969 then re-mounted in 1985 with director David Wheeler and the Theater Company of Boston in order to film a 50-minute movie version unreleased as of 2005. Pacino remarked on his film hiatus that, "I remember back when everything was happening, '74, '75, doing '' The Resistible Rise Of Arturo Ui '' on stage and reading that the reason I'd gone back to the stage was that my movie career was waning! That's been the kind of ethos, the way in which theater's perceived, unfortunately" {Link without Title} . Pacino re-surfaced in film in 1989 's '' Sea Of Love '', which was to signal a return to form. The next year, in 1990 , he received an Oscar nomination as Big Boy Caprice in the box office hit '' Dick Tracy ''. Pacino was nominated for, and won, a belated Academy Award for his role as the blind ex-Army Officer in "Scent of A Woman." Pacino has turned in excellent performances in such Crime thrillers as '' Carlito's Way '', '' Heat '', and '' Insomnia '', the crime Docudrama '' Donnie Brasco '', the Supernatural drama '' The Devil's Advocate '', and others. ]] Pacino has turned down a number of key roles in his career, including that of ''. The quality of Pacino's performances, as well as his larger-than-life onscreen presence (in reality he's 5 ft 6 in), have established him as one of the world's major actors. Pacino still performs theater work and has also dabbled in direction. While '' and on the villains list as Tony Montana and Michael Corleone . Although he has never been married, Pacino has three children. The first, Julie Marie, is his daughter with acting coach Jan Tarrant . He also has twins, Anton and Olivia, with ex-girlfriend Beverly D'Angelo . FILMOGRAPHY ACADEMY AWARD AND NOMINATIONS
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