Akademik

(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 in Giuliano Montaldo's Gli occhiali d'oro (The Gold Rimmed Glasses, 1987). In the 1990s he began to appear more prominently in films such as Marco Risi's Il branco (The Pack, 1994) and Ricky Tognazzi's Vite strozzate (StrangledLives, 1996), in both of which he played villains. After another supporting role in Paolo and Vittorio Taviani's Tu ridi (You Laugh, 1998) and a great deal of television work, he gave a very powerful performance in two films directed by Roberto Faenza, Alla Luce del Sole (Come into the Light, 2005), where he played the priest Don Pino Puglisi, murdered by the camorra in 1993, and I giorni dell'abbandono (The Days of Abandonment, 2005), the heart-wrenching story of a marriage breakup, both roles earning him nominations for the Nastro d'argento.

   In spite of a long line of acting achievements and other activities — in 2004 he also directed Gulu, a moving documentary on 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.

   Historical Dictionary of Italian Cinema by Alberto Mira