Stage Giannini made his stage debut at the age of 18, opposite
Lilla Brignone in
In memoria di una signora amica, directed by
Giuseppe Patroni Griffi. His breakthrough came when he was cast by
Franco Zeffirelli in a production of
Romeo and Juliet which played at
The Old Vic.
Film and television '', c. 1973 Giannini made his film debut in a small part in
I criminali della metropoli in 1965. He appeared in supporting roles in
Anzio and
The Secret of Santa Vittoria, and starred in the original version of
Swept Away. In 1967, he was a special guest on an episode of
Mina's TV show "Sabato Sera". He had his breakthrough in 1970. In 1971, he appeared in
E le stelle stanno a guardare, a television adaptation of
A. J. Cronin's novel
The Stars Look Down. Giannini won a
Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor for his performance in
Love and Anarchy (1973). He had big box office hits with
How Funny Can Sex Be? (1973) and
The Sensual Man (1974). Giannini is known for his starring roles in films directed by
Lina Wertmüller. In addition to
Seven Beauties and
Swept Away, he also appeared in
The Seduction of Mimi,
Love and Anarchy,
A Night Full of Rain,
Blood Feud, and
Francesca e Nunziata. Giannini has also achieved some international success. His fluency in English has brought him a number of featured roles in Hollywood productions, most notably as Inspector Pazzi in
Hannibal. He also appeared in
Man on Fire. Giannini played Alberto Aragón in
A Walk in the Clouds in 1995, and Emperor
Shaddam IV in the
2000 Dune miniseries. In 2002, he starred in the
horror film Darkness. He later portrayed French agent
René Mathis in the
James Bond films
Casino Royale (2006) and
Quantum of Solace (2008). In 2009, Giannini received a star on the
Italian Walk of Fame in Toronto, Canada. On March 6, 2023, he received a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Voice acting '' (1970) Giannini has had a successful career as a voice actor and dubber. He helped with the foundation of the
C.V.D. along with
Renato Turi,
Corrado Gaipa,
Valeria Valeri,
Oreste Lionello,
Wanda Tettoni and other dubbers. Giannini is the main Italian voice dubber of
Al Pacino. Both he and
Ferruccio Amendola were the primary dubbers of Pacino until Amendola's death in 2001 when Giannini became the main voice dubber. He also dubbed
Jack Nicholson's voice as
Jack Torrance in the Italian release of
The Shining and the
Joker in
Batman and
Michael Douglas as
Gordon Gekko in
Wall Street and the
2010 sequel as well as dubbing other actors such as
Dustin Hoffman,
Gérard Depardieu,
Ryan O'Neal,
Jeremy Irons,
Mel Gibson,
Tim Allen,
Leonard Whiting and
Ian McKellen in some of their work. In Giannini's animated roles, he voiced
Carl Fredricksen (voiced by
Ed Asner) in the Italian dub of the Pixar film
Up. He also provided the Italian voice of Raul Menendez in the
Call of Duty game franchise. Outside of dubbing, he also provided voice roles in Italian cinema, notably the animated film
Momo in which he voiced the main antagonist, and
Giulio Base's religious drama ''
Judas' Gospel'', where the title character serves as a narrator. == Other ventures ==