He debuted at age 17 in the autobiographical film
Di padre in figlio, written and directed with his father, under whose tutoring he later studied in the Theatre Workshop of
Florence. Among his theatrical activities, he was noted for his playing in
Pier Paolo Pasolini's
Affabulazione (1984). In 1996, he began an artistic partnership with his friend
Gianmarco Tognazzi with whom he co-acted in popular movies like
Uomini senza donne,
Facciamo festa,
Teste di cocco,
Lovest,
I miei più cari amici and
Natale a Beverly Hills, in the theatrical version of
Some Like It Hot and as dubbers of the Disney cartoon
The Road to El Dorado. In 1997, he won international acclaim with
Ferzan Özpetek's
Hamam. He was subsequently chosen by
Yves Saint Laurent as a testimonial for his perfume
Opium, and posed in a nude calendar for the Italian magazine
Max. He also became a testimonial for
Lancia of
Musa, as well as appearing in an ad for the
Glen Grant liquor. As an actor, he worked for several TV miniseries and, in France, in the action movie
Transporter 2 (opposite
Jason Statham), produced by
Luc Besson. In 2006, Gassmann appeared in the comedy
Non prendere impegni stasera. He then took part in TV dramas such as
Piccolo mondo antico,
Le stagioni del cuore,
La guerra è finita and
La Sacra Famiglia; he also acted in the US action film
Transporter 2 and in Italy in the comedy
Non prendere impegni stasera. In 2008, he acted in the film
Caos calmo as the brother of the main lead, interpreted by
Nanni Moretti. For this role, he was honoured by many awards: the
David di Donatello award for a supporting actor, the ''
Ciak d'oro, the Nastro d'Argento and the Globo d'oro
of the foreign press. In the same year, he adapted for the stage the teleplay 12 Angry Men, written by Reginald Rose in 1954 that was made into a film by Sidney Lumet in 1957: the performance was taken up again in 2009, year in which he also appeared as leading actor in 4 padri single by Paolo Monico, Ex by Fausto Brizzi and Il compleanno by Marco Filiberti as well in the TV miniseries Pinocchio'' directed by
Alberto Sironi. He is an acting Tutor in Cinecittà at Act Multimedia. == Personal life ==