Profile of Massimo Troisi on Famous Like Me

Massimo Troisi (February 19, 1953 - June 4, 1994) was an Italian actor, film director and poet from San Giorgio a Cremano, Naples. He is best known for the 1994 film Il Postino.

Troisi started his artistic career as a cabaret showman together with Lello Arena and Enzo De Caro, in a comic trio called "La Smorfia" (from the name of the "book of the numbers" traditionally used in Naples for Lotto and Bingo).

The trio reached television and gained national popularity, but then dissolved shortly thereafter.

Troisi starred opposite Roberto Benigni in "Non ci resta che piangere" (1985), in which they play two folks who are accidentally transported centuries back in time, to the 15th century; there, they meet Leonardo da Vinci, and, upon realising in which time they are, travel to Spain to try to stop Christopher Columbus from discovering the Americas.

Troisi came to international fame through the success of Il Postino, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. Other films he acted in included Ricomincio da Tre, Scusate il ritardo, Le vie del signore sono finite and No grazie, il caffè mi rende nervoso.

A good personal friend of the musician and singer Pino Daniele (who wrote most of the soundtracks for his movies), he wrote lyrics for his musics or adapted his poetry for it.

Troisi died in 1994 of a heart attack (he had a congenital disease) shortly after the release of Il Postino.

Eduardo De Filippo said of him that he was a comic actor of the future, but - luckily - with his roots in the past.

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