Daniel Caltagirone
Daniel Caltagirone (born 18 June 1972) is an English actor. Best known for his roles in The Beach, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, and the Oscar-winning movie The Pianist. His breakthrough role came in the television series Lock Stock, where he played series lead Moon.
Early life
Daniel Caltagirone was born and brought up in London, where he attended Saint Ignatius College for Boys. He also spent a considerable amount of time as a child in New York, where he has family. At Saint Ignatius College he pursued his ambition of going to Sandhurst military academy by enrolling in the Army cadets. However, during his gap year, a change of career came in the form of a theatre director who was convinced that Caltagirone was his perfect leading man. After starring in his first acting role, he became hooked and decided to postpone his military aspirations to study acting.
Career
Caltagirone went on to attend the prestigious Guildhall School of Music and Drama, from which he graduated in 1997. It was in his last year at Guildhall that he was discovered by an ITV talent scout and cast as a lead in Ruth Rendell's Going Wrong. He finished filming his first role in a cinema movie, Legionnaire, alongside Jean-Claude Van Damme in the summer of 1998. Shortly after, he spent a season at the Royal Shakespeare Company. Whilst at the RSC he was spotted by director Danny Boyle and cast as Unhygenix in The Beach starring Leonardo Di Caprio.
Before commencing work on The Beach, Caltagirone joined the cast of Friends for a role in "The One with Ross's Wedding", shot mostly in London. In 1999 Caltagirone was cast by Guy Ritchie as one of the leads in Lock Stock, the TV spin off to hit British film Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.
Caltagirone then starred in Roman Polanski's The Pianist which went on to win an array of international awards, including Academy Awards for Best Actor, Best Director and Best Screen Play. In 2003 he appeared in Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life with Angelina Jolie and Gerard Butler. Shortly after finishing filming on Tomb Raider he was cast in the critically acclaimed movie The Fall. Directed by Tarsem Singh, Caltagirone played the dual roles of Hollywood star Archibald Sinclair and Governor Odious.
In 2006 Caltagirone starred in The Path to 9/11, the controversial two part miniseries which aired in the United States on ABC. The film starring Harvey Keitel and Donnie Wahlberg dramatizes the events leading up to the September 11, 2001 attacks. Caltagirone was cast as one of the CIA operatives that were allegedly sent to kill Osama Bin Laden. In 2009 Caltagirone played ex-SAS Captain Gideon Stone in The Fixer. He portrayed aristocrat Girolamo de Treviso in The Tudors in 2010. Caltagirone starred at The Hampstead Theatre in .45 playing alongside fellow Tudors alumni Natalie Dormer in 2011. Caltagirone played Tommy in the yet to be released British comedy film Convenience in 2012.
Producer
Caltagirone produced his first film project in 2010 with a short film based on the novel of author Danny King, The Hitman Diaries.
Personal life
Caltagirone has two children: Roman and Valentino.