Hollywood is dominated by Italian celebrities that are hardly-recognized to be having another cultural descent. In America alone, there are so many celebrities who have Italian descent—some of them even shocking the people. Well, not really, but you get to wonder how the mix up of culture happened. For this article, let’s get to know five of these best known Italian-American celebrities.
Robert de Niro
De Niro owes his Italian descent to his father, who is half Italian, half Irish. In 2004, there was a controversy regarding whether the Italian government should bestow Italian citizenship to de Niro considering his sadistic roles in the films that he took part in. Fortunately, this has been solved now, and de Niro currently holds two citizenship. The actor and director won the Academy Award for his lauded role in The Godfather (1974) playing Vito Corleone, and Raging Bull (1980).
Robert De Niro (born August 17, 1943) is an American actor and producer who has starred in over 100 films. He is regarded as one of the greatest actors of all time, having won two Academy Awards for acting as well as receiving nominations for four additional Academy Awards.
Leonardo di Caprio
Leonardo DiCaprio is an American actor and film producer. He has been nominated for six Academy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, and two British Academy Film Awards. He first rose to international prominence with his role as a mentally ill young man in “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape”.
Leonardo di Caprio rose to stardom in his role as Jack from the movie Titanic (1997) and has recently won the Academy Award for Best Actor after more than a decade for his role in The Revenant (2015). His Italian blood is from his father, who is half Italian and half German. Unfortunately, di Caprio isn’t as interested in his Italian descent as de Niro is.
Al Pacino
Al Pacino was born in the city of new york on October 25, 1925. He is an American actor and filmmaker.
This Italian-American celebrity is born into a family of Italian who came to settle in East Harlem, New York City. Al Pacino, short for Alfredo James Pacino, had a pretty dramatic life, needing to juggle his acting studies and jobs to finance his studies.
He first appeared in Godfather II and had acting stints in theater. Not long after, he landed a role in the TV series ‘NYPD’ which started his track to stardom. Today, although he didn’t have much luck with his personal life, he is still regarded as one of the most outstanding actors of all time.
Lady Gaga
If you live in the Western world, it’s likely that you’ve heard of Lady Gaga, and if you haven’t, then it’s high time that you get acquainted with her. She is, in a nutshell, an American singer-songwriter, and actress with a style of musical performance that combines pop music with electronic dance music.
Born in New York City into a family of Italian descent, Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (or commonly known as Lady Gaga) is a famous singer-songwriter, fashion designer, and record producer. She was especially known for her unique, eccentric taste of music, and had her high-grossing global tour in 2012 canceled because of a tear in her hip. Today, Lady Gaga is starting to venture into the career of acting with her upcoming film A Star is born (2018).
John Cena
Last but not the least on this Italian-American celebrities list, John Cena (which literally means supper) is also of Italian descent. He is a professional wrestler, TV reality show host, and actor. Some sites say that Cena has roots in an ethnic Albanian group that moved to Sicily in the 1500s. However, these have not been verified as truth.
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