Esposito has portrayed drug dealers (Fresh, Breaking Bad, King of New York, Better Call Saul), policemen (The Usual Suspects, Derailed), political radicals (Bob Roberts, Do the Right Thing), and a demonic version of the Greek God of Sleep Hypnos from another dimension (Monkeybone). He also performed in TV shows such as Miami Vice and Spenser: For Hire. For many years, painting was his main creative outlet, and in the early two-thousands painting the world as a director promised an escape from the doldrums. He has appeared in over 60 films so far in his career. He spent his childhood in Copenhagen and various cities in Europe before his family finally settled in the Big Apple. They soon married, and Giancarlo was born in 1958, in Copenhagen, where Elizabeth was performing in a split bill with Josephine Baker. The series, created by Vince Gilligan and set amid the anomie and adobe subdivisions of Albuquerque, New Mexico, follows Walter White from the quiet desperation of a cancer diagnosis through his Nietzschean rebirth as a crystal-meth kingpin. They subsequently divorced. Esposito was raised in Copenhagen (along with his older brother, Vincent) until the age of six. 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And, his full name is Giancarlo Giuseppe Alessandro Esposito. He left in tears, but after learning to draw back his Broadway presence in small plays, as Rich had suggested, he got the part. (Even on Sesame Street, where, in his early twenties, he guest-starred as a camp counsellor, Esposito laid down the law for a homesick Big Bird.) Enrollment in the humanities is in free fall at colleges around the country. [18], Esposito was married to Joy McManigal. Strolling through the museum, Esposito recalled a memorable childhood encounter with Josephine Baker. His excellent execution of the role enabled him become one of the greatest villains in TV history but Esposito, who considers himself an Italian black first cut his teeth on Broadway as a child star with a notably clear singing voice. The 1988 musical comedy-drama, which also starred Laurence Fishburne and Tisha Campbell-Martin, gave a snapshot of the relationships and racial tensions in one of the nations historically black colleges. Now a regular in the TV show Revolution, Giancarlo Esposito continues to be a versatile and in-demand actor, and despite his attempt to avoid bad guy roles, he's just too good at it. Slim. He portrayed the split role of Sidney Glass, a reporter for The Daily Mirror in the town of Storybrooke, Maine, who is really a genie trapped in the Magic Mirror, possessed by The Evil Queen in a parallel fairy tale world. In 2008, he made his directorial debut with Gospel Hill, serving also as producer and star of the film. He enjoys roles that rather explore minority and immigrant issues. What HBOs Chernobyl got right, and what it got terribly wrong. How long before I drown? he asked his accountant, who told him that he had about a year. they want me to call them employee of the month. Despite jocular complaints that hed like to try a good guy, the baddie beat is treating him well. They want me to cut their throat, they want me to give them the look. Fans who cant get enough of the actors famously dulcet tones will be pleased to know Esposito has been known to put in the occasional appearance as a guest speaker. Esposito let his beard grow and planted a vegetable garden. That gnawed at my guts. His punctilious menace so mesmerized viewers that Gus became one of the principals, attaining such popularity that AMC advertised the spinoff series Better Call Saul (2015-22) with a travelling pop-up version of Los Pollos Hermanos. He escorts a captured Danny to the capital Philadelphia of the Monroe Republic.[11]. :). Espositos seething side-stage monologues, which rage against his circumstances in an attempt to excuse the murder, earned him an Obie Award, along with the admiration of an N.Y.U. When I saw Esposito at MOMA, he was enjoying a break from a shoot for Francis Ford Coppolas sci-fi epic Megalopolis, in Atlanta. It was Lee who first gave full expression to Esposito's aptitude for lawful evil. Besides his own films, he has produced The Keeper (1995) and Stuck (2017). But Esposito, a divorced father of four daughters, gave dimension to the role by drawing on his own struggles with childhood trauma and the isolation of life on the road. She sings the first verse. For that recurring role, he won the 2012 Best Supporting Actor in Drama award at the Critics Choice Television Awards and was nominated for an Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series award at the 2012 Primetime Emmy Awards.. In 2001, he played Cassius Marcellus Clay, Sr. in Ali, and Miguel Algarn, friend and collaborator of Nuyorican poet Miguel Piero, in Piero. In 2005, Esposito played an unsympathetic detective named Esposito in the film Hate Crime, which centers upon homophobia as a theme. An essay by Toni Morrison: The Work You Do, the Person You Are.. Girlfriend / Spouse. With new projects such as The Mandalorian and Harley Quinn in the works, nows never been a better time to find out 20 things you didnt know about Giancarlo Esposito. He spent his childhood in Copenhagen and various cities in Europe before his family finally settled in New York. The ruthless drug kingpin he portrayed calculated the violent removal from the world of those who displeased him after flashing a cold stare. Esposito and his older brother Vincent debuted on Broadway in 1968 in the musical Maggie . He won the Drama Desk Award for the play Balm in Gilead (1985). His Neapolitan father worked as a stagehand and carpenter while his African American mother sang in operas and nightclubs. All I wanted was to study his blood, Gideon tells Mando (Pedro Pascal), the masked hero, in a climactic rescue sequence; menacing the gurgling green infant with an energy blade, Esposito achieves a degree of campy malevolence not seen since silent-movie villains tied damsels to train tracks. Between 1971 to 1977, he served as a singer on The Electric Company, a childrens show that aired on PBS. Giancarlo Esposito shares what he misses about portraying Breaking Bad 's celebrated villain Gustavo Fring. In 2016 Esposito made an appearance on the Netflix original series The Get Down, produced by rapper Nas. He then followed up the appearance a few years later with a role in the childrens chorus of The Electric Company, an early 1970s education show that had a goal to teach kids using songs, animation, and live-action sketches. I made my living on that little tinge of anger inside me, that allowed me to be an angry young Black man and rob some white lady onscreen, he told me. . Throughout the 1970s he starred mostly in musicals, including The Me Nobody Knows, Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along, and Michael Bennett's Seesaw. Vincent and Giancarlo Esposito during their debut on Broadway in the musical Maggie Flynn, 1968. His both parents are from the entertainment business, so its no surprise that Esposito decided on a career in the industry. Some of his other TV roles are of Sidney Glass / Magic Mirror in ABCs fantasy drama series Once Upon a Time (2011-17), Tom Neville in NBCs post-apocalyptic series Revolution (2012-14), and the narrator on Netflixs comedy-drama series Dear White People (2017-present). From the year 1950 to 1958, Esposito has served in the Hawaii Territorial House of Representatives and was the regional house speaker. His full name is Giancarlo Giuseppe Alessandro Esposito. Some of his favorite activities include practicing his downward dog at yoga class, belting out a tune on his trusty saxophone, and picking up some LA sunshine as he cruises around town on his motorbike. His parents, working in Europe at the time of his birth, settled in Manhattan by the time he was 6, and that's where he grew up. He is best known for his performance as drug lord Gus Fring in the AMC shows Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. And it's kept going like that."[5]. During the 1990s Giancarlo, when not starring in films such as The Usual Suspects and Bob Roberts, went around college campuses and prisons as part of a motivational speaking circuit talking about racism, color-blind casting, and human empowerment. At that point, his parents decided to abandon Denmark for the Big Apple, and Esposito spent the remainder of his formative years in Manhattan, New York. Many critics analyzed whiteness in Breaking Bad; some argued that it was a fable about the erosion of white-male moral authority, whereas others decried a story in which a lone white chemist dethrones brown cartels with his pure product. But Gus, a smiling chicken vender who works tirelessly to put the cops at ease, is a no less racialized figurea nightmare, to some, and a fantasy, for others, about the compulsory performance of innocence evolving into a kind of superpower. As the well-intentioned chemistry teacher turned drug dealer spirals deeper into darkness, he will find Gus Fring waiting for him at the end. In the weeks before John Wayne Gacys scheduled execution, he was far from reconciled to his fate. In later years, he would star in Lee's School Daze and became a household name for the character Buggin' Out in Do The Right Thing. His brother is Giancarlo Esposito, (Gus Fring, for all you Breaking Bad fans). In every role, he mesmerizes audiences with a coiled intensity that he credits to military school, the slings and arrows of a volatile profession, and a lifelong commitment to mindfulness. my brother and I were accepted. In the fourth season, he was the show's primary antagonist, and won critical acclaim for this role. Under his production company, Quiet Hand Productions, Esposito made his directorial debut with Gospel Hill. Vincent Esposito, 51, after pleading guilty Wednesday to. He acted alongside Nicole Kidman in the 2010 film Rabbit Hole. I scrapped everything for a few weeks and said, figure out how to be with yourself outside of the world, outside of people handing me my validation.. Giancarlo and his older brother Vincent debuted on Broadway in 1968 in the musical Maggie Flynn with Shirley Jones and Jack Cassidy. Giancarlo and his more established sibling Vincent appeared on Broadway in 1968 in the melodic Maggie Flynn with Shirley Jones and Jack Cassidy. He also appeared in the mainstream films Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man with Mickey Rourke, Reckless with Mia Farrow, and Waiting to Exhale starring Whitney Houston and Angela Bassett. Who, I wondered, did they see? [12] Esposito has additionally appeared in a video of the action role-playing sci-fi first-person shooter game Destiny, as well as plays The Dentist, a non-playable story character, in the game Payday 2. In July 2020, Esposito began teasing his role in "a huge video game". My karmic journey is to be told what to do and accept that and do it the best I can, he said. [17], In 2022, Esposito played Taxi Driver in Euphoria, a film installation by Julian Rosefeldt. [1][2][3][4], When Esposito was six, his family moved to Manhattan. Returning to the seat reserved for antagonists, Esposito makes his debut in the Star Wars franchise as Moff Gideon. Lived in Europe, New York City, and Cleveland until he; his older brother, Vincent; and their parents moved to Manhattan when Giancarlo was six. I was surprised when, just a few minutes into our conversation, he started tearing up, remembering a hug with his youngest daughter during a difficult stretch in the two-thousands. He has a brother named Vincent. Giancarlo Giuseppe Alessandro Esposito ( Italian: [dakarlo duzppe alessandro espzito]; born April 26, 1958) is an American actor. Another chance has been the latest season of Godfather of Harlem, a nineteen-sixties crime drama starring Forest Whitaker, with Esposito in the uncharacteristically righteous and unbuttoned role of Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., the congressman, preacher, and Civil Rights hero. To this day, he continues to be an active member of the Atlantic Theater Company, an off-Broadway, non-profit theater whose mission is to empower simple and honest storytelling that fosters greater understanding of our shared world. The company was founded in 1985 by playwright, David Mamet, fellow actor and Shameless star, William H Macy, and 30 students from New York University. 75 kg or 165.5 lbs. He also appeared in the films Night on Earth (1991), Fresh (1994), Waiting to Exhale (1995), and Nothing to Lose (1997). He went on to work with Lee in several other films, including 'Do the Right Thing' (1989), 'Mo' Better Blues' (1990), and Malcolm X (1994). Giancarlo Giuseppe Alessandro Esposito was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, to an Italian carpenter/stagehand father from Naples, Italy, and an African-American opera singer mother from Alabama. However the series finale ends, one of the most enduring icons of Breaking Bad is the character Gustavo 'Gus' Fring, the suave and ruthless drug kingpin portrayed by Giancarlo Esposito. He simply bears up and he does it. But it deepened my work as an actor. Motown. My mother says, Now. After he offered her the rose, Baker took Espositos hand and pulled him onstage, singing the next verse directly to him. He appeared in New Amsterdam and CSI: Miami. who manufactures superheroes in Amazons Marvel satire The Boys? Giancarlo Giuseppe Alessandro Esposito became a popular face thanks to his portrayal of Gustavo . Because the Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan didnt think he could land Esposito, he didnt even contemplate asking him to do it. Photo: Newsday. In between projects, Esposito makes sure to take plenty of time out to enjoy some much-needed R&R. Esposito says that it was leaving the stage and hearing the sound of the audiences applause that ignited his passion:- I came offstage and heard the applause of the theater audience and felt a sense of accomplishment the actor has revealed. In 1982, the actor took on the role of Mickey, Big Birds camp counselor, in 4 episodes of everyones favorite kids TV show, Sesame Street. Maybe he wants that child so that he can take what he has and give it to all of us., Its become a clich to observe that Esposito is actually a very nice guy. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for GIANCARLO ESPOSITO SIGNED BOX CUTTER BREAKING BAD GUS FRINGE AUTOGRAPH BECKETT at the best online prices at eBay! We were in Shock." "After doing two shows, my brother Vincent Esposito turned to the violin and is still playing professionally." Says Giancarlo. On Broadway, his biggest role came in 2008 when he appeared as Gooper in Tennessee Williams Pulitzer prize-winning drama, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, which was directed by Debbie Allen and starred James Earl Jones, Phylicia Rashad, Anika Noni Rose, and Terrence Howard. In Guss final episode, while relaxing at a wine bar, he yearns to reciprocate the attentions of a flirtatious sommelier (Reed Diamond). 1997), Kale Lyn . Before the siren call of TV came beckoning, Esposito was carving out a successful career as a stage actor. Ad Choices. The pair met while working in Italy. film school grad named Spike Lee. Giancarlo Esposito is of both Italian and African-American origin. [5][6] He attended Elizabeth Seton College in New York and earned a two-year degree in radio and television communications.[6]. While Giancarlo Esposito has been around for decades with plenty of movies and TV shows, there are certain roles that stand out . . Instead, Salamanca was supposed to be the main villain. In the musical comedy "School Daze" (1988), set on the campus of a fictional H.B.C.U., he cast the actor as . Esposito first worked with acclaimed director, Spike Lee, on the filmmakers 2nd feature film, School Daze. By night, hes a ruthless drug lord, bringing the same commitment to customer service into the underworld; in one terrifying scene, he eviscerates one of his own minions with a box cutter to make a point to his meth cooks. Paul Gigante in Foxs short-lived sitcom Bakersfield P.D. In 1995, he shared screen space with Stephen Baldwin, Gabriel Byrne, Benicio del Toro, and Kevin Spacey in Bryan Singers The Usual Suspects. He played Ra's al Ghul in Son of Batman and Eric Needham / Black Spider in Batman: Assault on Arkham. He was in Toronto, travelling with his mother, when she realized that her old acquaintance was performing at their hotel. [10] Esposito appeared in Revolution as Major Tom Neville, a central character who kills Ben Matheson in the pilot. Giancarlo Esposito. Giancarlo Esposito is well known for portraying Gus Fring in the AMC crime drama series Breaking Bad and the prequel series Better Call Saul. It was during this period that he met Spike Lee and later starred in Lees School Daze becoming a household name for the character Buggin Out in Do The Right Thing. In the musical comedy School Daze (1988), set on the campus of a fictional H.B.C.U., he cast the actor as Julian (Big Brother Almighty) Eaves, a preening fraternity tyrant who delights in paddling pledgesone called Yoda begs for mercyand loathes the anti-apartheid activism of his popular rival, Dap (Laurence Fishburne). : Firefight, Once Upon a Time, Breaking Bad. 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