Alfredo James Pacino was born on April 25, 1940 to an average Italian family in New York City. His parents separated and then divorced when Al Pacino was young but the event did not seem to upset him very much. He was bored with high school academics and decided, instead, to put his energy into the school plays. This started Al Pacino’s love affair with acting and started him down a long and difficult journey. From the time he was very young Al Pacino loved movies and he would often find himself reciting movie lines or acting out scenes from his favorite movies. This habit stayed with him all through high school and his love of movies, coupled with his love for acting on the stage, made him decide to take on acting as a full time career from the time he got out of high school.

As a young actor Al Pacino focused on stage productions and he was usually very poor and had to borrow money on many occasions just to get by. In 1966 Al Pacino caught one of his first real breaks when he got into the well known Actors Studio to study acting under the legendary Lee Strasberg. Strasberg had developed the Method Approach to acting that became quite the rage in the 1970’s and Al Pacino took to the classes like an expert. Soon he began landing larger roles in stage production and in 1967 he won a Tony Award for his work in the stage production Does The Tiger Wear A Necktie? and soon Al Pacino was making a living doing what he loved to do and he was becoming quite successful at it.

In 1969 Al Pacino made his on screen debut in the movie Me, Natalie and his work in this movie, coupled with his growing success on stage, brought him to a situation that many young actors never find themselves fortunate enough to be in. Francis Ford Coppola had seen Al Pacino in Me, Natalie and also in the 1971 dark movie The Panic In Needle Park and was impressed with the young actor. He had also seen Al Pacino perform in some stage productions and Francis Ford Coppola was convinced that this young and unknown actor was perfect to play the role of Michael Corleone in the upcoming movie The Godfather. The studio wanted names such as Robert Redford, Warren Beatty, or Jack Nicholson to play what everyone knew would be a very important role but Coppola insisted that the Italian Al Pacino was the perfect man for the job and after some behind the scenes wrangling Coppola got his wish and Al Pacino got the role that every other Hollywood star wanted. This kid from New York City was given a role that legends such as Robert Redford had desperately wanted and Al Pacino did not disappoint. He was nominated for an Oscar for his performance in The Godfather and a great career was born.

Since The Godfather Al Pacino has appeared in such classic movies as Godfather Part II, Scarface, and Scent Of A Woman but it is what he did with the other movies he starred in that has made him a legend. With performances in such movies as Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, and Glengarry Glen Ross Al Pacino not only made poor movies great but he received Oscar nominations doing it. All in all Al Pacino has been nominated for an Oscar an amazing 8 times with 1 win to his credit. He even accomplished the amazing task of being nominated for his work in the 1992 movie Glengarry Glen Ross as a supporting actor and winning for best actor in 1992 with his work in Scent Of A Woman. Two Oscar caliber performances in one year. Al Pacino is definitely one of the best actors ever.