Paul Giamatti

The Brooklyn Academy of Music asked Giamatti, its "2007 BAM Cinema Club Chair", to pick films for an eight-movie series called "Paul Giamatti Selects" and shown at the Academy in August and September 2007. His selections indicated a taste for paranoia and "the darkest of dark comedy", according to a writer for The New York Times. Giamatti chose: Frenzy (1972), Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), Brewster McCloud (1970), The Big Clock (1948), The Seventh Victim (1943), Dawn of the Dead (1978), Seconds (1966), and Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978).

Father died in 1989.

Has appeared in three remakes, Sabrina (1995), Doctor Dolittle (1998), and Planet of the Apes (2001).

Often plays roles based on real people - Private Parts (1997), Winchell (1998) (TV), Man on the Moon (1999), American Splendor (2003), Cinderella Man (2005), "John Adams" (2008) and Too Big to Fail (2011) (TV).

Has starred in three films (Private Parts (1997), American Splendor (2003) and Man on the Moon (1999) that feature characters who appear on "Late Show with David Letterman" (1993) and a fourth, Storytelling (2001), that starred Conan O'Brien, who hosted "Late Night" after Letterman moved to his own show on CBS.

In the 1998 remake of Doctor Dolittle (1998), Paul portrayed a human in charge of a talking orangutan, in the 2001 remake of Planet of the Apes (2001), he portrays a talking orangutan in charge of humans.

Has one child, a boy named Samuel, born in 2001, with his wife, Elizabeth Giamatti.

Was listed as a potential nominee on the both the 2003 and 2007 Razzie Award nominating ballots. He was listed as a suggestion in the Worst Supporting Actor category on the 2003 ballot for his performance in the film Big Fat Liar (2002) and in the Worst (Leading) Actor category for his performance in the film Lady in the Water (2006). He failed to receive either nomination.

His life ambition is to star in a crime caper with Robert Duvall and John Hurt. He plans on contacting the two stars with his idea should Sideways (2004) win Best Picture at the Academy Awards.

Despite his character of Miles in Sideways (2004) and his passion for pinot, Giamatti himself admits that he has very little knowledge of wines and is not much of a fan of them.

In Sideways (2004) his character, Miles, looks at a picture of himself as a younger man standing with a man in sunglasses. This is a photo of Paul Giamatti with his father, A. Bartlett Giamatti.

During the shooting of the upcoming The Hawk Is Dying (2006), which is mainly about his character and a Red-Tailed Hawk, he became a raptor-enthusiast.