Paul Giamatti

Actor

Paul Giamatti has been one of the busiest character actors in Hollywood since breaking through in the 1997 Howard Stern biopic Private Parts. A veteran of small, independent films and big-budget Hollywood features, Giamatti began playing small roles in the early 1990s. By the end of the decade he had earned a following because of memorable roles in such films as The Negotiator (1998, with Samuel Jackson) and Man on the Moon (1999, starring Jim Carrey as Andy Kaufman). Giamatti is known for his slightly offbeat looks and a quirky presence in roles that often involve angry-but-funny outbursts. He played an orangutan in Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes (2001) and the guy who was dyed blue in the comedy Big Fat Liar (2002, with Frankie Muniz). In lead roles, Giamatti has played cartoonist Harvey Pekar in American Splendor (2003), a disgruntled oenophile in Sideways (2004) and a reluctant savior in M. Night Shyamalan's The Lady in the Water (2006).

Extra credit: Giamatti's father was A. Bartlett Giamatti, the former commissioner of major league baseball who famously banned Pete Rose from the game.