Bobby Cannavale
Birthday: 3 May 1970, Union City, New Jersey, USA
Birth Name: Roberto M. Cannavale
Height: 189 cm
In both career and in real life, Bobby Cannavale tends to choose the unconventional way of doing things. In the beginning, his decisions may have cost the dark, swarthily good-looking actor some actin ...Show More
I never thought I would get married and have kids. I thought I was going to be a gypsy actor, travel Show more
I never thought I would get married and have kids. I thought I was going to be a gypsy actor, traveling all over the world playing the great roles. I ended up having a kid very young, and it put things in perspective. He became the most important person in my life, and everything else seemed to fall into place. I've made decisions that perhaps have not let me go as far in my career, but I'm totally fine with that because it's kept me close to my son. Hide
[on his high school days] The town, Margate [Florida], was just white, what they called Florida crac Show more
[on his high school days] The town, Margate [Florida], was just white, what they called Florida crackers. They were the kids with the desert boots who used to chase me home and put holes in my tires and call me Dorito. High school was four years of craziness. I was disruptive in class. I got suspended all the time. They would give you the option of getting suspended for five days or getting corporal punishment. Finally, my mother was like, 'That's it with the suspension, now you get hit.' Hide
[re Sidney Lumet] Sidney was the most down-to-earth guy you could meet. He loved me because I didn't Show more
[re Sidney Lumet] Sidney was the most down-to-earth guy you could meet. He loved me because I didn't have anything and he came from nothing. By the way, [re Lumet's mother-in-law Lena Horne] I didn't know who she was but I think she liked that I was a little dirty. She, like Sidney, would love to say around her friends, 'Bobby, tell that story,' and I'd tell some story they would all be charmed by. Nothing is more charming than poor folks. They were all great, but it was Sidney, that guy. To the end, he was like a dad to me. Hide
[re Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and mentor Lanford Wilson] That's very much in my history that Show more
[re Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and mentor Lanford Wilson] That's very much in my history that I've attached myself to older men. Lanford was one of those people I could learn from. Years later, when I was in a play of his at the Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor, where he lived, it was also where I conceived my son, in Lanford's garden. I reminded him of that till the day he died. Hide
[reason he was expelled from Catholic school in 7th grade] For finally losing my temper with the pri Show more
[reason he was expelled from Catholic school in 7th grade] For finally losing my temper with the principal who's been on me since I was 5 years old. Sister Joanna. She was my kindergarten teacher when I was skipped to first grade, and I think she always held that against me. When she became principal, she got on me, and I finally lost it, and like pushed her in the coat closet. Hide
I was in Cannes a couple of years ago. Which, you know, I was like, Wow, holy shit, I'm in Cannes. I Show more
I was in Cannes a couple of years ago. Which, you know, I was like, Wow, holy shit, I'm in Cannes. I've never been there before. I was there with a movie. And it was the anniversary of Platoon (1986), which is another movie that if it's on, it just brings me back to being 15 years old and memorizing every monologue from that movie. It was like a real actor movie. And Tom Berenger was freakin' great in that movie, and I met him at this anniversary screening. We're all black tie, and I walked up to my lawyer, who also represents him, and I had a glass of red wine in my hand. And he said, "This is Tom Berenger." I said, "Oh, man. I gotta tell you, I memorized that whole monologue." And I start doing the monologue, and he was so flattered. And we're laughing, laughing, and it's like two minutes in, and I'm drinking my wine, and this other guy made a joke and I spit my red wine, all of it, all over Tom Berenger. I mean, like, I just projectiled all of it, all over him. And as he stood there looking down at his shirt and at me, from the dais Oliver Stone said, "I want to introduce the cast. First, Tom Berenger," and he just looked at me, like, "Who the fuck are you?" And he went up on stage covered in wine. Hide
I don't come from an intellectual family. I fly [my parents] in for the opening night of whatever sh Show more
I don't come from an intellectual family. I fly [my parents] in for the opening night of whatever show I'm in, and it's great, they love me, they're proud of me. But we don't ever talk about what the play is about. So I was always in search of people I could talk to. I guess you could pull apart psychologically why it's always a guy this happens with. My father-in-law [Sidney Lumet] was like a dad to me, and we talked about this art form ad nauseam. Hide
I think what makes really good drama is that the event that's happening in the two hours that you're Show more
I think what makes really good drama is that the event that's happening in the two hours that you're watching is the biggest event of [the character's] life. Even if it's mundane, even if it's somebody going through some sort of midlife crisis that on the page seems very mundane, to me, their inner life has to be that it's the biggest event of their life. Hide
Between the career and my partial custody [of son Jake Cannavale] and the fact that I didn't have my Show more
Between the career and my partial custody [of son Jake Cannavale] and the fact that I didn't have my dad growing up, I knew I had to work extra hard to always be here for him. I've never had discipline for anything like I do for raising Jake. I needed to make sure this home was our home. So if you got into a relationship with me, I made that clear, and that can be frustrating. I've had people want to move into this apartment, and it just wasn't going to happen. I need my son to be able to come out of that bathroom in his underwear any time he wants and not worry about who's here. Hide
I like flawed characters very much. A lot of times I get asked to do parts that are kind of small bu Show more
I like flawed characters very much. A lot of times I get asked to do parts that are kind of small but key -- three-scene roles that are three kick-ass scenes. Growing up, watching as many movies as I did, I was always into character actors like that. Hide
I can also be stubborn. I'm an idealist. I used to say to Sidney [Sidney Lumet], 'Pop, your movies a Show more
I can also be stubborn. I'm an idealist. I used to say to Sidney [Sidney Lumet], 'Pop, your movies are always about people fighting against something, the system or corruption,' and he said, 'That's what life is about.' I loved that. I'm fighting complacency. Most people think good enough is good enough. I go to the theater a lot, and communion doesn't always happen, but when it does, it's indescribable. I don't come from anywhere, man, but I am always on the search for excellence. Hide
I don't go see big, silly movies. I like small things about regular folks, you know? I always wanted Show more
I don't go see big, silly movies. I like small things about regular folks, you know? I always wanted to have a career that would keep me at home in New York so I can work in the theater all the time and be involved in the creative process from the ground up. I don't think there's a lot of room for vanity when you're developing things. Hide
Bobby Cannavale's FILMOGRAPHY
as Actor (266)
Bobby Cannavale'S roles
