Sonny Boy: A Memoir

Al Pacino was born Alfredo James Pacino in New York City in 1940. Pacino grew up in the South Bronx and was raised by his mother, Rose Gerard Pacino, and her parents. From an early age Pacino developed a fascination with movies and acting. Though he dropped out of high school to help provide for his mother, he later studied at the Herbert Berghof Studio, where he worked as a cleaner in lieu of tuition. 

After losing both his mother and grandfather at a young age, Pacino cycled through countless menial jobs to support himself, working as a building superintendent, a movie usher, and a mover. Pacino relied on his friends through a stint of homelessness, and he took any theater roles he could get. By the late 1960s Pacino’s efforts began to pay off as he landed more prominent theater roles. Critics immediately recognized Pacino’s talent; he won an Obie Award for his performance in The Indian Wants the Bronx, the highest honor for an off-Broadway performance. Pacino followed this success with his first Broadway play, Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?, winning a Tony Award for his performance.

His breakthrough film role came in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather, earning Pacino an Academy Award nomination for his performance. Most of his most celebrated films explored America’s underworld of gang violence and police corruption. Pacino’s most famous roles include playing gangsters Tony Montana in Scarface and Lefty Ruggiero in Donnie Brasco, and cop characters in Serpico and Heat. These roles solidified his reputation as an intense and expressive method actor.

While Pacino is best known for his big-budget Hollywood movies, he dedicated much of his career to theater work, sometimes taking a years-long hiatus from film acting to focus on theater roles. Passionate about Shakespeare, Pacino performed in The Merchant of Venice, Richard lll, and Julius Caesar, while also pursuing more contemporary roles in American Buffalo and Glengarry Glen Ross. He also pursued small-screen projects such as Hunters, You Don’t Know Jack, and Angels in America, winning two Emmy awards. As an Academy Award, Tony award, and Emmy award winner, Pacino is among only a handful of actors to win the “Triple Crown” of acting. In 2001 he was honored with one of Hollywood’s highest accolades, the Cecil B. DeMille award, for his contributions to the film industry.