Detailed Biography

John Michael Turturro is an American actor, writer, and director best known for his performances in Barton Fink , Quiz Show , The Big Lebowski , and O Brother, Where Art Thou? . He has appeared in over sixty movies, and has worked frequently with the Coen brothers and Spike Lee. He is well known for his ability to change both his demeanor and physique.

Early life

Turturro was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Katherine, an amateur jazz singer who worked in a Navy yard during World War II, and Nicholas Turturro, a carpenter and construction worker who fought as a Navy serviceman in D-Day. Turturro's mother was Sicilian and his father immigrated from Giovinazzo, Bari, Italy at the age of six. Turturro was raised a Catholic and moved to the Rosedale section of Queens, New York with his family when he was six. He majored in drama at the State University of New York at New Paltz, and completed his MFA at the Yale School of Drama. He first appeared on film working as an extra in Martin Scorsese's critically acclaimed Raging Bull .

Career

Turturro created the title role of John Patrick Shanley's Danny and the Deep Blue Sea at the Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center in 1983. He repeated it the following year off-Broadway and won an Obie Award. Spike Lee liked Turturro's performance in Five Corners so much that he chose to cast him in Do the Right Thing. This movie was the first of a long-standing collaboration between the famous director and John Turturro, which also includes Mo' Better Blues , Jungle Fever , Clockers , Girl 6 , He Got Game , Summer of Sam , She Hate Me and Miracle at St. Anna .

A versatile actor comfortable with both comedy and drama, Turturro also had an extended collaboration with the Coen Brothers, appearing in their films Miller's Crossing , Barton Fink , The Big Lebowski , and O Brother, Where Art Thou? . He has also appeared in several of Adam Sandler's movies, such as Mr. Deeds and You Don't Mess with the Zohan . He played a severely disturbed patient of Jack Nicholson's in the comedy Anger Management and played Johnny Depp's antagonist in Secret Window. Before becoming a household name, Turturro made a cameo in the Woody Allen film Hannah and Her Sisters.

He won an Emmy award for his portrayal of Adrian Monk's brother Ambrose Monk in the USA Network series Monk, and has reprised the role on numerous occasions. He has also been nominated and won many awards from film organizations such as Screen Actors Guild, Cannes Film Festival, Golden Globes, and others.

Turturro produced and directed, as well as acted in, the film Illuminata , which also starred his wife Katherine Borowitz. He also wrote and directed the film Romance and Cigarettes . In 2006 he appeared in Robert De Niro's The Good Shepherd, and as the oddball Sector 7 agent Simmons in two films of the Transformers live-action series.

Personal life

Turturro's brothers are actor Nicholas Turturro and middle school art teacher Ralph Turturro. Actress Aida Turturro is Turturro's cousin. He has two children, Amedeo and Diego . Turturro is Roman Catholic and his wife, actress Katherine Borowitz, is Jewish.

Turturro participates as a member of the Jury for the NYICFF, a local New York City Film Festival dedicated to screening films for children between the ages of 3 and 18.