Libero de Rienzo• Italy
Shooting Stars 2003
Success came with Santa Maradona, whose role won a David di Donatello for best supporting actor
video by Frank Stender for Europanet - Invideo
Shooting Stars at EFP
Italy has chosen Libero De Rienzo as its representative at the 2003 edition of Shooting Stars. Best known to the public as the bloke who tastes to see whether the pasta is cooked in a well known TV ad, De Rienzo began his acting debut in 1996, in the theatre. His first domestic film was Claudio Bisio’s Asini) and he made his international film debut in French director Catherine Breillat’s Fat Girl!, De Rienzo has starred in numerous TV films although success only came with Marco Ponti's directorial debut, Santa Maradona, co-starring Stefano Accorsi. Call it a coincidence by Accorsi was Italy’s Shooting Star in 2002. De Rienzo won a David for best supporting actor Santa Maradona.
Read our exclusive interview with this coming young talent.
"Every time you are in front of a camera it is always a challenge. For me it is like that: I'm always scared of it. Every time, the last time is like the first time. I think this is the funny,... the worst and the best of this work... the scary thing... I'm always scared.
About European directors...yes, I would like to work with Noé or Ken Loach, but it is the script which most attracts me first. And I think there are lots of interesting European scripts. I don't feel Italian, I don't feel European... I'm just myself. I was born from my mother, that's it! 'Italian saying/speech' - it means: 'If something bad happens to you,. go ahead'".