Alessandro Nivola

Alessandro Antine Nivola (born June 28, 1972) is an American actor. His work includes both screen and stage, and his accolades include a Screen Actors Guild Award, in addition to nominations for a Tony Award and an Independent Spirit Award.

Nivola made his acting film debut in Face/Off (1997) and has since acted in films such as Mansfield Park (1999), Jurassic Park III (2001), Laurel Canyon (2002), Junebug (2005), Coco Before Chanel (2009), Ginger & Rosa (2012), American Hustle (2013), Selma (2014), A Most Violent Year (2014), Disobedience (2017), You Were Never Really Here (2017), The Art of Self-Defense (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Boston Strangler (2023), The Room Next Door (2024), and The Brutalist (2024). He portrayed Aleksei Sytsevich / Rhino in the Marvel superhero film Kraven the Hunter (2024).

He founded the production company King Bee Productions with his wife Emily Mortimer in 2013. On television, he acted in and produced the HBO comedy Doll & Em (2015), and has portrayed Mark Madoff in the HBO television film The Wizard of Lies (2017), Mr. Dean in the FX / BBC One series Black Narcissus (2020), Bert Schneider in the Apple TV+ thriller miniseries The Big Cigar (2024) and Calvin Klein in the FX/Hulu drama miniseries Love Story.

On stage, he made his Broadway debut in the play A Month in the Country (1995) for which he was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play. He returned to Broadway acting in the revivals of Terence Rattigan's The Winslow Boy (2012), and Bernard Pomerance's The Elephant Man earning a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play nomination for the latter.

Early life and education Italian-American, Nivola was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Virginia (née Davis), an artist, and Pietro Salvatore Nivola, a professor of political science and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Nivola's paternal grandfather was the Italian (Sardinian) sculptor Costantino Nivola, and his paternal grandmother, Ruth Guggenheim, was a Jewish refugee from Germany.

The elder of two boys (his brother, Adrian Nivola, a painter, is five years younger), Alessandro Nivola's childhood was divided between Boston; Burlington, Vermont, where he attended the Mater Christi School (a ministry of the Sisters of Mercy); and Washington, D.C. He later attended Phillips Exeter Academy and Yale University.

Career Nivola graduated from Yale University with a BA in English in 1994. A year later he made his Broadway debut opposite Helen Mirren in A Month in the Country, earning a Drama Desk Award nomination. That year he also starred opposite Gwyneth Paltrow in the 1995 Williamstown Theater Festival production of Shakespeare's As You Like It. Shortly after that came his breakthrough performance in John Woo's feature film Face/Off (1997), playing Nicolas Cage's brother Pollux Troy.

In the ensuing years he has starred in many films, including Mansfield Park (1999), Love's Labour's Lost (2000), Jurassic Park III (2001), Laurel Canyon (2002), Junebug (2005), Goal! 1 & 2 (2005, 2007), Coco Before Chanel (2009), Ginger & Rosa (2012), American Hustle (2013), A Most Violent Year (2014), Selma (2014), The Neon Demon (2016), One Percent More Humid (2017), You Were Never Really Here (2017), Disobedience (2017), The Art of Self Defense (2019), and The Red Sea Diving Resort (2019). He played Dickie Moltisanti, the lead role in The Many Saints of Newark, David Chase's feature film prequel to his television series The Sopranos. In 2022, he appeared in David O. Russell's Amsterdam opposite Christian Bale and Margot Robbie, as well as the comedy feature Spin Me Round opposite Alison Brie and Aubrey Plaza.

Nivola worked frequently in television, starring opposite Robert De Niro in Barry Levinson's Madoff family biopic The Wizard of Lies (2017), as well as the TNT miniseries The Company (2007), the UK Channel 4 series Chimerica (2019), and the three-part BBC miniseries Black Narcissus, broadcast 27, 28, and 29 December 2020.

Onstage, he starred off-Broadway in a revival of the Sam Shepard play A Lie of the Mind (2010), with Laurie Metcalf and directed by Ethan Hawke. On Broadway, he starred in 2013 in The Winslow Boy and in 2014 in the revival The Elephant Man opposite Bradley Cooper (for which he earned a Tony Award nomination). In 2013, Nivola established King Bee Productions with his wife Emily Mortimer. The company produced two seasons of the half-hour comedy Doll & Em for HBO and BSkyB. He also produced To Dust, starring Matthew Broderick. It won the Audience Award at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival and was nominated for a 2020 Independent Spirit Award.

In 2024, Nivola appeared in Sony's Kraven the Hunter film, in which he played Spider-Man antagonist The Rhino.

Personal life Nivola married British actress Emily Mortimer in Buckinghamshire in January 2003. The couple have a son, Sam, born 26 September 2003, and daughter born 2010, and live in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn. Nivola became a British citizen the same day Mortimer became an American citizen.

Acting credits Film

Television Year Title Role NotesRef. 1996 Remember WENN Paul Rice Episode: "Valentino Speaks!" The Ring Noel Television film 1998 The Almost Perfect Bank Robbery Doug Television film 2007 The Company Leo Kritzky Miniseries 2015 Doll & Em John 4 episodes; also producer 2017 The Wizard of Lies Mark Madoff Television film 2019 Chimerica Lee Berger 4 episodes 2020 Black Narcissus Mr. Dean Miniseries 2022 The Last Movie Stars Richard Brooks / Robert Redford (voice) 4 episodes 2024 The Big Cigar Bert Schneider Main role 2026 Love Story Calvin Klein Recurring

Theater +Theater credits Year Title Role Venue Ref. 1993 "Master Harold"...and the Boys Hally Intiman Theatre Festival, Seattle 1995 A Month in the Country Beliaev Criterion Center Stage Right, Broadway 1999 As You Like It Orlando Williamstown Theatre Festival 2010 A Lie of the Mind Jake Acorn Theater, Off-Broadway 2012 The Elephant Man Frederick Treves Williamstown Theatre Festival 2013 The Winslow Boy Sir Robert Morton American Airlines Theatre, Broadway 2014 The Elephant Man Frederick Treves Booth Theatre, Broadway 2015 Theatre Royal Haymarket, West End

Awards and nominations

He has won a British Independent Film Award (BIFA), and the Best Actor Award at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival among others.