Christian De Sica

Christian De Sica (Italian pronunciation: [ˈkristjan de ˈsiːka]; born 5 January 1951) is an Italian actor, comedian, television presenter, and filmmaker.

Christian De Sica
De Sica in 2007
Born	(1951-01-05) 5 January 1951 (age 73) Rome, Italy
Occupations	Actor comedian film director writer producer television presenter
Spouse	Silvia Verdone ​ (m. 1980)​
Children	2
Parent(s)	Vittorio De Sica (father) María Mercader (mother)
Relatives	Manuel De Sica (brother) Carlo Verdone (brother-in-law)

Life

De Sica was born in Rome, the second son of Italian director Vittorio De Sica and Spanish actress María Mercader. His first cousin once removed was Ramón Mercader, the murderer of Leon Trotsky.^[1][2] After attending Liceo classico in Rome, where he had Carlo Verdone as his deskmate,^[3] De Sica worked in a hotel in Venezuela, where he began his career as an artist. He enrolled in Lettere (Literature and Arts) at La Sapienza university (1970) but did not graduate.

He was attracted to music, and participated in the Sanremo Festival singing "Mondo mio" ("My World") (1973). However, the results convinced him to follow in his father's footsteps and devote himself to acting. De Sica developed his own style of comedy and entertainment also in Rai television shows, such as Bambole, non c'è una lira, which gave him a large success in 1978.

Acting career

With his father's help, he was able to take his first steps in the movie world with such teachers and mentors as Roberto Rossellini (Blaise Pascal, 1971), Vittorio De Sica himself (A Brief Vacation, 1973), Pupi Avati (House of Pleasure for Women, 1976) and Salvatore Samperi (1979 Liquirizia and 1981 Chaste and Pure).

He married Silvia Verdone, sister of Carlo, with whom he had two children, Brando and Mariarosa. He achieved fame in the 1980s: in 1982 Borotalco was released, together with his brother-in-law Verdone, then he filmed Sapore di Mare with Jerry Calà as well as Yuppies, Yuppies 2, Grandi Magazzini and Compagni di Scuola.^[4]

After Night club, the last film directed by Italian director Sergio Corbucci, Christian De Sica became one of the most famous interpreters of the "cine-panettone" (comedies that reach movie theatres during the Christmas season) and formed till 2005 a partnership with actor Massimo Boldi. They acted together in the series of Vacanze di Natale and A spasso nel tempo (1996), Paparazzi (1998), Tifosi (1999) and Christmas in Love (2004). By 2002, their films had grossed 300 billion lire ($150 million).^[5] Afterwards, he starred in Natale a New York (2006), Natale in crociera (2007) and Natale a Rio (2008). These films, done in burlesque style, tend to be well received at the box office, if not by critics, at times even outstripping better known and expensively made movies such as the Harry Potter series.^[6]

As an actor, De Sica has won three David di Donatello awards: a prize for Giovannino in 1976, a special one together with Massimo Boldi in 2000, and the third one in 2009.

He received the America Award of the Italy-USA Foundation in 2016.

Directing career

Since 1990, Christian De Sica has also been a director: he debuted with Faccione, whose script he wrote and tailor-made for actress Nadia Rinaldi. After Count Max, a homage to the cinema of his father and of Mario Camerini, that he interpreted with Ornella Muti, Anita Ekberg and his mother Maria Mercader, De Sica went on self-directing in Ricky & Barabba (1992), Men Men Men (1995), Tre (1996), Simpatici & antipatici (1998), and The Clan (2005).

A great admirer of Frank Sinatra and above all of Marlon Brando, he named his first child Brando in honour of the American actor. Criticism has often likened his acting to that of Alberto Sordi, from whom De Sica has drawn a lot of his expressions.

Filmography

Films

Title	Year	Role(s)	Director	Notes
Paulina 1880	1972	Attilio Pandolfini	Jean-Louis Bertuccelli	Feature film debut
A Brief Vacation	1973	Boy on train	Vittorio De Sica	Cameo appearance
The Cousin	1974	Ninì Scuderi	Aldo Lado
The Sex Machine	1975	Daniele Venturoli	Pasquale Campanile
Sexycop	1976	Vito Militiello	Duccio Tessari
House of Pleasure for Women		Ugolino Facchini	Pupi Avati
Giovannino		Giovannino Calì	Paolo Nuzzi
An Almost Perfect Affair	1979	Carlo Barone	Michael Ritchie
Liquirizia		Gian Galeazzo Lo Cascio	Salvatore Samperi
Il malato immaginario		Claudio Anzalone	Tonino Cervi
Love in First Class	1980	Sales assistant	Salvatore Samperi	Cameo appearance
I'm Getting a Yacht		Attilio	Sergio Corbucci
Chaste and Pure	1981	Carletto Morosini	Salvatore Samperi
Teste di quoio		Carpets seller	Giorgio Capitani	Cameo appearance
Talcum Powder	1982	Marcello	Carlo Verdone
Grog		TV presenter	Francesco Laudadio	Cameo appearance
Viuuulentemente mia		Juan Lopez	Carlo Vanzina
Time for Loving	1983	Felicino Carraro
Acqua e sapone		Man at fashion show	Carlo Verdone	Cameo appearance
Vacanze di Natale		Roberto Covelli	Carlo Vanzina
Vacanze in America	1984	Father Rodolfo
Mi faccia causa		Giovanni Pennisi	Steno
I pompieri	1985	Alberto Spina	Neri Parenti
Yuppies	1986	Sandro	Carlo Vanzina
Detective School Dropouts		Carlo Lombardi	Filippo Ottoni
Grandi magazzini		Antonio Borazzi	Castellano & Pipolo
Yuppies 2		Sandro	Enrico Oldoini
Montecarlo Gran Casinò	1987	Furio	Carlo Vanzina
Bellifreschi		Mario "Jerry" Marcelli	Enrico Oldoini
I pompieri 2		Alberto Spina	Giorgio Capitani
Compagni di scuola	1988	Bruno Ciardulli	Carlo Verdone
Night Club	1989	Walter Danesi	Sergio Corbucci
Fratelli d'Italia		Cesare Proietti	Neri Parenti
Vacanze di Natale '90	1990	Tony	Enrico Oldoini
Count Max	1991	Alfredo / Count Max	Christian De Sica	Also director and screenwriter
Faccione		None		Director and screenwriter
Vacanze di Natale '91		Enzo Lambertoni	Enrico Oldoini
Anni 90	1992	Cesare Proietti / Lando Marcelli
Ricky & Barabba		Barabba	Christian De Sica	Also director and screenwriter
Anni 90: Parte II	1993	Rodolfo Buro / Roberto Torri	Enrico Oldoini
S.P.Q.R.: 2,000 and a Half Years Ago	1994	Cesare Atticus	Carlo Vanzina
Men Men Men	1995	Vittorio Mannino	Christian De Sica	Also director and screenwriter
Vacanze di Natale '95		Remo Proietti	Neri Parenti
3	1996	Jacopo Del Serchio	Christian De Sica	Also director and screenwriter
A spasso nel tempo		Ascanio Orsini Varaldo	Carlo Vanzina
A spasso nel tempo - L'avventura continua	1997
Simpatici e antipatici	1998	Roberto	Christian De Sica	Also director
Paparazzi		Cesare Proietti	Neri Parenti
Tifosi	1999
Vacanze di Natale 2000		Giovanni Covelli	Carlo Vanzina
Chicken Run	2000	Rocky (voice)	Peter Lord, Nick Park	Italian voice-over
Body Guards		Fabio Leone	Neri Parenti
Merry Christmas	2001	Fabio Trivellone
Christmas on the Nile	2002	Mr. Ciulla
Natale in India	2003	Fabio De Tassis
Christmas in Love	2004	Fabrizio Barbetti
The Clan	2005	Franco	Christian De Sica	Also director and screenwriter
Natale a Miami		Giorgio Bassi	Neri Parenti
Natale a New York	2006	Camillo Ferri
Natale in crociera	2007	Paolo Cioffa
Horton Hears a Who!	2008	Horton (voice)	Jimmy Hayward, Steve Martino	Italian voice-over
Natale a Rio		Paolo Berni	Neri Parenti
Natale a Beverly Hills	2009	Carlo / Germano
The Youngest Son	2010	Luciano Baietti	Pupi Avati
The Tourist		Colonel Lombardi	Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Natale in Sudafrica		Carlo Boffa	Neri Parenti
Amici miei - Come tutto ebbe inizio	2011	Filippo
Vacanze di Natale a Cortina		Roberto Covelli
Buona giornata	2012	Prince Ascanio Cavallini	Carlo Vanzina
The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!		Pirate Captain (voice)	Peter Lord, Jeff Newitt	Italian voice-over
Lightning Strike		Alberto Benni	Neri Parenti	Segment: "Primo episodio"
The Unlikely Prince	2013	Anastasio	Alessandro Siani
Colpi di fortuna		Gabriele Brunelli	Neri Parenti
La scuola più bella del mondo	2014	Principal Brogi	Luca Miniero
Vacanze ai Caraibi	2015	Mario Grossi Tubi	Neri Parenti	Also screenwriter
Fräulein	2016	Walter Bonelli	Caterina Carone
Poveri ma ricchi		Danilo Tucci	Fausto Brizzi
Poveri ma ricchissimi	2017
Amici come prima	2018	Cesare Proietti	Christian De Sica	Also director and screenwriter
Sono solo fantasmi	2019	Tommaso Di Paola / Vittorio Di Paola		Also director and screenwriter
La mia banda suona il pop	2020	Tony Brando	Fausto Brizzi
In vacanza su Marte		Fabio Sinceri	Neri Parenti
Comedians	2021	Bernardo Celli	Gabriele Salvatores
Who Framed Santa Claus?		Santa Claus	Alessandro Siani
Watch Out, We're Mad!	2022	Torsillo	YouNuts!
The Price of Family		Carlo Delle Fave	Giovanni Bognetti
The Price of Nonna's Inheritance	2024	Carlo Delle Fave	Giovanni Bognetti
Another Summer Holiday		Pierluigi Nardi Masciulli	Paolo Virzì

Television

Title	Year	Role(s)	Network	Notes
Blaise Pascal	1972	Lieutenant	Rai 1	Miniseries; cameo appearance
Alle sette della sera	1974–1975	Himself / Host	Rai 2	Variety show
La compagnia stabile della canzone con varietà e con comica finale	1975		Rai 1	Special
Bambole, non c'e una lira	1978	Various		Variety show
Paris-Vichy	1979	Arnold	France 2	Television movie
Studio 80	1980	Himself / Host	Rai 1	Variety show
Sotto le stelle	1982			Musical program (season 2)
Flipper	1983	Photographer		Television movie
Cinema che follia!	1988	Himself / Host	Rai 2	Variety show
Belli freschi	1993	Various	Canale 5	Sketch comedy
Lo zio d'America	2002–2006	Massimo Ricciardi	Rai 1	12 episodes
Attenti a quei tre	2004	Luca		Miniseries
Tale e quale show	2012–2014, 2017, 2021	Himself / Judge		Talent show (seasons 1–4, 7, 11)
Un matrimonio	2013–2014	Pippo Dagnini		6 episodes
Striscia la notizia	2015	Himself / Guest host	Canale 5	Variety show (from September 28–October 24)
Mozart in the Jungle	2016	Mr. Beppi	Prime Video	5 episodes
Miss Italia	2017	Himself / Judge	La7	Annual beauty contest
Christian De Sica: Una serata tra amici	2021	Himself / Host	Rai 1	Special
Gigolò per caso	2023	Giacomo Bremer	Prime Video	6 episodes

References

1. María Mercader, la actriz catalana que amó a De Sica. El Pais, 30 Jan. 2011
2. Essere Liberi Archived 5 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine, 3 May 2004 (in Italian)
3. "Quell'amico che ti segue tutta la vita. Un anno senza il compagno di banco" [The friend who follow you for all the life. A year without the deskmate]. Il Corriere della Sera (in Italian). 29 August 2020. Archived from the original on 30 August 2020. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
4. "Christian De Sica compie 70 anni: "Sono un saltimbanco, un attore e uno showman"". la Repubblica (in Italian). 5 January 2021. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
5. Rooney, David (7 January 2002). "Local yokels deliver a boffo B.O holiday gift". Variety. p. 30.
6. Harford, Sonia (17 January 2003). "Diary/Rome". The Age (Melbourne, Australia). p. 4.

External links

• Official website
• Christian De Sica at IMDb