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Massimo Troisi (February 19, 1953 - June 4, 1994) was an esteemed Italian actor, film director and poet from San Giorgio a Cremano, Naples.
Troisi started his artistic career as a cabaret showman together with Lello Arena and Enzo De Caro, in a comic trio called "La Smorfia" (from the name of the "book of the numbers" traditionally used in Naples for Lotto and Bingo).
The trio reached television and gained national popularity, then it soon was dissolved.
Troisi is internationally known due to the success of the movie Il Postino (original title: Il Postino di Neruda) for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. He acted in other interesting films like Ricomincio da Tre (which was uninterruptedly featured in the Italian cinemas for more than two years), or Scusate il ritardo, or Le vie del signore sono finite, or No grazie, il caffè mi rende nervoso.
He was with Roberto Benigni in "Non ci resta che piangere", in which they act two folks by chance transported centuries back in time, to the 15th century; here they meet Leonardo da Vinci, so when they realise which epoque they are living in, they decide to go to Portugal to try to stop Christopher Columbus from discovering the Americas.
A good personal friend of the musician and singer Pino Daniele (who wrote most of the soundtracks for his movies), he wrote lyrics for his musics or adapted his poetry for it.
Troisi died suddenly, still young, of a heart attack (he had a congenital disease) a little after Il Postino was awarded glory and success.
Eduardo De Filippo said of him that he was a comic actor of the future, but - luckily - with his roots in the past.
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