Alessandro Antine Nivola, born on June 28, 1972, in Boston, Massachusetts, is an American actor and producer renowned for his performances across film, television, and theater.
Raised in a family steeped in the arts and academia, Nivola’s father, Pietro Salvatore Nivola, was a professor of political science and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, while his mother, Virginia Davis, is an artist.
His paternal grandfather, Costantino Nivola, was a celebrated Italian sculptor, and his paternal grandmother, Ruth Guggenheim, was a German Jewish refugee, giving him a rich Italian and German-Jewish heritage alongside his mother’s British Isles ancestry.
Nivola’s early life was split between Boston, Burlington, Vermont—where he attended Mater Christi School—and Washington, D.C.
He later studied at the prestigious Phillips Exeter Academy and graduated from Yale University in 1994 with a Bachelor of Arts in English.
Married to British actress Emily Mortimer since January 2003, the couple resides in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, and shares two children, son Sam (born 2003) and daughter May (born 2010), both of whom have followed in their parents’ footsteps as actors.
Siblings
Alessandro is the elder of two brothers, sharing a close bond with his younger sibling, Adrian Nivola, who is five years his junior.
Born into the same artistically inclined family, Adrian pursued a path in the visual arts, establishing himself as a talented painter based in New York.
The brothers’ childhood, marked by frequent moves and exposure to their grandfather’s sculptural legacy, fostered a shared appreciation for creativity.
Career
Nivola’s career began in theater during his Yale years, where he performed in regional productions, including a lead role in Athol Fugard’s “Master Harold… and the Boys.”
His professional breakthrough came shortly after graduation with a 1995 Broadway debut opposite Helen Mirren in Ivan Turgenev’s “A Month in the Country,” which showcased his raw talent and earned early praise.
Transitioning to film, Nivola made his screen debut in 1997’s “Inventing the Abbotts,” but it was his chilling portrayal of Pollux Troy, the paranoid brother of Nicolas Cage’s character, in John Woo’s action thriller “Face/Off” that same year that catapulted him to wider recognition.
This role highlighted his ability to embody intense, psychologically layered villains.
Throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s, Nivola gravitated toward independent British cinema, adopting accents and diving into period pieces like Patricia Rozema’s “Mansfield Park” (1999) as the charming yet manipulative Henry Crawford, and Kenneth Branagh’s musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Love’s Labour’s Lost” (2000), where he met his future wife, Emily Mortimer.
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He balanced these with mainstream fare, including the blockbuster “Jurassic Park III” (2001) as adventurer Billy Brennan and the ensemble drama “Laurel Canyon” (2002), opposite Frances McDormand, which delved into generational clashes in Los Angeles.
The mid-2000s saw Nivola in indie darlings like Phil Morrison’s “Junebug” (2005), where he played a supportive husband in a Southern family tale, and the soccer drama “Goal!” (2005), marking the start of a trilogy.
He continued with roles in “Coco Before Chanel” (2009) as the fashion icon’s early love interest and the miniseries “The Company” (2007), a Cold War espionage saga.
By the 2010s, Nivola’s versatility shone in high-profile projects: he portrayed a corrupt congressman in David O. Russell’s “American Hustle” (2013), civil rights attorney John Doar in Ava DuVernay’s “Selma” (2014), and a heating oil executive in J.C. Chandor’s “A Most Violent Year” (2014).
His stage return included off-Broadway’s “A Lie of the Mind” (2010) directed by Ethan Hawke and Broadway revivals like “The Winslow Boy” (2013) and “The Elephant Man” (2014) opposite Bradley Cooper.
In 2013, he co-founded King Bee Productions with Mortimer, producing HBO’s “Doll & Em” and the acclaimed “To Dust” (2018).
Television work expanded with HBO’s “The Wizard of Lies” (2017) as Mark Madoff alongside Robert De Niro, Channel 4’s “Chimerica” (2019), and BBC’s “Black Narcissus” (2020).
Recent years have brought Nivola into darker, more intense territory: the cult thriller “The Art of Self-Defense” (2019), the mob prequel “The Many Saints of Newark” (2021) as the charismatic Dickie Moltisanti, and Lynne Ramsay’s “You Were Never Really Here” (2017) with Joaquin Phoenix.
His 2024 output was prolific, featuring Pedro Almodóvar’s “The Room Next Door” with Julianne Moore, Brady Corbet’s epic “The Brutalist” as the antagonist Attila, the true-crime “Boston Strangler,” and the Marvel blockbuster “Kraven the Hunter” as the villain Rhino.
Accolades
Throughout his career, Nivola has garnered recognition for his nuanced performances, particularly in ensemble casts and stage revivals.
His Broadway debut in “A Month in the Country” (1995) earned him a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play, marking him as a promising talent early on.
For his supporting role in “Laurel Canyon” (2002), he received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Supporting Male, praised for capturing the vulnerability of a young musician navigating fame and family.
Nivola’s work in David O. Russell’s “American Hustle” (2013) contributed to the film’s ensemble winning the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, shared with stars like Christian Bale and Jennifer Lawrence.
The cast of “Selma” (2014) also took home the Black Film Critics Circle Award for Best Ensemble, highlighting his portrayal of civil rights figure John Doar.
On stage, his revival performance in “The Elephant Man” (2014) opposite Bradley Cooper landed him a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Play, cementing his theatrical prowess.
In independent cinema, Nivola won the British Independent Film Award for Best Supporting Actor for “Disobedience” (2017), where he played a conflicted Orthodox Jew.
That same year, his lead role as a struggling writer in “One Percent More Humid” earned him the Best Actor Award at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Additionally, as a producer on “To Dust” (2018), he shared in its Audience Award at Tribeca and a 2020 Independent Spirit Award nomination.
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