Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti was born June 6, 1967. He graduated from Choate Rosemary Hall prep school, majored in English at Yale, and obtained his Master's Degree in Fine Arts, with his major in drama from the Yale University School of Drama.

Paul is the youngest of three children. His older brother, Marcus Giamatti, is also an actor. His sister, Elena, designs jewelry. His father, A. Bartlett Giamatti, was a professor of Renaissance Literature at Yale University, and went on to become the university's youngest president. (In 1986, Bart Giamatti was appointed president of baseball's National League. He became Commissioner of Baseball on April 1, 1989 and served for five months until his untimely death on September 1, 1989. He was commissioner at the time Pete Rose was banned from the game.) Paul's mother, the former Toni Smith, was an actress before she married Dr. Giamatti. Paul's father has written six books.

Giamatti's acting roots are in theatre, from his college days at Yale, to regional productions (Seattle, San Diego and Williamstown, Massachusetts) to Broadway.


Son of Bart Giamatti, late president of Yale University, major league baseball commissioner and nemesis of Pete Rose. In the 1998 remake of Doctor Dolittle (1998), Paul portrayed a human in charge of a talking orangutan, in the 2001 remake of Planet of the Apes (2001), he portrays a talking orangutan in charge of humans. He's the voice talent for Tiger Woods headcover in a series of Nike Golf commercials Often plays roles based on real people - Private Parts (1997), Man on the Moon (1999), American Splendor (2003), Cinderella Man (2005) and "John Adams" (2008). Graduated from Yale University with a degree in English In Sideways (2004) his character, Miles, looks at a picture of himself as a younger man standing with a man in sunglasses. This is a photo of Paul Giamatti with his father, A. Bartlett Giamatti. Was listed as a potential nominee on the both the 2003 and 2007 Razzie Award nominating ballots. He was listed as a suggestion in the Worst Supporting Actor category on the 2003 ballot for his performance in the film Big Fat Liar (2002) and in the Worst (Leading) Actor category for his performance in the film Lady in the Water (2006). He failed to receive either nomination. During the shooting of the upcoming The Hawk Is Dying (2006), which is mainly about his character and a Red-Tailed Hawk, he became a raptor-enthusiast. Has one child, a boy named Samuel, born in 2001, with his wife, Elizabeth Giamatti. Is a Boston Red Sox fan Is a big fan of science-fiction. Russell Crowe stated in an interview that working with Giamatti was one of his favorite experiences in show business. The Brooklyn Academy of Music asked Giamatti, its "2007 BAM Cinema Club Chair", to pick films for an eight-movie series called "Paul Giamatti Selects" and shown at the Academy in August and September 2007. His selections indicated a taste for paranoia and "the darkest of dark comedy", according to a writer for The New York Times. Giamatti chose: Frenzy (1972), Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), Brewster McCloud (1970), The Big Clock (1948), The Seventh Victim (1943), Dawn of the Dead (1978), Seconds (1966), and Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978). He and his wife, Elizabeth Giamatti, own a home in Venice, California.