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 through 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 famous films, such as Ricomincio da Tre (which was uninterruptedly featured in the Italian cinemas for more than two years), Scusate il ritardo, Le vie del signore sono finite and No grazie, il caffè mi rende nervoso.

He starred opposite Roberto Benigni in "Non ci resta che piangere" (All We Have Left to Do is Cry), in which they play two folks who are accidentally transported centuries back in time, to the 15th century; there, they meet Leonardo da Vinci, and, upon realising in which time they are, travel to Spain 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.

External links

• A fan website