There are lots of wonderful old Italian actors. You don't need to take an Egyptian to play an Italian actor.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I am tied to my father's land and am happy to visit relatives in Egypt, but I feel Italian and was never remotely tempted when Egypt asked me to play for them.
I've played some gangster roles, but that's obviously not me. When you're an Italian-American New York actor, it's just an easy way to get cast.
You grow up in a Sicilian household, becoming an actor is not a big leap.
I'm an actor, full stop. Not an Arab actor. Not an actor of Algerian origin. Just an actor.
There's no big splashy renaissance in Italian films. We have good young actors and directors. What we lack are screenwriters. It's hard to write about Italy.
As an actor, you can play different age ranges and different ethnicities.
The thing with being able to do accents is that it's still completely separate from being an actor.
I think to be a good actor you need either a good experience of life or education, or both.
In Italy, it is difficult to see a film in the original language because the voice actors here are a mafia.
I guess there are very few actors that I've worked with that I would like to work with again. You never think you'll have that chance and, if we didn't do Italian Job together, there wouldn't be another one that could be right.