Francesco Pannofino

Biography

Born in Pieve di Teco, Pannofino's parents originated from Locorotondo. Sometime after 1972, he and his family moved to Rome. In 1978, while waiting for a bus to take him to university so that he could undergo an algebra exam, Pannofino heard the sound of gunshots coming from a street nearby: what he heard was in fact Aldo Moro being kidnapped; he would later write a song based on those events, Il sequestro di stato (i.e. State abduction), which appears in the soundtrack of Felice Farina's 2014 film Patria featuring him in the main role.

Pannofino began his career as a theatre actor at some point between the late 1970s and the early 1980s and as a screen actor during the mid-90s, appearing in many films and television series through the years; these include Giovanni Falcone – L'uomo che sfidò Cosa Nostra, in which he portrayed real life gangster Tommaso Buscetta, and Night Bus, starring Giovanna Mezzogiorno and Valerio Mastandrea, as well as the TV film Imperium: Pompeii. He is especially known for the role of frustrated TV director René Ferretti in the satirical TV series Boris, also contributing to the soundtrack with his own song Ciak (Italian onomatopeia indicating the clapperboard used to demand action while filming).

Pannofino is considered to be one of the most representative dubbers in the fifth generation of Italian voice actors and has dubbed a great number of characters into the Italian language. He is the official voice actor of George Clooney and Denzel Washington. Other actors he often or occasionally dubs include Kurt Russell, Wesley Snipes, Mickey Rourke, Dan Aykroyd, Antonio Banderas, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ray Winstone, Michael Madsen, Kiefer Sutherland, Daniel Day-Lewis and Kevin Spacey (the latter of which is mainly dubbed by Roberto Pedicini).

Pannofino performed the Italian voices of characters such as Rubeus Hagrid (portrayed by Robbie Coltrane) in the Harry Potter franchise (which includes narrating the official audiobooks), the Green Goblin (portrayed by Willem Dafoe) in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, Gil Grissom (portrayed by William Petersen) in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Budd (portrayed by Michael Masden) in Kill Bill: Volume 1 and Kill Bill: Volume 2 and the title character (portrayed by Tom Hanks) in Forrest Gump. In his animated roles, he performed the Italian voices of Papi in the Beverly Hills Chihuahua film series, The Red Guy in Cow and Chicken and I Am Weasel, Lrrr in the first five seasons of Futurama and many more.

Personal life

Pannofino is married to actress and voice actress Emanuela Rossi, with whom he had a son, Andrea, who also became an actor and voice actor; the two actors separated in 2006, but later reunited and married a second time in 2011, although, by mutual agreement, the two chose not to live together again. He is a fan of soccer team Lazio, a passion that he developed in the mid-70s when, as a teenager, he sold drinks in the stands of the Olympic Stadium in Rome.

Filmography

Cinema

Croce e delizia [it] (1995)

That's Life (1998)

Free the Fish (2000)

Fatti della banda della Magliana (2005)

Night Bus (2007)

Lessons in Chocolate (2007)

This Night Is Still Ours (2008)

Pinocchio (2008)

L'uomo fiammifero (2009)

Different from Whom? (2009)

Just Married (2009)

Me and Marilyn (2009)

Scontro di civiltà per un ascensore a Piazza Vittorio [it] (2010)

Men vs. Women (2010)

Boris: The Film (2011)

Faccio un salto all'Avana (2011)

Poker Generation (2012)

Workers - Pronti a tutto (2012)

Operazione vacanze (2012)

L'arbitro (2013)

Il pretore (2014)

Ogni maledetto Natale (2014)

Patria [it] (2014)

Le frise ignoranti (2015)

Burning Love (2015)

Television

Linda e il brigadiere - TV series, season 3, episode 2 (1998)

Una donna per amico – TV series (2001)

La squadra – TV series, 9 episodes (2001)

Judas - TV film (2001)

Carabinieri – TV series, season 5, episode 1 (2002)

Distretto di Polizia – TV series, episode 5, season 8 (2005)

Try again teacher! – TV series, season 1, episode 1 and 3 (2005)

Questa è la mia terra – TV series (2006)

Giovanni Falcone - L'uomo che sfidò Cosa Nostra – TV miniseries (2006)

Imperium: Pompeii - TV miniseries (2007)

Piloti - TV series, season 1, episode 5 (2007)

Il generale Dalla Chiesa – TV minisereies (2007)

Boris – TV series (2007-2010, 2022)

Pinocchio – TV miniseries (2008)

Un caso di coscienza – TV series, 6 episodes (2009-2010)

I Cesaroni – TV series (2009-2012)

Un medico in famiglia – TV series, 1 episode (2009)

La nuova squadra – TV series (2011)

Camera Café – TV series, 1 episode (2011)

Voice work

Live action voice roles

Narrator in Via Veneto Set – documentary (2006), Zero - Inchiesta sull'11 settembre – documentary (2007), Coincidenze – short film (2010), La vita è arte. Renato Guttuso, l'artista e il suo tempo – documentary (2011), Padre Pio costruttore di misericordia – documentary (2016), Meraviglie – documentary series (2018-2022), Io, Leonardo, Being With Refugees – documentary (2020), Vaccari – documentary (2020), Dentro il Quirinale - Il palazzo degli italiani – documentary (2020), La Divina Commedia VR: l'Inferno, un Viaggio Immersivo – short film (2022), Il tempio della velocità – documentary (2022)

Guido Picelli in Il ribelle [it] – documentary (2011)

Rasputin in Rasputin - La verità supera la leggenda (2011)

Clown in Cuore di clown – short film (2011)

Spam in Doggywood

Marshal in Toilet [it] (2022)

Rubeus Hagrid in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2

Major General Henry “Hank” Landry in Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, Stargate: The Ark of Truth, Stargate: Continuum

Norman Osborn / Green Goblin in Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man 3, Spider-Man: No Way Home

Mark Hoffman in Saw IV, Saw V, Saw VI, Saw 3D

Eric Brooks / Blade in Blade, Blade II, Blade: Trinity

Danny Ocean in Ocean's Eleven, Ocean's Twelve, Ocean's Thirteen

Animated roles

Mustafà/Wolf and Tenebrone in Pipì, Pupù e Rosmarina in Il mistero delle note rapite (English title: Pipi, Pupu & Rosemary: the Mystery of the Stolen Notes)

Rospoleon in Yaya e Lennie - The Walking Liberty

Maccabeo in Hanukkah - La festa delle luci

Gufo (Owl) in Lupo racconta la SMA

Papi in Beverly Hills Chihuahua, Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2, Beverly Hills Chihuahua 3: Viva la Fiesta!

Lord Rothbart in The Swan Princess, The Swan Princess: The Mystery of the Enchanted Kingdom

The Red Guy in Cow and Chicken, I Am Weasel

Whenua in Bionicle 2: Legends of Metru Nui, Bionicle 3: Web of Shadows

Grug Crood in The Croods, The Croods: A New Age

Bomb in The Angry Birds Movie, The Angry Birds Movie 2

Conductor, Santa Claus, Hobo Ghost and Narrator in The Polar Express

Raven, Hakon and Egon in Gargoyles

Skunky Skunk, Mad Hatter and minor characters in Bonkers

Arpo Butcher and Ram Punchington in Sons of Butcher

Itchiford "Itchy" Dachshund in All Dogs Go to Heaven 2

General Von Talon in Valiant

Video games

Blackbeard in Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag

Colonel Hathi in The Jungle Book Groove Party