JULY 26
BIOGRAPHY:
Sergio Assisi began acting at the Bellini Theatre, Naples, at the age of 16. He performed a wide range of roles dealing with a variety of genres, until his debut as a theatre director with C'è folla al castello by Jean Tardien.
In 1998 he made his big screen debut as the male lead of Ferdinando and Carolina by Lina Wertmuller, who cast him as King Ferdinad IV of Bourbon among 3.000 auditioners. In 2000 he landed another leading role in the comedy L'uomo della fortuna, based on the lotto game in Naples, a city suspended between sweetness and despair. In 2004 he co-starred in the film Guardiani delle nuvole.
He also played a number of TV characters, easily ranging from costume dramas to contemporary fictions, from dramatic roles (such as in Graffio di tigre, a miniseries set during the Italian Resistance) to comic ones (such as the well-known viveur Umberto, in the first two seasons of the hit series Capri), portraying both villains (such as social climber court clerk Federico Funelli in the miniseries Assunta Spiana) and positive characters (such as Antonio, the protagonist of Mannaggia alla Miseria by Lina Wertmuller).
He published the photobook S/Pazza Napoli, a tribute to Neapolitan people’s genius, which has always been their trademark, San Giuseppe, facci vincere lo scudetto fino al 3000, a collection of the most amusing God’s favours seeked by Neapolitans, Strapazza Napoli, an ironic photo journal of Naples, and the novel Quando l'amore non basta (Cairo Publishing).
In 2014 he made his film directing and screenwriting debut with A Napoli non piove mai, where he also played the main character. In 2015 he came back on stage with the comedy Oggi sto da Dio, which he scripted and produced. Last 8 June they started shooting Rimbocchiamoci le maniche, a new Canale 5 fiction set to be broadcast next season, starring Assisi and beautiful actress Sabrina Ferilli.