Filippo Timi (born 27 February 1974) is an Italian actor, director and writer.
Biography Acting career
Filippo Timi was born in Perugia and studied acting in Bologna.
Filippo Timi was discovered as a film actor by the prominent Italian underground director Tonino De Bernardi. Timi debuted in De Bernardi's 1999 movie Appassionata, which was selected for the Venice Film Festival. After Appassionata he played in De Bernardi's Rosatigre (2000) and Farelavita (2001), both of which became classics of Italian underground cinema.
Despite his stutter and partial blindness, he has become a star of the big screen thanks to his wide range of activities as an author and entrepreneur for television, film, theater, magazines, and music shows. On stage he has been Orpheus, Danton, Perceval, Cupid, Hamlet and Satan. He has performed three different roles in Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House directed by Andrée Ruth Shammah in 2016.
Timi made his debut as a theater director in 2009, directing a Shakespeare adaptation of Amleto². Timi has also played the lead role. Tickets for the play sold out two years in advance. The play cemented Timi's reputation as one of the most recognized and talented writers of contemporary Italian theater. In 2025, the play returned to the stage of the Teatro Nazionale di Genova.
His film career continued with roles in Ferzan Ozpetek's multiple award winning Saturn in Opposition and Saverio Costanzo's In Memory of Me, for which he was nominated for the Italian Syndicate of Film Journalists Award for Best Supporting Actor. He later starred in Wilma Labate's Miss F, and played in Giuliano Montaldo's The Demons of St. Petersberg alongside Isabella Rossellini. At the 2009 Moscow International Film Festival, Timi won the Best Actor award for his role in Gabriele Salvatores's As God Commands.
Since 2009 Timi's films have been selected to compete in major festivals. He played the young Benito Mussolini in Vincere by Marco Bellocchio, the only Italian film in competition at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. Timi played the lead role in Giuseppe Capotondi's debut The Double Hour, which premiered at the Venice International Film Festival. He has performed in both dramatic (Vallanzasca, Angel of Evil, Rust (2011)) and comedic roles (Asterix and Obelix: God Save Britannia).
Timi had his English-language debut acting alongside George Clooney in Anton Corbijn's action film The American. He has also dubbed Tom Hardy's voice in the Italian release of The Dark Knight Rises, and voiced Manny in the Italian dub of the last two films of the Ice Age franchise, replacing Leo Gullotta.
Since 2013, he has played the lead role in the Italian TV series .
Staged in 2011, his surreal black comedy Favola immediately became a cult play. After many successful seasons, in 2018 Sebastiano Mauri directed a movie based on this production. Favola's sequel, Mrs. Fairytale - Non si torna indietro dalla felicità, premiered in 2021.
Writing career In 2006, Timi published his debut novel Tuttalpiù muoio, co-written with Edoardo Albinati. It is a partially autobiographical coming-of-age story that was a great success with critics and the public. It was followed by E lasciamole cadere queste stelle, a collection of short stories dedicated to female characters. His third book, Peggio che diventare famoso, was published in 2008. The book followed the filming of As God Commands, a 2008 drama directed by Gabriele Salvatores. In the trilogy, Timi recalls his humble origins and through a vividly ironic and phantasmagorical lens, shows how he managed to transform youthful problems into a powerful and intense love of life.
In 2023, he published "Marilyn", a novel, a novel dedicated to one of Hollywood's most famous blondes. In Timi's book, she survives a suicide attempt and escapes to Rome.
Personal life Timi is openly gay. In 2016, he married his longtime boyfriend, the artist and writer Sebastiano Mauri, in a civil ceremony in New York City.Avete visto il marito di Filippo Timi? Il motivo per cui la coppia ha deciso di sposarsi a New York lascia l’amaro in bocca (in Italian) By 2022, they were already divorced.
Filmography Films YearTitleRoleNotes1999In the Beginning There Was UnderwearTascaFeature film debutAppassionateRicky2000RosatigreAntonello "Rosatigre"Also screenwriter and costumerAtomique. Les trois portesDirector2001500!NicoFare la vitaAntonello "Rosatigre"Also screenwriter and composerEsile rosa tuDirector2002Open My HeartCustomerL'altra donnaFilippo2005OndeAlex2006L'eredità di CainoHim2007In memoria di meZannaSaturn in OppositionRobertoSignorina EffeSergio2008The Demons of St. PetersbergGusievAs God CommandsRino Zena2009VincereBenito MussoliniThe Double HourGuido2010The AmericanFabioThe Solitude of Prime NumbersClownCameo appearanceAngel of EvilEnzo2011 When the NightManfred SaneRuggineDoctor BoldriniMissione di paceChe GueravaPiazza GaribaldiHimselfDocumentary film2012Love Is in the AirMax LambertiIce Age: Continental DriftManny (voice)Italian voice-over roleAsterix and Obelix: God Save BritanniaDécurion patrouille2013A Castle in ItalyLudovic Rossi-LeviLike the WindUmberto Mormile2014I corpi estraneiAntonio2015Blood of My BloodThe MadmanHe Named Me MalalaThe voice of Malala's fatherItalian dub; documentary film2016Icaros: A VisionPasajero LeonardoQuesti giorniMr. MarianiIce Age: Collision CourseManny (voice)Italian voice-over role2017FavolaMrs. FairytaleAlso screenwriter2022The Invisible ThreadPaoloThe Eight MountainsGiovanni GuastiRobbing MussoliniAchille Borsalino2026 Se domani non torno Gino Cecchettin
Television YearTitleRoleNotes2010BorisBruno StaffaEpisode: "La qualità non basta"2013–presentI delitti del BarLumeMassimo VivianiLead role2014–2015Il candidatoPiero ZuccaLead role
Selected plays • Fuoco centrale, by Cesare Ronconi (1995) • G.A. story, by Robert Wilson (1996) • La rabbia, study by Pippo Delbono (1996) • Medea, by Filippo Timi e Federica Santoro; produced by Giorgio Barberio Corsetti (1999) • F. di O., by Filippo Timi, produced by Giorgio Barberio Corsetti (1999) • La tempesta, by Giorgio Barberio Corsetti (1999) • Il Graal, by Giorgio Barberio Corsetti (2000) • Woyzeck, by Giorgio Barberio Corsetti (2001) • Il gabbiano, by Anton Milenin (2001) • La morte di Danton, by Aleksandr Popowski (2004) • La vita bestia, by Giorgio Barberio Corsetti (2006) • Il colore bianco, by Giorgio Barberio Corsetti (2006) • Il popolo non ha il pane? Diamogli le brioche, by Filippo Timi (2009) • Favola. C'era una volta una bambina, e dico c'era perché ora non c'è più, by Filippo Timi (2011) • Giuliett'e Romeo. M'engolfi 'l core, amore, by Filippo Timi (2011) • Il Don Giovanni: vivere è un abuso, mai un diritto, by Filippo Timi (2013) • Skianto, by Filippo Timi (2014) • Una casa di bambola, by Andrée Ruth Shammah, (2015–16)
References
External links