---
name: "Luigi Lo Cascio"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/luigi-lo-cascio"
fi1m_id: "luigi-lo-cascio"
imdb_id: "nm0516222"
tmdb_id: 34491
wikidata_id: "Q556294"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "20 October 1967"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-26T18:13:17.492803+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Luigi Lo Cascio

## Identity

Luigi Lo Cascio

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/luigi-lo-cascio
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** luigi-lo-cascio
- **IMDb ID:** nm0516222
- **TMDB ID:** 34491
- **Wikidata ID:** Q556294
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luigi_Lo_Cascio, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q556294, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0516222/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/34491

Actor. Born 20 October 1967 in Palermo, Italy.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 20 October 1967, Palermo, Italy
- **Also known as:** ルイジ・ロ・カーショ
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luigi_Lo_Cascio, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q556294, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0516222/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/34491

## Coming up

- *The Craft* (2026-10-17), as Sauro Cantafame

## Fi1m on Luigi Lo Cascio

> Luigi Lo Cascio holds our attention without pleading for sympathy. His patient, unforced acting in *The Best of Youth* gives a long family drama the human warmth it needs, and is reason enough to recommend it.

In the close-ups of *The Best of Youth* (2003), Luigi Lo Cascio gives us time to make up our minds about Nicola Carati. His face holds our attention, but he does not push us towards sympathy. We were moved by that restraint, because the film allows us to watch a response without explaining it for us. Marco Tullio Giordana trusts the actor to make these moments interesting. Across a long character study, Lo Cascio never lets the effort become the thing we are watching.

Giordana also directed his film debut, *I cento passi* (2000), with Lo Cascio playing Peppino Impastato. Moving from a real person to Nicola's decades-long story in *The Best of Youth*, he quickly became an actor on whom a substantial drama could depend. The early work also includes the romantic drama of *Luce dei miei occhi* (2001), playing Antonio alongside Sandra Ceccarelli. The family saga remains our strongest recommendation from this period, because its patient direction allows him to develop a character without having to announce every change.

His work with director Marco Bellocchio runs from *Buongiorno, notte* (2003) to *The Traitor* (2019). In the latter, he plays Salvatore Contorno, bringing energy to the courtroom scenes. His Palermitan dialect is left intact rather than made easier to understand. Speech matters here, and the refusal to smooth it out gives us another reason to listen closely to an actor whose face can hold a scene so quietly. It is worth remembering before treating restraint as his only skill.

Our reservation about *The Best of Youth* is with the film's occasional sentimentality, which presses harder than this performance needs. Lo Cascio leaves us room to form our own view of Nicola; the surrounding drama is not always as patient. Giordana gets so much from simply watching him that the added insistence feels unnecessary. For an introduction to Lo Cascio, give that film the time it asks for, with the warning that it sometimes tries to do your feeling for you.

## Biography

Luigi Lo Cascio is an Italian actor. He was born in Palermo on 20 October 1967 and trained at the Silvio D'Amico National Academy of Dramatic Arts in Rome. His film debut came in 2000 as Peppino Impastato in *One Hundred Steps*, directed by Marco Tullio Giordana, for which he received the David di Donatello for Best Actor.

Lo Cascio played Nicola Carati in Giordana's *The Best of Youth* (2003). He has appeared in films including *Human Capital* (2013), *The Traitor* (2019) as Salvatore Contorno, and *Strangeness* (2022). He made his directorial debut with *The Ideal City* (2012) and has also written books. He has won additional awards including Nastro d'Argento prizes and the Coppa Volpi for Best Actor.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, it.wikipedia.org.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *The Best of Youth* (2003), Fi1m 86, as Nicola Carati — [page](https://film.one/film/the-best-of-youth.md)

## Complete filmography (43)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *The Craft* (2026), as Sauro Cantafame
- *Nowhere* (2024), as (voice)
- *Delta* (2023), as Osso
- *The Bad Guy* (2022), series, as Nino Scotellaro
- *Chiara* (2022), as Cardinale Ugolino / Papa Gregorio IX
- *The Bone Breakers* (2022), as Machinetta
- *Strangeness* (2022), as Il capocomico
- *Lord of the Ants* (2022), as Aldo Braibanti
- *The Ties* (2020), as Aldo prima
- *I Guerrieri del Regno di OEP* (2019), as Narrator
- *The Traitor* (2019), as Salvatore Contorno
- *The Stone Eater* (2018), as Cesare
- *I Can Quit Whenever I Want 3: Ad Honorem* (2017), as Walter Mercurio
- *I Can Quit Whenever I Want 2: Masterclass* (2017), as Walter Mercurio
- *Donkey Flies* (2015), Actor
- *An Italian Name* (2015), as Sandro De Luca
- *The Dinner* (2014), as Paolo
- *Human Capital* (2013), as Donato Russomanno
- *The Bad Child* (2013), as Michele
- *Marina* (2013), as Salvatore
- *Salvo* (2013), as Enzo Puleo
- *The Ideal City* (2013), as Michele · Writer, Director, Script, Screenplay
- *6 sull'autobus* (2012), Actor
- *Piazza Fontana: The Italian Conspiracy* (2012), as Ugo Paolillo
- *Il sogno del maratoneta* (2012), as Dorando Pietri
- *Dieci Cadute* (2012), as Voice
- *We Believed* (2010), as Domenico Lopresti
- *Baaria* (2009), as giovane con sindrome di Down
- *The Friends at the Margherita Café* (2009), as Manuelo
- *Miracle at St. Anna* (2008), as Angelo Torancelli (Adult)
- *Wild Blood* (2008), as Patriot
- *The Sweet and the Bitter* (2007), as Saro Scordia
- *The Dark Sea* (2006), as Luca
- *Don't Tell* (2006), as Daniele
- *Eyes of Crystal* (2004), as Amaldi
- *The Life I Want* (2004), as Stefano / Federico
- *The Best of Youth* (2003), series, as Nicola Carati
- *My Brother-in-Law* (2003), as Vito
- *Good Morning, Night* (2003), as Mariano
- *The Best of Youth* (2003), as Nicola Carati — Fi1m 86, [page](https://film.one/film/the-best-of-youth.md)
- *The Best Day of My Life* (2002), as Claudio Mazzoni
- *Light of My Eyes* (2001), as Antonio
- *One Hundred Steps* (2000), as Peppino Impastato

## Gallery

- ![Luigi Lo Cascio](https://film.one/media/person/3933933/gallery-feb284d3b74d.jpg) Luigi Lo Cascio — Vincenzo Iaconianni, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Luigi_Lo_Cascio.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Palermo, ITA - 383° Festino di S. Rosalia - L'attore palermitano recita l'orazione civile "C'è chi ha brindato e chi no", del giornalista Salvo Licata, in ricor (2007)](https://film.one/media/person/3933933/gallery-15d11e4dc920.jpg) Palermo, ITA - 383° Festino di S. Rosalia - L'attore palermitano recita l'orazione civile "C'è chi ha brindato e chi no", del giornalista Salvo Licata, in ricor (2007) — Rino Porrovecchio from Palermo, Italy, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2b/Gigi_Lo_Cascio_-_Flickr_-_Rino_Porrovecchio.jpg/1280px-Gigi_Lo_Cascio_-_Flickr_-_Rino_Porrovecchio.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Palermo, ITA - 383° Festino di Santa Rosalia (2007)](https://film.one/media/person/3933933/gallery-c922a7a8a9eb.jpg) Palermo, ITA - 383° Festino di Santa Rosalia (2007) — Rino Porrovecchio from Palermo, Italy, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/11/Gigi_Lo_Cascio%5E4_-_Flickr_-_Rino_Porrovecchio.jpg/1280px-Gigi_Lo_Cascio%5E4_-_Flickr_-_Rino_Porrovecchio.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Luigi Lo Cascio - Venice Film Festival 2020](https://film.one/media/person/3933933/gallery-10fba7eb7fd7.jpg) Luigi Lo Cascio - Venice Film Festival 2020 — Bart ryker, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/15/Luigi_Lo_Cascio_-_Venice_Film_Festival_2020_2.jpg/1280px-Luigi_Lo_Cascio_-_Venice_Film_Festival_2020_2.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Luigi Lo Cascio - Venice Film Festival 2020](https://film.one/media/person/3933933/gallery-80feb56caa88.jpg) Luigi Lo Cascio - Venice Film Festival 2020 — Bart ryker, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0e/Luigi_Lo_Cascio_-_Venice_Film_Festival_2020_1.jpg/1280px-Luigi_Lo_Cascio_-_Venice_Film_Festival_2020_1.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)

## Awards

### Other awards — 1 won, 2 nominated

- Domenico Danzuso Award 2010: Domenico Danzuso Award (won)
- European Film Award for Best Actor 2003: European Film Award for Best Actor (nominated), for *The Best of Youth*
- Jameson People's Choice Award for Best Actor 2002: Jameson People's Choice Award for Best Actor (nominated), for *Light of My Eyes*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/luigi-lo-cascio