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Diego Abatantuono
Italian comic actor Diego Abatantuono was born into show business; his mother worked at a popular family-owned cabaret in his native Milan, where he himself got his professional start as a singer and comedian. Discovered at the club by renowned television producer Renzo Arbore, Abatantuono became part of his legendary stable of comics, specializing in a sly portrayal of a rural Italian. By the mid-1980s, he was one of Italy's most popular television and film comedians, but his breakthrough dramatic role in the holiday staple "Regalo di Natale" expanded his career. In 1991, he starred in the Academy Award-winning WWII drama "Mediterraneo," his most popular film in America.