Lino Banfi

Best known for his contribution to the "Italian Sex Comedy" film genre of the 1970s, Lino Banfi transcended his status as an actor when he became a Goodwill Ambassador for the children's rights organization UNICEF in 2000. With more than 100 acting credits in film alone on his resume, it's no surprise that he began performing his comedy routine on stage at the young age of 18. His spot-on impersonations caught the eyes of audiences and fellow performers alike, and celebrated actor Antonio de Curtis helped him catapult to stardom by recommending that he change his name to Lino Banfi (from his less punchy birth name, Pasquale Zagaria) and adopt a signature trademark for his act: to speak exclusively in an exaggerated version of his natural Bari dialect. After taking his act to Rome, Banfi found great success as a cabaret performer while snagging supporting roles in dozens of low-profile comedy films throughout the '60s and early '70s. In addition to his numerous turns in "sexy comedies"--including perhaps his most famous performance in Luciano Salce's sketch-based comedy "Vieni avanti cretino"--he played the mayor in Ciccio Ingrassia's now cult-classic "The Exorcist: Italian Style," an oddball spoof of the classic chiller. While starring in Italy's hugely successful and inspirational TV series "Un medico in famiglia," Banfi returned to the big screen in 2008 after a twenty-year break from the film industry with "L'allenatore nel pallone 2 ," the sequel to his classic soccer comedy.