Raffaello Degruttola

Raffaello was born in Barnet North London, England. He is an English Italian Actor writer and director. His notable acting film credits include Rush, Saving Private Ryan, In Love and War, Wit, Quantum of Solace and Unlocked.His parents are Francesco DeGruttola and Lina Lipizzi who immigrated from Araino Irpino, Italy in 1970. He also has a sister. They spent all holidays with his extended family back in Ariano, Italy including his Mother's sisters farm in Tuscany.At the age of 8 the family moved to Queens NYC where his father worked in a restaurant that his brother from Italy owned. Whilst there Raffaello went to St.Anthony's catholic school in South Ozone Park, Queens. After a short while The family returned to England where they preferred the lifestyle.After some local acting classes he was asked if he would like to school at the Sylvia Young theater school in central London, which he did from the ages of 13-16 followed by The Lee Strasbourg Theater Institute when it had a school in London.After returning to the USA for a while he then returned to London where he started to work in theater and extensively in T.V and film, after playing Private Goldman in Steven Spielbergs Saving Private Ryan he continued working as a character Actor in mainly American film's shot in Europe with some notable directors including Richard Attenborough and Mike Nicholas.He married Simone Lahbib in 2003 and his daughter Skye Lucia Degruttola was born in 2005. Both are actresses.He wrote and directed his first 30min drama 'The Other side of my sleep', in 2010 inspired by the death of his Father and grandmother, and with it's success having opened at The Boston film festival, he decided to shoot his first feature 'Flim The Movie' with a different approach. Shooting 1 day a week for 18months and constructing the story while shooting by using what happened in the improvisation to influence the next scene. Flim The Movie shot for a minimal budget was nominated for a Moet British Independent film award, after its selection for the Raindance film festival and The NYC Independent film festival. Now a resident of the U.S he continues to work on both continents. Show less «