American actor, screenwriter, and film director
Nick Vallelonga
Born Nicholas Anthony Vallelonga
(1959-09-13 ) September 13, 1959 (age 64) Occupation(s) Actor, filmmaker Years active 1972–present Parent(s)
Tony Lip Dolores Venere
Nicholas Anthony Vallelonga (born September 13, 1959)
[1] is an American actor and filmmaker. He is best known for co-writing and producing the film
Green Book , for which he received two
Academy Awards for
Best Original Screenplay and
Best Picture .
[2] He also won two
Golden Globes in the same categories,
[3] as well as the
PGA Award for Best Film.
[4] He has also directed the films
In the Kingdom of the Blind, the Man with One Eye Is King ,
Choker and
Stiletto , and co-wrote the screenplay to
Deadfall .
Life and career
Vallelonga was born in 1959, the son of
Tony and Dolores Vallelonga.
[5]
[6]
[7] He had a younger brother, Frank, who died in November 2022.
[8] He initially followed his father into acting, with minor roles in films including
The Godfather ,
Splash ,
Goodfellas , and
Prizzi's Honor . He made his screenwriting debut with
Deadfall , directed by
Christopher Coppola .
[9] While continuing his acting career, he continued to write and direct various independent films, such as A Brilliant Disguise , The Corporate Ladder ,
Choker ,
Stiletto , and Yellow Rock .
Vallelonga achieved prominence with
Green Book , which he co-wrote and produced. Based on the friendship of his father and
Don Shirley , Green Book was critically praised and received dozens of award nominations, although the film was not without controversy, as Shirley's family accused Vallelonga of falsifying information in the movie. In
Variety , Vallelonga disputed the allegations: "There's a lot of information [the Shirley family] doesn't have, and they were hurt that I didn't speak to them. But to be quite honest with you, Don Shirley himself told me not to speak to anyone. And he only wanted certain parts of his life … So obviously, to say I didn't contact them, that was hard for me because I didn't want to betray what I promised him."
[10]
[11]
In 2019, Vallelonga apologized for a 2015 tweet that agreed with
Donald Trump 's claim that Muslims in
Jersey City cheered when the
World Trade Center towers collapsed .
[12]
[13]
[14]
[15]
[16]
Filmography
As actor
As writer
Deadfall (1993)
A Brilliant Disguise (1994)
In the Kingdom of the Blind, the Man with One Eye Is King (1995)
The Corporate Ladder (1997)
Choker (2005)
Green Book (2018)
That's Amore! (TBA)
As director
As producer
References
^
"Vallelonga, Nick 1959–" .
Encyclopedia.com .
Cengage .
^
"THE 91ST ACADEMY AWARDS | 2019" . Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences . February 24, 2019. Retrieved February 19, 2021 .
^
"2019 Golden Globes Winners: Complete List" . The Hollywood Reporter . January 6, 2019. Retrieved February 19, 2021 .
^
"Producers Guild Awards: Green Book Named Outstanding Motion Picture" . The Hollywood Reporter . January 19, 2019. Retrieved February 19, 2021 .
^ Thomas Riggs (August 2007).
Contemporary Theatre, Film and Television . Cengage Gale.
ISBN
978-0-7876-9050-2 .
^
"Nick Vallelonga Biography (1959-)" . Filmreference.com. 1959-09-13. Retrieved 2019-01-23 .
^
"Nick Vallelonga Interview: Green Book" . ScreenRant. 20 November 2018. Retrieved 2019-01-23 .
^
"Body Dumped In The Bronx Identified As 'Green Book' Actor Frank Vallelonga Jr" .
Deadline Hollywood . December 2022. Retrieved December 2, 2022 .
^ Tom Stockman (2012-11-16).
"Wamg Interview: Nick Vallelonga - Director Of Yellow Rock" . We Are Movie Geeks. Retrieved 2019-01-23 .
^ Wagmeister, Elizabeth (2019-01-09).
" 'Green Book' Writer Nick Vallelonga Defends Film After Family Backlash – Variety" . Variety.com. Retrieved 2019-01-23 .
^ Andrew Pulver (2019-01-10).
"Green Book film-makers in line of fire as sexual and religious controversies emerge | Film" . The Guardian . Retrieved 2019-01-23 .
^ Beresford, Trilby (10 January 2019).
" 'Green Book' Writer Nick Vallelonga Apologizes for Resurfaced Anti-Muslim Tweet | Hollywood Reporter" . www.hollywoodreporter.com . Retrieved 2020-12-23 .
^ Gonzalez, Sandra (2019-01-11).
" 'Green Book' writer apologizes after anti-Muslim tweet surfaces" . CNN . Retrieved 2020-12-23 .
^
"Green Book writer apologises for anti-Muslim tweet" . the Guardian . 2019-01-11. Retrieved 2020-12-23 .
^ Deb, Sopan (2019-01-11).
" 'Green Book' Writer Apologizes for Anti-Muslim Twitter Post From 2015" . The New York Times .
ISSN
0362-4331 . Retrieved 2020-12-23 .
^
"ATSE Lawsuit Alleges 77 Workers on Nick Vallelonga's 'That's Amore' Film Have Not Been Paid" . Variety.
^
"First Image of James Gandolfini's Son, Michael Gandolfini, as Tony Soprano in HBO's 'Sopranos' Prequel Film 'The Many Saints of Newark' " . Metaflix . May 14, 2019. Retrieved June 11, 2019 .
External links
Awards for Nick Vallelonga
1951–1975 1976–2000
Robert Chartoff and
Irwin Winkler (1976)
Charles H. Joffe (1977)
Michael Cimino ,
Michael Deeley , John Peverall and
Barry Spikings (1978)
Stanley R. Jaffe (1979)
Ronald L. Schwary (1980)
David Puttnam (1981)
Richard Attenborough (1982)
James L. Brooks (1983)
Saul Zaentz (1984)
Sydney Pollack (1985)
Arnold Kopelson (1986)
Jeremy Thomas (1987)
Mark Johnson (1988)
Lili Fini Zanuck and
Richard D. Zanuck (1989)
Kevin Costner and
Jim Wilson (1990)
Ron Bozman ,
Edward Saxon and
Kenneth Utt (1991)
Clint Eastwood (1992)
Branko Lustig ,
Gerald R. Molen and
Steven Spielberg (1993)
Wendy Finerman ,
Steve Starkey and
Steve Tisch (1994)
Bruce Davey ,
Mel Gibson and
Alan Ladd Jr. (1995)
Saul Zaentz (1996)
James Cameron and
Jon Landau (1997)
Donna Gigliotti ,
Marc Norman ,
David Parfitt ,
Harvey Weinstein and
Edward Zwick (1998)
Bruce Cohen and
Dan Jinks (1999)
David Franzoni ,
Branko Lustig and
Douglas Wick (2000)
2001–present
Brian Grazer and
Ron Howard (2001)
Martin Richards (2002)
Peter Jackson ,
Barrie M. Osborne and
Fran Walsh (2003)
Clint Eastwood ,
Tom Rosenberg and
Albert S. Ruddy (2004)
Paul Haggis and
Cathy Schulman (2005)
Graham King (2006)
Ethan Coen, Joel Coen and
Scott Rudin (2007)
Christian Colson (2008)
Kathryn Bigelow ,
Mark Boal ,
Nicolas Chartier and
Greg Shapiro (2009)
Iain Canning ,
Emile Sherman and
Gareth Unwin (2010)
Thomas Langmann (2011)
Ben Affleck ,
George Clooney and
Grant Heslov (2012)
Dede Gardner ,
Anthony Katagas ,
Jeremy Kleiner ,
Steve McQueen and
Brad Pitt (2013)
Alejandro G. Iñárritu ,
John Lesher and
James W. Skotchdopole (2014)
Blye Pagon Faust ,
Steve Golin ,
Nicole Rocklin and
Michael Sugar (2015)
Dede Gardner ,
Jeremy Kleiner and
Adele Romanski (2016)
J. Miles Dale and
Guillermo del Toro (2017)
Jim Burke , Brian Currie,
Peter Farrelly ,
Nick Vallelonga and
Charles B. Wessler (2018)
Bong Joon-ho and
Kwak Sin-ae (2019)
Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey,
Frances McDormand ,
Peter Spears and
Chloé Zhao (2020)
Fabrice Gianfermi,
Philippe Rousselet , Patrick Wachsberger (2021)
Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert and
Jonathan Wang (2022)
Emma Thomas ,
Charles Roven , and
Christopher Nolan (2023)
1940–1975
Preston Sturges (1940)
Herman J. Mankiewicz and
Orson Welles (1941)
Michael Kanin and
Ring Lardner Jr. (1942)
Norman Krasna (1943)
Lamar Trotti (1944)
Richard Schweizer (1945)
Muriel Box and
Sydney Box (1946)
Sidney Sheldon (1947)
No award (1948)
Robert Pirosh (1949)
Charles Brackett ,
D. M. Marshman Jr. , and
Billy Wilder (1950)
Alan Jay Lerner (1951)
T. E. B. Clarke (1952)
Charles Brackett ,
Richard L. Breen , and
Walter Reisch (1953)
Budd Schulberg (1954)
Sonya Levien and
William Ludwig (1955)
Albert Lamorisse (1956)
George Wells (1957)
Nathan E. Douglas and
Harold Jacob Smith (1958)
Clarence Greene ,
Maurice Richlin ,
Russell Rouse , and
Stanley Shapiro (1959)
I. A. L. Diamond and
Billy Wilder (1960)
William Inge (1961)
Ennio de Concini ,
Pietro Germi , and
Alfredo Giannetti (1962)
James Webb (1963)
S. H. Barnett,
Peter Stone and
Frank Tarloff (1964)
Frederic Raphael (1965)
Claude Lelouch and
Pierre Uytterhoeven (1966)
William Rose (1967)
Mel Brooks (1968)
William Goldman (1969)
Francis Ford Coppola and
Edmund H. North (1970)
Paddy Chayefsky (1971)
Jeremy Larner (1972)
David S. Ward (1973)
Robert Towne (1974)
Frank Pierson (1975)
1976–2000 2001–present
Screenplay (2011–2019) Original Screenplay (2020–present) Adapted Screenplay (2020–present)
1965–1975 1976–2000 2001–present
International National Other