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Alessandro Nivola American actor Alessandro Nivola, 37, was born in Boston and now lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his family.
My wife I met Emily [Mortimer, the British actor] ten years ago on the set of Kenneth Branagh's Love's Labour's Lost. She has made me less tidy, which has meant less careful and in turn more spontaneous. This transformation started when she told me she hated the sound of my nail clippers coming from the bathroom in the morning. She's also a brilliant actress, which helps when I need advice or just understanding. My son I was once complaining about going to work because I was nervous and my five-year-old son, Sam, said, "Don't be a chicken - get in the action." (I think he must have watched quite a lot of telly that morning.) Having someone around who hasn't yet discovered all the reasons to feel insecure is invaluable. He's fearless and I love that.
My parents My father is the son of Italian immigrants and my mother's a Wasp. This combination made for so much confusion about my identity when I was younger that of course I became an actor. They were also very encouraging. I recently received an award at a small film festival in Massachusetts, and my mother cheered as though I'd won an Oscar.
My acting idol Since moving to New York, I haven't been able to see much of Nicolas Cage, but during and after the filming of Face/Off we spent a lot of time together. He made me believe I could be a character actor and still be a leading man, and dared me to be as bold as possible while I was playing his younger brother. The more bizarre my performance got, the more enthusiastic he was.
My acting teacher Earle Gister was the head of the acting programme at the Yale School of Drama. He told me the most important thing to consider when playing a scene is how you want to make the other person feel. It takes your focus off yourself, and has spared me a lot of self-consciousness over the years. My French tutor Shortly after they offered me the role of Boy Capel in Coco before Chanel, the producers discovered that my French was deplorable. They hired a tutor, Antonia Dauphin, to come to my house in Brooklyn two hours a day for a month. Although I still didn't understand half of what was said on set when filming began, I never would have been able to do the role without her patience. ALEXIA SKINITIS Coco before Chanel is in cinemas nationwide from July 31
