Vincenzo Amato is a famous Italian actor and sculptor. Amato was born in Palermo, the son of the stage director and folk musician Emma Muzzi Loffredo, after high school Amato moved to Rome, where his mother lived. Amato enjoyed iron sculpting and after a couple of exhibitions at the art gallery Il Gabbiano in Rome, he moved to Manhattan, and he began to expose with some success at the Earl McGrath Gallery in New York. In the US, Amato became friends with the director Emanuele Crialese, who made him debut as an actor in the film Once We Were Strangers. His career as an actor had the breakout with the role of the fisherman Pietro in Crialise's next film, Respiro. In 2007, he was nominated for David di Donatello for Best Actor for his performance in Nuovomondo. Amato is a talented artist in many respects, he has had several gallery and museum exhibitions, including at the National Academy Museum & School of Fine Arts and at the Earl McGrath Gallery.