Filmography John Turturro

John Michael Turturro (born February 28, 1957) is an Italian-American actor, writer and director known for his roles in the films Do the Right Thing (1989), Miller's Crossing (1990), Barton Fink (1991), Quiz Show (1994), The Big Lebowski (1998), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) and the Transformers film series. He has appeared in over sixty films, and has worked frequently with the Coen brothers, Adam Sandler and Spike Lee. 
 
Turturro was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Katherine, an amateur jazz singer who worked in a Navy yard during World War II, and Nicholas Turturro, a carpenter and construction worker who fought as a Navy sailor in D-Day. Turturro's mother was Sicilian (from Aragona near Agrigento) and his father immigrated from Giovinazzo, Bari, Italy at the age of six. 
Turturro was raised a Roman Catholic and moved to the Rosedale section of Queens, New York with his family when he was six. He majored in Theatre Arts at the State University of New York at New Paltz, and completed his MFA at the Yale School of Drama. He first appeared on film working as an extra in Martin Scorsese's critically acclaimed Raging Bull (1980). 
 
Turturro's brothers are actor Nicholas Turturro and artist Ralph Turturro. Actress Aida Turturro is his cousin. He has two children, Amedeo (born 1990) and Diego (born 2000), with his wife, actress Katherine Borowitz. 
 
Turturro participates as a member of the Jury for the NYICFF, a local New York City Film Festival dedicated to screening films for children between the ages of 3 and 18. He and his brother Nicholas are avid New York Yankees fans. 
 
In January 2011, Turturro received his Italian passport and dual Italian-American citizenship.