Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti
[1] was born June 6, 1967,
[2] in
New Haven, Connecticut, the youngest of three children. His father,
Angelo Bartlett Giamatti, was a
Yale University professor who later became president of the university and later
commissioner of
Major League Baseball.
[3]His mother, Toni Marilyn Giamatti (
née Smith), was a homemaker and
English teacher who taught at the
Hopkins School and had also previously acted.
[1][4]
His paternal grandfather's family were
Italianemigrants from
Telese Terme; the family surname was originally spelled "Giammattei" (Italian pronunciation:
[dʒammatˈtɛi]) before immigrating to the United States.
[5] His paternal grandmother had deep roots in
New England, dating back to the
colonial era.
[6] Giamatti's brother,
Marcus, is also an actor, and his sister, Elena, was a jewelry designer.
Giamatti attended Yale, where he was active in the undergraduate theater scene and worked with fellow actors and Yale students
Ron Livingston and
Edward Norton. He graduated in 1989 with a
bachelor's degree in English and went on to earn a
master of fine arts degree from the
Yale School of Drama, where he studied with
Earle R. Gister. He performed in numerous theatrical productions, including on
Broadwayand a stint from 1989 to 1992 with Seattle's Annex Theater,
[7] before appearing in some small television and film roles in the early 1990s.
